a Meijin player. Always an ally of the Honinbo school, for traditional reasons, it didn't survive to the end of the period as truly independent. Its headship went to Honinbo Shuei, and when he became also Honinbo head, it was de facto merged into the Honinbos. From the second head onwards, the head of the house when playing was known as Hayashi Monnyū. Inoue The Inoue house (井上家) was one of the four Go houses, the state-supported schools for the game of Go in Japan during the Edo period. The numbering of the heads of the house is that introduced by Inoue Genan Inseki, at the start of the nineteenth century, and including Nakamura Doseki for reasons of prestige. During their playing careers all the heads, apart from Doseki, were called Inoue Inseki. For reasons of convenience the retirement or posthumous names are used, in the style Inoue Genkaku Inseki with the personal part of the name interposed. Variant names abound. Yasui The Yasui house (安井家) was one of the four Schools (or Houses) of Go which were officially recognized during the Edo period of Japanese history. Each of the four schools were founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612. The house had one Meijin, in Yasui Sanchi. It has been commented that the general style of play tended to the pragmatic, rather than the artistic way. From 1737 to the present, the current head of the Yasui house has been known as Senkaku. The retirement or posthumous names are listed here. History The first of the four houses was the house Honinbo, founded by Honinbo Sansa. Honinbo Sansa was a Buddhist monk and had been appointed Godokoro (minister of Go) by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the unification of Japan in 1603. Buddhist connections They were also nominally Buddhist institutions, with the Honinbo and Hayashi aligned with the Nichiren sect, and the Inoue and Yasui with the Jodo Shu. All players were therefore male. Some outward forms only persisted of that connection, with the oshirogo games being played in Buddhist dress and with shaven heads; the stylish Ota Yuzo was given a waiver of the obligation since he was proud of his hair. After Honinbo Doetsu made a representation that long sleeves were troublesome for the players, a dispensation for shorter sleeves was allowed to them. At least, in theory, matters on succession in the houses were subject to the authority of