Hikaru no Go

Hikaru no Go (ヒカルの碁, lit. 'Hikaru's Go') is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1998 to 2003, with its chapters collected into 23 tankōbon volumes. The story follows Hikaru, who discovers a Go board in his grandfather's attic. The object turns out to be haunted by a ghost named Sai, the emperor's former Go teacher in the Heian era. Sai finds himself trapped in Hikaru's mind and tells him which moves to play against opponents, astonishing onlookers with the boy's apparent level of skill at the game.

It was adapted into an anime television series by Studio Pierrot, which ran for 75 episodes from 2001 to 2003 on TV Tokyo, with a New Year's Special aired in January 2004. Viz Media released both the manga and anime in North America; they serialized the manga in Shonen Jump, released its collected volumes in entirety, and the anime aired simultaneously on ImaginAsian.

Hikaru no Go has been well-received. The manga has had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. It won the 45th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2000 and the 7th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2003. It is largely responsible for popularizing Go among the youth of Japan since its debut and is considered by Go players everywhere to have sparked worldwide interest in the game, noticeably increasing the Go-playing population around the globe.

While exploring his grandfather's shed, Hikaru Shindo stumbles across a Go board haunted by the spirit of Fujiwara-no-Sai, a Go player from the Heian era. Sai wishes to play Go again, having not been able to since the late Edo period when his ghost appeared to Honinbo Shusaku, a top Go player of that period. Sai's greatest desire is to attain the Kami no Itte (神の一手; "Divine Move") – a perfect move. Since Hikaru is the only person who can perceive him, Sai inhabits a part of Hikaru's mind as a separate personality although not always comfortably.

Urged by Sai, Hikaru begins playing Go despite his lack of interest in the game. He begins to execute moves that Sai dictates to him. Hikaru begins his Go career in a Go salon, where he defeats a young boy playing at a professional level, Akira Toya, twice by following Sai's instructions. He subsequently begins a quest to discover the source of Hikaru's strength, an obsession that will dominate his life. Hikaru becomes intrigued by the great dedication of Akira and Sai to the game and decides to start playing solely on his own. He is a complete novice at first but has some unique abilities to his advantage. For instance, once he has a basic understanding of Go, he can reconstruct a game play-by-play from memory. Through training at Go clubs, study groups, and practice games with Sai, he becomes an Insei and later a professional, meeting various dedicated Go players of different ages and styles along the way. He also demonstrates a natural talent for the game and remains determined to prove his own abilities to Akira, Sai, and himself.

Hikaru enters the Hokuto Cup, an international tournament for under-18 Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Go professionals. As the highest-ranking under-18 pro, Akira qualifies for the tournament, but Hikaru has to compete in a series of games to become one of the three Japanese competitors. His friends Waya and Ochi also enter the qualifying matches. He meets Kiyoharu Yashiro, a player from the Kansai Ki-in, whose style is as strange and offbeat as his own. Hikaru, along with Akira and Kiyoharu Yashiro, are selected to represent Japan, while Hong Suyong (a Korean Go player who was defeated by Hikaru earlier in the series) and two others represent Korea and three of Shinichiro Isumi's Chinese friends represent their country.

The captain of the Korean Go team, Ko Yong Ha, is interviewed and his remarks are translated for Japanese viewers. The translator makes an error which causes it to appear that he is disparaging the skill of Honinbo Shusaku, who, like Hikaru, was possessed by Sai. Although Ko Yong Ha later finds out, he refuses to correct the error and instead emphasizes it when he realizes that it enrages Hikaru, who takes it as a direct affront to Sai. Considering their achievements and skills, Hikaru is still slightly under Akira. Therefore, their team coach, Atsushi Kurata, chooses Akira to be captain. However, Hikaru wants to play against Ko Yong Ha to show him that Sai is the most skillful Go player in the game's history. Atsushi Kurata grants Hikaru's request when they play against Korea in the tournament because he sees the burning spirit in him. In the end, Hikaru loses by only half a point. Japan eventually comes in last, behind Korea and China. However, the Japanese team impressed both professionals from China and Korea because they did much better than expected. At the end of the game, Ko Yong Ha asks Hikaru for his reason for playing Go. With tears in his eyes, he answers with the line "To link the far past, with the far future". The hidden meaning of this line indicates the links and emotional relationships between Sai, Shusaku, and Hikaru. However, no one understands the context of this line besides Hikaru.

A bonus story, set shortly after the Hokuto Cup event, shows two Inseis ranked 14th and 16th, discussing whether Akira Toya or Hikaru Shindo is stronger. In the Young Lions tournament, they are each paired with Hikaru and Akira, making them change their minds about who is stronger. In the second round, Hikaru and Akira are paired against each other and begin a match but the conclusion is unknown.