This amazing goban came to Baduk Club from an antique dealer in Osaka, Japan.
The board is 9cm thick, and has the usual candy color that Kaya wood takes on with age, highlighting the dark resin in the grain. It comes with a protective cloth cover and paulownia lid. It stands 21cm tall with its legs on.
It looks like a textbook species of Kaya, with these indicators:
- The Cut: it is Cross-Cut (Shihou-Masa style). This quarter-sawn style is the highest rated cut for fine boards, as it shows off straight lines on all 6 sides.
- The Grain: the lines are wavy, unlike shin-kaya and matsu. They are also quite thin because Kaya is a slow-growing tree so there are hundreds of rings.
- The Weight: The board is 10.5kg, a very dense wood because it is cured for 10 years to seal in the resin before being shaped into a board.
- The Size (of the trunk): You can see that there are hundreds of rings visible in the endgrain. While kaya isn't a rare species, it does take 500-1000 years to grow large enough to be used for a go board.
- The Color: a warm candy color, the heartwood is a uniform tone.
- The Scent: It has a subtle sweet smell like vanilla and cloves.
The legs are close to the same color as the board, so they may be Kaya but could also be Katsura. Visit my Care Instructions to learn more about cleaning and caring for floor boards.
Kaya boards are cured for 10 years before they are made, which ensures that the wood has finished changing shape. One of the big benefits of a vintage board like this is that it has had additional time to continue aging, this means the wood is more stable than ever. And even still, the wood is soft so it provides a nice resonance when playing slate and shell stones (in contrast to the sharp sound that comes from hard materials like glass and bamboo). There are some small cracks in the underside but the board is quite stable.
The edges are quite good, but one corner has a small dent. The board comes with a protective paulownia lid as well as a cloth cover.
Boxed up with the legs and the lid, this set weighs 14kg.
Please understand that this is a Vintage item. Purchased new, such an item would cost about $2000-$4000 today.
Shipping Details:
FedEx International Priority shipping from Japan is already included in the cost. Please allow a week for packing and Customs preparations, then we will email you the tracking number so that you can sign up for shipping notifications.