He was born on the island of Innoshima near the town of Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan to a merchant, Kuwabara Wazo. Today, Shusaku's reputation is more balanced in Japan, where a wide number of texts on Shusaku and Jowa have since been published, but remains somewhat inflated in the West where the sources are more sparse. However, Jowa's title was posthumously revoked due to a biased account of his machinations (in the Zain Danso) towards obtaining the post of Meijin Godokoro. Only two other people have been given the title 'Go Sage' ( Kisei) in addition to Shusaku, the others being Honinbō Dosaku (1645–1702) and Honinbo Jowa (1787–1847). Shusaku, for example, had a plus score against Ōta Yūzo but still found him a tough opponent, while Shuwa beat him easily.

Out of respect for his teacher, Shusaku refused to play with white against his teacher thus there is no clear gauge of the difference in strength between them. Some say that he was not stronger than his teacher, Honinbō Shuwa. He was nicknamed 'Invincible' after he earned a perfect score for 19 straight wins in the annual castle games. He was nicknamed Invincible Shusaku because of his castle games performance. Next to his teacher, Hon'inbō Shūwa, he is considered to have been the strongest player from 1847/8 to his death in 1862. He is known for his undefeated streak of 19 games during the annual castle games his thirty-game match with Ota Yuzo the eponymous Shusaku opening and his posthumous veneration as a 'Go sage'. Shusaku (本因坊秀策, Yasuda Eisai, Kuwahara Shusaku, Invincible Shusaku, born Kuwabara Torajiro (桑原虎次郎) J– September 3, 1862) was a Japanese professional Go player during the 19th century. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) ( March 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations.

Shusaku Game