This awesome goban made its way to Baduk Club from a reseller in Kanagawa, Japan.
The board is 14.5cm thick, and has taken on a pleasant candy color with age. It comes with a protective paulownia lid which is missing one side.
It is textbook Kaya, with these indicators:
- The Cut: it is an Oi-masa cut, which shows off the heart of the tree. This is a highly regarded cutting style, as it presents straight lines on nearly all the surfaces. This is a quarter-sawn board, which is more highly regarded than plain-sawn boards.
- The Grain: the lines are wavy. They are also quite thin because Kaya is a slow-growing tree and you can see hundreds of rings.
- The Weight: at 14 kilograms it is very dense. This is because Kaya retains its resin as it cures.
- The Size: While kaya isn't rare, it does take 500-1000 years to grow large enough to be used for a go board.
- The Color: the heartwood is a uniform candy color.
- The Scent: a sweet smell like incense or patchouli, not unlike vanilla.
The corners and edges are pretty good, thanks to the protective paulownia lid. Some cracks have formed, so it will be priced with a discount. Because Kaya is dried for 10 years before being shaped for a board, it is unlikely that the cracks will change much if cared for properly (please refer to my Care Instructions).
Purchased new, such an item would cost about $3000-$5000 today.
If you would like to add go bowls or stones, it would be no trouble to bundle this item with other products from our warehouse in Japan.
Please understand that this is a Vintage item.
Shipping Details:
FedEx International Priority shipping from Japan is already included in the purchase price. 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 we will email you a tracking number.
