From: Takako Noda <mxc06231 <at> JA2 <dot> SO-NET <dot> OR <dot> JP>
Date: 8 jan 1997
Subject: "QUEST" Masuda's Ishida-ryu (4)

Masuda's Ishida-ryu :gote version---continued

Masuda's last move was S-3e, an impressive sacrifice.

Translator's note:
You might want to ask: who is Ishida?  He is a popular figure
among shogi fans as "Ishida Kengyo", a blind man who lived in
the early Edo era, toward the end of the 17th century.
Kengyo represented the top rank of the organization for
the blind. The Edo military government established a strict four-tier-hierar
chy, with warriors (samurai) at the top,
then farmers, followed by manufacturers, and merchants
at the bottom. Samurais accounted for 7-10% of the
whole population, while farmers represented 80%, and manufacturers/merchants
 10%. However, there were other
people outside of this establishment, such as noblemen,
Buddhist priests, physicians, scholars, etc. While these
people were privileged outsiders, there were other kind,
the discriminated, to whom the blind belonged. The blind
formed for themselves a guild-like organization which had
four ranks; kengyo, betto, kohto, and zato. These ranks
were further broken down to 73 notches, and it was possible
to buy one's way up the ladder.
(The information from "Nihon no kinsei", vol.7 by Naohiro Asao)