Go
between Samba and Sampa
The
link between Brazil and our beloved mind-sport may not be
apparent on first sight, as Brazil is foremost the country
of Carnaval, Samba and Futebol. Nevertheless, the
metropolis São Paolo hosts the South American Go Center.
Rick Lindeman went to have a look.
Early
twentieth centry around 20,000 people lived in São Paolo.
Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, was twenty
times as large. From São Paolo the number of inland
expeditions did increase, and these
“bandeiristas” formed the foundation for the
modern city.
Railways were to be constructed to support the development
of the quickly growing city. Poor Japanese were recruited
for this, and they arrived in large numbers by boat at
Santos, the nearby harbor city.
Nowadays São Paolo has 18 million inhabitants, and thus is
the third largest city in the world, after Mexico City and
Tokio. Although the railways have been dismantled, there
are still around 1.2 million Japanese living there, mostly
in their own area, Liberdade. According to the people that
live there, this part of the city is even more Japanese
than Tokio itself, and there are three daily Japanese
newspapers.
In the early nineties Kaoru Iwamoto launched his plan for
continental Go centers. The Nihon Ki-in must have quickly
spotted “Sampa” as prime candidate for South
America, and indeed in midst 1990 the new center was
opened.
Last February I was in Brazil for my work, the ministry of
economical affairs. When I heard that I was also to visit
São Paolo, a bell rang somewhere. However, on the internet
I could not find any references. With the help of Erik Puyt
of the European Go and Cultural Center in Amsterdam, and
Tokuko Uechi from the foreign affairs department of the
Nihon Ki-in I managed to get myself invited. Henri
Iamashita, and Mr. Hiramitsu, vice-president of the center,
were honored to receive me.
Thus I left for the center from the garden where the Dutch
Consul-general, Hans Glaubitz, has us served a wonderful
lunch. São Paolo is such a large city that even a taxi
driver cannot find an address that easily. The journey took
a full hour during which the driver told us in a wonderful
melancholically way about the unavoidable loss of his
favorite football team Palmeiras in the game the next day
against São Paolo FC.
When I arrived I found a room full with older Japanese
gentlemen fixated at the boards. They used stones exactly
the same as those used at our EGCC. In best Portuguese I
asked for Mr. Iamashita, and was directed upstairs.
Iamashita was present at the Brazilian Championship. This
doubles as a qualification tournament for the World Amateur
Go Championship. The leading Brazilian, Ronaldo Yasuki, was
eighth in 2000. This year was to be the year of the youth,
and new talents would grab their chances.
Ten people took part, varying in strength between 1 kyu up
to 6 dan. The rankings used were based on their internet
rankings. The main battle appeared to be between Fabio (5d)
and Alessandro (6d). Both are Brazilians with a touch of
Japanese, hardly distinguishable in this melting pot of
cultures. In the end Fabio Iamashita, 12 years old, won the
tournament.
Iamashita told that around five thousand Paulistanos were
playing Go. Next to this Japanese club there were also a
Chinese and a Korean club. Once a year a tournament was
held between these three clubs. In the remaining part of
Brazil another thousand people played Go. The older
generations Japanese played Go daily in the center.
There are also international tournaments. Once a year a
delegation of the club goes to the Latin America
tournament, for countries from Mexico to Chili,. Especially
large delegations went when the tournament was held in one
of the neighboring countries, Paraguay, Uruguay, or
Argentina).
I also talked to Michele, who proudly told about how he
earned his trip to the World Championship Go Pairs/Couples:
he had taught his colleague Go, and won the national
championship Go Pairs two days later. This appears to be a
more common problem in Brazil, as also at football the
number of men and women watching the game are equal, but
for playing the game is quite the opposite.
After having been thoroughly beaten by a number of these
new talents, I left the Nihon Ki-in. I was invited for
diner the next day at Mr. Miramitsu’s was
unfortunately y work commitments did not allow for this.
Nevertheless, the sushi in São Paolo was excellent, as was
the glass of Caiperinha.
Nihon Ki-in America do Sul
Rua Dr. Fabrícia Vampré, 116 (metrô Ana Rosa)
São Paolo
Tel. (0055-11)5571-2847
Photograph: sao-paolo-club.jpg (Copyright 2005 Rick
Lindeman)