This goban set came to Baduk Club from a go and shogi dealer in Kanagawa, Japan.
The board is 17cm thick, and stands 30cm tall on legs. It has an even yellow color typical of Shinkaya (Alaskan Spruce), and it weighs 16kg. This is rather heavy for a shinkaya board, and you will see that the growth rings are far more dense than usual. It is a quarter-sawn board, a Tenchi-masa cut. This is the second-highest rated cutting style for go boards, as it creates straight lines on nearly all of the surfaces with just a few cross-grains on the sides.
The surface of the board is easy on the eyes and no cross-grain heartwood interferes with the clean lines there. It has a traditional raised-lacquer grid. The board edges and corners are in good condition, but small impacts may have slightly occurred over time. Overall it is in excellent condition for a board that is dozens of years old, where some wear is to be expected. The legs are a darker orange color and are probably Katsura. The board comes with a protective Paulownia lid.
The go bowls are shin-sakura (mahogany), a sturdy varnished style usually seen at go clubs.
The stones are a full set of size 35 slate and shell (9.5-10mm), the black slightly larger than the white to account for black's slimming effect. The clamshell stones are a mix of grades.
Visit my Care Instructions to learn more about caring for this board.
This is a Vintage item.
Shipping Details:
FedEx International Priority shipping from Japan (to nearly anywhere) is already included. This service reduces the actual transit time to only 5 business days, and also allows more room for padding in order to avoid shipping damage. Please allow a week for Customs preparations, then a FedEx tracking number will be provided that you can use to sign up for notifications.
Because of the quality of this set, Surface shipping is not recommended, but it is possible (in 2 parcels with Japan Post) if you wish to reduce the cost by about $120. Contact us with the chat widget to make such arrangements.
