I STARTED playing go at 8, a little bit late compared to the average pro, I guess. My father taught me, he was about 1-dan and it took me a year to overtake him. Even before I learned to play go I had always loved playing games, especially card games. We often would play poker at home, so at first go was just another game for me.

Thanks to my interest and curiosity, I picked up the basics naturally and I started having pro aspirations from almost the first year I ever touched the stones. I remember feeling strongly attracted to the unlimited possibilities I could sense from the start. The patterns changing all the time, each new game is different from the previous one. Go was like a kaleidoscope to me, beautiful and highly attractive, I couldn't get enough of it.

My early teens were a hard time for me. When I was 12 my father passed away in an

National flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka lost part of its tailplane and crashed on 12 August 1985 killing over 500 people. It was the world's worst air accident involving a single airliner.

infamous plane incident. I'm not sure why but I feel that those hard times had little influence on my go career. I was absorbed by the game and always have kept at it, rain or shine.

I became pro trainee, or insei, at 13 and made pro at 16. Actually this was two years later then I had hoped, and to tell the truth, I probably could have made it earlier but as I said, I loved playing card games with other insei and young pros perhaps a little too much.

By the way, I quit school after the 9th grade in order to dedicate my life to go, to becoming a pro. It was a little bit scary to not go to high school, as it was not yet clear if and when I would actually make pro.

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