The home page is partly introduced with the
courtecy of Iimachi Vokunteer.History of Japan Go Society for the Visually Impaired
Start of the Sociey
The Sociey started in October 1993. Based
on the idea that the visually impaired could
enjoy playing go evenly with the sighted
if 9x9 board sets were employed, the Society
was established, nominating Setuo Mori 9
dan as president and the students of Kansai
Student Go Federation as directors.
Magnet type black and white stones with marks
and go boards with lines and fixing holes
were devised so that the visually impaired
could identify stones and board positions
and play go smoothly.
The textbooks for beginners were written
in braille by Mr, Toshikazu Kato, president
of Japan Light House, an incorporated welfare
association, Tsurumi-ku Osaka city.
And in January 1994, student volunteers from
go clubs of Osaka University and Kobe University
started to instruct and play go with pupils
of Osaka Municipal School for the Blind,
Sumiyoshi-ku Osaka city.
Progress of the Society
Participants in playing go were invited on
the radio. Efforts were made to spread go
games, through go instruction, mainly to
pupils of schools for blind in Kansai,
First National Go Contest
The contest was held in March 1995 in Naniwa,
Osaka city. 11 pupils participated from the
schools for the blind in Kansai.
Second National Go Contest
The contest was held in June 27, 1999
at Konishi Hall in Chuou-ku Osaka city. At
the same time, go games by tele-communication
was performed among Osaka site, Tokyo site
(School for the Blind annexed to Tukuba University)
and Kumamoto site (Kumamoto Municipal School
for the Blind), The participants including
volunteers were more than 100 in total. The
details were reported on the home page of
"Iimachi Volunteer".
The home page is partly introduced with the
courtecy of Iimachi Vokunteer.
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"The second national go contest
by the
visually impaired" was held in
the Osaka
Konishi Hall at 13:00, June 27th 1999.
The
event was sponsored by the Japan Go
Society
for the Visually Impaired. The participants
was more than 100 including volunteers
in
three sites. the games were extremely
exciting
hereband there. At the event, go software,Go Software Taku-chan, was installed on the parsonal type Phoenix
computer to realize a distance go playing
with interactive image and voice transmission.Heated games by tele-communication were held among three sites, Osaka, Yokyo and Kumamoto. Go games by tele-communication employing "Taku-chan" were succesful and wekcome by the participants owing to software's voice recognition and converstion between players. The sponsor side intends to spread further this type of go playing among the visually impaired. |
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| At present, following organizations are playing
go game with 9x9 board. ＜Schools for the blind＞ Tukuba Univ, annex, Kyoto Prefectural, Osaka Prefectural, Osaka Municipal, Nara Prefectural, Wakayama prefectural, Kumamoto Prefectural, Kobe Municipal and Ishikawa municipal school for theblind. ＜Welfare center and groups＞ Koufu city, Nara city, wakayama city, Sakai city, Neyagawa sity, Amagasaki city, japan Light House (Tsurumi), Kyouto Light House, rakusei dormitory, Himawari(Toyonaka city), Hirakata city and Kadoma city groups,Nagaoka city, Kamaishi city, and Miyazaki city. ＜Contact＞ Japan Go Society for Visually Impaired As a means of communication between the visually immpaired and the sighted, beyond the coountry boarder, impairement, sex and age, 9x9 boards ae ulilized to spread go among the visually impaired. Address: Ikoma Bldg, Tenma 1-12-2, Kita-ku Osaka city 〒530-0035 Tel : 06-6358-7069／FAX: 06-6358-7146 E-mail：F. Miyamo |
Present movement
Go games are expanding from schools for the
blind to welfare facilities and general public
in various areas. To correspond to this situation,
supporting volunteers are invited.