Biography
Iwamoto was born in Masuda of the Shimane prefecture, Japan. During his childhood he spent several years in Busan, Korea (1905–1913), where he learned Go from his father.
He returned to Japan to study Go, moved to Tokyo, and became a disciple of Hirose Heijiro 6-dan of Hoensha in 1913. He achieved 1-dan in 1917, and swiftly rose through the ranks. In 1924, when Nihon Ki-in was established, Iwamoto joined it and achieved 6-dan.
He retired as a professional Go player and emigrated to Brazil as a coffee farmer in 1929. However, he came back to Japan and resumed his career of Go after the failure of this venture in 1931.
He won the Oteai, the most important tournament in Japan at that time) in 1935. He challenged the third Honinbo match against Hashimoto Utaro in 1945. The second game of this match, played in the outskirts of Hiroshima, is famous as the atomic bomb go game. The players owed their lives to the fact that the local police had ordered the game moved from the center of Hiroshima. The match was continued after the war but ended in a 3-3 draw. A three-game playoff was held in 1946, Iwamoto won two straight games to take the Honinbo title. He assumed the name Honinbo Kunwa.
Read more about this topic: Kaoru Iwamoto
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