Checkmate 23 (Reader‘s Theatre)

Some said during WWII, the Imperial Japanese Army secretly established a sanctuary known as the GoSha (棋舍), hiding twenty-two elite Go masters who blended military strategy with the principles of the game, using the board as a battlefield to help plan the invasion of China.

A young Go Player Minoru Kitani was invited to join as the twenty-third master, where he crossed paths with Shusai Honinbo, Japan’s greatest master; Matsui Iwane, a bloodthirsty commander; Kohei Inoue, a loyal follower of the Emperor; Heiichiro Segoe, an ambitious strategist; Chiyoko Shimazu, a female Go player opposing the invasion; and Natsu,a kind-hearted servant.

In an unfinished game, Kitani realizes the brutal truth of war, and was shocked by the “Seigen Style” created by China’s Go prodigy, Go Seigen during a match with Honinbo.

Amidst the suffocating climate of militarism, Kitani—driven by passion and idealism for the game—faces an unprecedented crisis of faith, forcing him to rethink the connection between the Way of Go and the Heavenly Way.

“Nature flourishes through the four seasons in an endless cycle of life, just as the black and white stones do on the board — this is then land of liveliness. Only by mastering the ways of Nature can one master the Way of Go. All things born between heaven and earth are but motes of dust.

Those who commit evil will inevitably reap what they sow through their own sins; revenge is simply another form of evil. Both battlefield and Go—there is no true advantage or disadvantage. Victory and defeat on the board are merely a balance between black and white; true peace is found only when one rises above the world of war.”