The Judan—which can be translated as "10 dan"—is a Go competition in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is one of the seven major professional titles.

Biography

The Judan is a Go competition used by the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Nihon-Kiin and Kansai-Kiin. It was started by the Sankei Shimbun

Sankei Shimbun

is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the . It has the sixth highest circulation for a newspaper in Japan, and is considered as one of the five "national" newspapers...

newspaper in 1962. The format is similar to the other big titles in Japan. There is a preliminary

Preliminary

Preliminary may refer to:*Preliminary internships*Preliminary English Test*Preliminary examination*Preliminary finals*Preliminary hearing*Preliminary Multistate Bar Review*Preliminary Notice...

 tournament that decides the challenger. Although, there is something different about the preliminary tournament. Instead of single knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

, it is a double knockout tournament. There is a losers' section where if a player loses in the preliminary, they go to the losers' section. The winner of the losers' section plays the winner of the winners' section which ultimately decides the challenger for the title. The challenger then plays against the holder in a best of 5 match.

In the Judan competition, if a player wins the challenger section, they are promoted to 7 dan. Winning the title gives the player a promotion to 8 dan. If that player defends the title the next year, they are promoted to 9 dan.

Past winners and runners-up

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1962	Utaro Hashimoto Utaro Hashimoto was a professional Go player.- Biography :Hashimoto became a pro in 1922 when he was 15. He would win the Honinbō 3 times before finally reaching 9p in 1954. He founded the Kansai Ki-in in 1950.- Titles and runner-ups:...	3–1	Dogen Handa Dogen Handa also known as Hayami Handa, was a professional Go player.- Biography :Handa grew up as Tamejiro Suzuki's disciple. He would start as a pro in the Nihon Ki-in, but after the Kansai Ki-in's founding, he joined Utaro Hashimoto in the Kansai-Kiin. He became a 9p in 1959.- Titles & runners-up :...
1963	Dogen Handa	3–1	Utaro Hashimoto
1964	Hosai Fujisawa Hosai Fujisawa was a professional Go player.- Biography :Hosai Fujisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan. He was among the best players of the 20th century. He became an insei at the Nihon Ki-in when he was 11 years old. He became one of Honinbō Shūsai's disciples. He was known for a strong sense of will, reading...	3–2	Dogen Handa
1965	Kaku Takagawa Kaku Takagawa , also known as , was one of the most successful professional Go players of the twentieth century.- Biography :Kaku Takagawa won the Honinbō title nine times in a row, from 1952 to 1960, and was subsequently awarded the permanent title of Honorary Honinbo. He then chose Shukaku as his Honinbō name....	3–1	Hosai Fujisawa
1966	Eio Sakata Eio Sakata was a professional 9-dan Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Sakata became a professional Go player in 1935. His first title match was the Hon'inbō in 1951 when he challenged Hashimoto Utaro. At the time, Hon'inbō started the Kansai Ki-in, so Sakata was under pressure to win the title back...	3–1	Kaku Takagawa
1967	Eio Sakata	3–2	Hosai Fujisawa
1968	Eio Sakata	3–1	Hideyuki Fujisawa Hideyuki Fujisawa , also known as Shuko Fujisawa, was a Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Hideyuki Fujisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan. He was one of the best players during his era. One of the "Three Crows" along with Yamabe Toshiro and Keizo Suzuki...
1969	Hideo Otake Hideo Otake is a Japanese Go player.- Biography :Otake was born in Kitakyūshū City, Japan. He joined the legendary Kitani Minoru school when he was 9, and quickly rose up the ranks to turn professional in 1956, when he was 14. He progressed swiftly, achieving 9 dan in 1970...	3–0	Eio Sakata
1971	Utaro Hashimoto	3–2	Hideo Otake
1972	Eio Sakata	3–2	Utaro Hashimoto
1973	Eio Sakata	3–0	Takagi Shoichi
1974	Shoji Hashimoto Shoji Hashimoto was a professional Go player.- Biography :Hashimoto turned pro in 1947 when he was just 12. It'd take him only 11 years to reach 9p. He learned Go from his father Hashimoto Kunisaburō and his disciples include Takahara Shūji, Moriyama Naoki, Oda Hiromitsu, Okahashi Hirotada, and Hayashi Kōzō. He is...	3–1	Eio Sakata
1975	Rin Kaiho Rin Kaiho Rin Kaiho is a professional Go player.-Biography:Rin Kaiho was born in Shanghai, China. He was a student of Go Seigen when Go brought him to Japan in 1952. He was a promising player who won his first title at the age of 23, the Meijin. He is also part of the 1200 win group...	3–0	Shoji Hashimoto
1976	Masao Kato Masao Kato - Titles and runners-up :Ranks #4 in total amount of titles in Japan.-Books:*Kato's Attack and Kill ISBN 4-87187-027-2*The Chinese Opening ISBN 4-906574-33-5-External links:...	3–2	Rin Kaiho
1977	Masao Kato	3–0	Eio Sakata
1978	Masao Kato	3–1	Rin Kaiho
1979	Masao Kato	3–1	Shoji Hashimoto
1980	Hideo Otake	3–2	Masao Kato
1981	Hideo Otake	3–0	Shoji Hashimoto
1982	Cho Chikun Cho Chikun Cho Chihun 25th Honinbo Honorary Meijin is a professional Go player. His total title tally of 71 titles is the most in the history of the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. Cho is the only player to hold the top three titles—Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo—simultaneously which he did for 3 years in a row...	3–1	Hideo Otake
1983	Masao Kato	3–2	Cho Chikun
1984	Koichi Kobayashi Koichi Kobayashi is a Go player.- Biography :Koichi Kobayashi was born in Asahikawa, Japan. He was one of the more famous disciples of the legendary Minoru Kitani; he studied along with Cho Chikun, Masao Kato, Yoshio Ishida, and Masaki Takemiya. He would go on and marry the daughter of his teacher, Reiko Kitani , a...	3–2	Masao Kato
1985	Koichi Kobayashi	3–0	Hideo Otake
1986	Koichi Kobayashi	3–0	Masaki Takemiya Masaki Takemiya is a professional Go player.- Biography :Masaki Takemiya was born in Japan. He became one of the many disciples of the Minoru Kitani school. His rise to fame began when he was only 15 years old. By the time he was 15, he was already 5 dan. He earned the nickname "9 dan killer" because he won...
1987	Masao Kato	3–1	Koichi Kobayashi
1988	Cho Chikun	3–2	Masao Kato
1989	Cho Chikun	3–0	Rin Kaiho
1990	Masaki Takemiya	3–2	Cho Chikun
1991	Masaki Takemiya	3–2	Cho Chikun
1992	Masaki Takemiya	3–1	Koichi Kobayashi
1993	Hideo Otake	3–1	Masaki Takemiya
1994	Hideo Otake	3–2	Koichi Kobayashi
1995	Norimoto Yoda Norimoto Yoda is a professional Go player.-Biography:Yoda is a student of Takeo Ando. He has won 34 titles so far in his career, the sixth highest in Japan. He became a professional in 1980, and reached 9 dan in 1993...	3–0	Hideo Otake
1996	Norimoto Yoda	3–1	O Rissei O Rissei Ō Rissei is a professional Go player in Japan.- Biography :Rissei was born in Taiwan and moved to Japan when he was 13 years old; he would become professional the following year. His instructor is Kano Yoshinori.- Titles and runners-up :Ranks #10-t in total amount of titles in Japan.-External...
1997	Masao Kato	3–2	Norimoto Yoda
1998	Naoto Hikosaka Naoto Hikosaka is a professional Go player.- Titles & runners-up :-External Links:**...	3–2	Masao Kato
1999	Koichi Kobayashi	3–0	Naoto Hikosaka
2000	Koichi Kobayashi	3–0	Hironari Nakano
2001	O Rissei	3–2	Koichi Kobayashi
2002	O Rissei	3–2	Masaki Takemiya
2003	O Rissei	3–2	Shinji Takao Shinji Takao is a Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Shinji Takao is one of Japan's best Go players. He turned professional in 1991. He won the Honinbo tournament in 2005 by a half point in the last game...
2004	O Rissei	3–1	Cho U Cho U Cho U Kisei, Oza is a professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the only player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles...
2005	Cho Chikun	3–2	O Rissei
2006	Cho Chikun	3–1	Keigo Yamashita Keigo Yamashita is a professional Go player. Yamashita adopted the name Honinbo Dowa after winning his first Honinbo title in 2010.-Biography:A student of Yasuro Kikuchi, Yamashita turned professional in 1993. He won the 19th Kisei 2 dan division in 1994. Yamashita reached the challenger finals of the Tengen in 1999...
2007 45th Judan The 45th Judan was held from May 11, 2006 to April 25, 2007. The current sponsor is Sankei Newspapers. The holder is Cho Chikun, and the challenger is Keigo Yamashita for the second time in-a-row. Hideki Komatsu, Norimoto Yoda, Kimio Yamada, Hideo Otake, Koichi Kobayashi, Kim Shushun, Naoki Hane,...	Cho Chikun	3–2	Keigo Yamashita
2008	Shinji Takao	3–0	Cho Chikun
2009	Cho U	3–1	Shinji Takao
2010	Cho U	3–0	Keigo Yamashita
2011 49th Judan The 49th Judan began on 20 June 2010 and concluded on 29 April 2011. Challenger Iyama Yuta Meijin defeated title holder Cho U, who won the previous two tournaments.-Winners section:-Losers section:-Finals:...	Yuta Iyama Yuta Iyama is a Japanese professional Go player.-Biography:Born in Osaka, Iyama became the first professional of the Heisei period. He began playing Go at the age of five and reached the rank of 3 dan amateur a year later. It was at this time Kunio Ishii became Iyama's teacher, with the two playing thousands...	3–2	Cho U