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First Meijin tournament (1962)
Old Meijin (Yomiuri) results (1963-1975)
Meijin (Asahi) results (1976-now)

This page gives the initial tournament and the title games for the Meijin (名人) title. For results from the league, see the subpages linked to.

First Meijin tournament

In 1962 the Meijin tournament, sponsored by the Yomiuri newspaper, started with a full 13-player tournament, 78 games. It was won by Fujisawa Hideyuki (Fujisawa Shuko).

Results (in the first column the white player, on the top row the black player):

#	player	result	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1.	Fujisawa Hideyuki (Shuko)	9				B+R	B+R	B+1		W+R			W+R		W+R
2.	Go Seigen	9−	B+R		W+0				B+7		W+R	B+4		W+7
3.	Sakata Eio	8	B+R					B+3		W+R	W+R	W+6	W+R
4.	Hashimoto Shoji	7		B+9	B+R				B+R		B+3			W+R	W+1
5.	Kitani Minoru	7		B+R	W+2	B+6			W+8					W+R	B+2
6.	Handa Dogen	7		B+R		B+R	W+6		B+7					B+R	W+R
7.	Fujisawa Hosai	6	B+2		B+R						B+R	B+R	B+5	W+7
8.	Miyashita Shuyo	5		B+R		W+1	W+1	W+R	B+R						B+R
9.	Sugiuchi Masao	5	B+R				B+R	B+R		B+1		B+R	W+2
10.	Shimamura Toshihiro	5	B+3			B+3	B+3	B+1		W+R			B+1
11.	Iwata Tatsuaki (Masao)	4		B+R		B+2	B+4	B+R		W+5					W+R
12.	Hashimoto Utaro	3	B+7		B+R					B+1	B+7	B+3	W+2
13.	Takagawa Kaku (Shukaku)	3		B+R	B+R				B+R		B+R	W+R		B+R

The tournament rules made jigo a win for white, but one that counted less heavily than a full win. And so it happened that Fujisawa Shuko won the tournament when the final game between Go Seigen and Sakata Eio ended in jigo. Any other outcome of that game would have made a playoff between numbers 1 and 2 necessary.

Old Meijin title results

Nr	Year	Winner	Opponent	Score	Games
2	1963	Sakata Eio	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3	1964	Sakata Eio	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
4	1965	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
5	1966	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
6	1967	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
7	1968	Takagawa Kaku	Rin Kaiho	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
8	1969	Rin Kaiho	Takagawa Kaku	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
9	1970	Fujisawa Hideyuki	Rin Kaiho	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
10	1971	Rin Kaiho	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
11	1972	Rin Kaiho	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
12	1973	Rin Kaiho	Ishida Yoshio	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13	1974	Ishida Yoshio	Rin Kaiho	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
14	1975	Otake Hideo	Ishida Yoshio	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Meijin title results

In 1976 sponsoring was taken over by the Asahi newspaper, and a new numbering started.

Nr	Year	Winner	Opponent	Score	Games
1	1976	Otake Hideo	Ishida Yoshio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
2	1977	Rin Kaiho	Otake Hideo	4-0	1 2 3 4
3	1978	Otake Hideo	Rin Kaiho	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
4	1979	Otake Hideo	Sakata Eio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
5	1980	Cho Chikun	Otake Hideo	4-1, 1 void	1 2 3 (4) 5 6
6	1981	Cho Chikun	Kato Masao	4-0	1 2 3 4
7	1982	Cho Chikun	Otake Hideo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
8	1983	Cho Chikun	Otake Hideo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
9	1984	Cho Chikun	Otake Hideo	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
10	1985	Kobayashi Koichi	Cho Chikun	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11	1986	Kato Masao	Kobayashi Koichi	4-0	1 2 3 4
12	1987	Kato Masao	Rin Kaiho	4-0	1 2 3 4
13	1988	Kobayashi Koichi	Kato Masao	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
14	1989	Kobayashi Koichi	Awaji Shuzo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
15	1990	Kobayashi Koichi	Otake Hideo	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
16	1991	Kobayashi Koichi	Rin Kaiho	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
17	1992	Kobayashi Koichi	Otake Hideo	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18	1993	Kobayashi Koichi	Otake Hideo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
19	1994	Kobayashi Koichi	Rin Kaiho	4-0	1 2 3 4
20	1995	Takemiya Masaki	Kobayashi Koichi	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
21	1996	Cho Chikun	Takemiya Masaki	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
22	1997	Cho Chikun	Kobayashi Koichi	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
23	1998	Cho Chikun	O Rissei	4-2, 1 void	1 2 3 (4) 5 6 7
24	1999	Cho Chikun	Yoda Norimoto	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
25	2000	Yoda Norimoto	Cho Chikun	4-0	1 2 3 4
26	2001	Yoda Norimoto	Rin Kaiho	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
27	2002	Yoda Norimoto	Cho Chikun	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
28	2003	Yoda Norimoto	Yamashita Keigo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
29	2004	Cho U	Yoda Norimoto	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
30	2005	Cho U	Kobayashi Satoru	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
31	2006	Takao Shinji	Cho U	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
32	2007	Cho U	Takao Shinji	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
33	2008	Cho U	Iyama Yuta	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
34	2009	Iyama Yuta	Cho U	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
35	2010	Iyama Yuta	Takao Shinji	4-0	1 2 3 4
36	2011	Yamashita Keigo	Iyama Yuta	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
37	2012	Yamashita Keigo	Hane Naoki	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
38	2013	Iyama Yuta	Yamashita Keigo	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
39	2014	Iyama Yuta	Kono Rin	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
40	2015	Iyama Yuta	Takao Shinji	4-0	1 2 3 4

The 4th game of the 5th Meijin finals was void due to a mistake by the black player and the referee. Black (Cho Chikun) was in byo-yomi and asked the referee whether he could retake the ko. The referee answered affirmatively, and Cho made this illegal move.

The 4th game of the 23rd Meijin finals was void due to a triple ko.

Honorary title

Players who won the Meijin title five or more consecutive times get the Honorary Meijin title. So far these are Cho Chikun and Kobayashi Koichi.