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22nd Meijin title

Newcomers

The lowest three players from the previous year are demoted, and entrance matches determine which three new players are allowed to enter the League.

game	date	black	white	result	sgf
Qualification final	1996-10-03	Otake Hideo	Ryu Shikun	W+2.5	sgf
Qualification final	1996-10-24	Kato Atsushi	Yoda Norimoto	W+R	sgf
Qualification final	1996-11-07	Yo Kagen	Ishida Yoshio	B+2.5	sgf

League

Results (in the first column the white player, on the top row the black player). The ordering of the first six players is according to their results in the previous year. The last three are the winners of entrance matches.

#	player	result	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1.	Takemiya Masaki	4-4			W+6.5		B+R		B+2.5		W+R
2.	O Rissei	6-2	W+R			W+11.5		W+R		B+R
3.	Kato Masao	4-4		B+R			W+R		B+R		W+R
4.	Kobayashi Koichi	6-2	W+1.5		B+0.5			W+R		W+8.5
5.	Kataoka Satoshi	5-3		W+R		B+1.5			W+R		W+R
6.	Rin Kaiho	1-7	B+2.5		B+R		W+R			B+R
7.	Yoda Norimoto	3-5		B+2.5		B+R		W+0.5			B+2.5
8.	Ryu Shikun	5-3	B+R		W+R		B+4.5		W+2.5
9.	Yo Kagen	2-6		B+R		B+R		W+R		B+8.5

Playoff

Kobayashi Koichi and O Rissei both finished with 6 wins, and played a challenger playoff that was won by Kobayashi Koichi.

game	date	black	white	result	sgf
Challenger playoff	1997-08-11	Kobayashi Koichi	O Rissei	B+R	sgf

22nd Meijin Title

game	date	black	white	result	sgf
1	1997-09-10,11	Kobayashi Koichi	Cho Chikun	B+R	sgf
2	1997-09-24,25	Cho Chikun	Kobayashi Koichi	B+3.5	sgf
3	1997-10-01,02	Kobayashi Koichi	Cho Chikun	B+R	sgf
4	1997-10-15,16	Cho Chikun	Kobayashi Koichi	B+R	sgf
5	1997-10-22,23	Kobayashi Koichi	Cho Chikun	W+3.5	sgf
6	1997-11-05,06	Cho Chikun	Kobayashi Koichi	B+3.5	sgf

Cho Chikun won with 4-2.