Go
The History:
In 1603, when
Go became officially supported nationally, Nikkai became the leader
of the government Go office. The Japanese government created 4 rival
Go schools, and a ranking system was made for the players. Early in
this system, decisions were made by a comittee of the heads of these
houses, because no player had acheived a high enough ranking to become
the head of the Go departments. The houses competed with each other
anually, at a competition called the "Castle Game Ceremony".
Originally, the games were played in front of a shogun, but the players
had actually already played the games, and were replaying them so the
shogun would not be bored by slow moves. The Honinbo house was usually
the most successful school at these competitions, and it produced two
famous players named Dosaku and Shusake. Dosaku is traditionally considered
the strongest Go player ever, and he created strategies upon which many
modern games are based. Shusake was made famous by winning all of his
Castle Game Ceremonies, which are now required reading for Go students.