the entire Honinbo establishment. Shūsai trailed throughout the game until, on the 13th day of the match, he made a brilliant move at W160, now celebrated. It was rumored that it was not Shūsai but one of his students, Maeda Nobuaki, who was the author of this ingenious move. Segoe Kensaku told a reporter this, in what he thought was an off-the-record interview. Maeda himself even hinted as much. When presented with the opportunities to debunk these rumors, Maeda neither denied nor confirmed them. The match ended with Hon'inbō Shūsai winning by two points. Retirement game Shusai transferred the Hon'inbō title to the Nihon Ki-in in 1936 and retired thereafter. In 1938, at the age of 64, he came back to play a memorial "retirement game" against Kitani Minoru, losing it by 5 points. The game was later immortalized by Nobel Prize winner Kawabata Yasunari in the novel Meijin (published in English as The Master of Go). Kitani Minoru, having witnessed how Shūsai abused his adjournment privilege during his match against Go Seigen, demanded that the moves be sealed before each adjournment. Initially, Shūsai's camp opposed this, but Kitani insisted, and Shūsai eventually gave in. Time limits were used, of 40 hours each, and Kitani thought deeply. He won the game by a comfortable margin of five points (the game had no komi, so Kitani as black kept his initial advantage by safe play). Controversy Hon'inbō Shusai has had a number of accusations leveled against his character. These deal with his rivalries, within the Hon'inbō house and subsequently with the establishment of the Nihon Ki-in, conduct as a player, and financial dealings. Even though a transitional figure, Shūsai possessed enormous prestige due to his positions of Meijin and Hon'inbō, but he often abused his privileges as the senior player. Hashimoto Utaro confided to a reporter that his master Segoe Kensaku had his reservations about Shūsai. Segoe had earlier, along with Shūsai, visited China at the invitation of several wealthy Chinese go patrons. They played a number of exhibition games against Chinese players. As a guest, Shūsai had refused to abide by Chinese playing rules, embarrassing his hosts in the process. Moreover, Shūsai would not apparently risk losing to young Chinese players and left many games unfinished, supposedly to be concluded another day, a promise he never fulfilled. Segoe commented to Hashimoto that it was unacceptable for Shūsai to have left