We will present here several pages from the book, with Genan's comments translated and with some comments of our own. The full work will be included on the Summer 2006 issue of the GoGoD CD, which also already has a major feature on Genan's life, and of course very many of his games.
For those unused to old go books, the standard practice was to put several positions on one board per page. The convention is that each is entirely independent of the other, so that while looking at each position, you have to imagine that the rest of the board is empty. The first position in each case is in the top right (old Japanese and Chinese books being read right to left).
Genan does not explain his counting method. However, it is clear that it is the standard method known in Japanese as de-iri or income and expenditure, an accountancy term which seems to have been first used around the Taisho era (1912~24). The technique is to play the best moves starting with one side, then for comparison play the best moves starting with the other side. By totalling the points gained and lost, we get a count for the first move in that position.
White 1 and 3 are counted as being worth 4 points (in sente) because the difference between this and allowing Black to play 3 first (then White A, Black 1, White B) is constituted by points A, B, 4 and 2.