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Product Details
Manufacturer Go Game Guru	Recommended Age 5 years and up	Brand Go Game Guru

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Features

• Genuine Kaya Go board
• Hand made from a single piece of grade A Kaya, which is dried for more than 10 years before starting work on the board
• Traditional masame cut (shihou-masa) displays straight grain on four sides (rarest and most desirable cut for a Go board)
• Japanese standard size
• Dimensions: 16.9 x 18.1 x 11.8 in (43 x 46 x 30 cm). Weight: 24.3 lb (11 kg).

Description

This exquisite kaya Go board has an unusual and impressive design. It consists of a 7.1 inch (18 cm) grade A kaya board, which sits atop a hand carved cinnamon wood base.

The wood is cut in the traditional masame (shihou-masa) style, meaning that it displays straight grain on four sides. This is the rarest and most desirable cut for a Go board.

Master craftsman Shin Myongsik designed and made this board based on the classical Korean style for Go boards, which he saw drawings of in ancient books. It's a unique and striking alternative to the more common style of floor Go boards with legs.

Mr Shin has 50 years of experience making high quality Go boards.

Kaya (torreya nucifera) is a softwood tree native to parts of Eastern Asia.

It's generally considered to produce the best wood available for making Go boards and Go board craftsmen refer to kaya as a diamond among trees.

Unfortunately, kaya was over-harvested in the past (for making boats, bath tubs and Go boards, among other things) and these days only wood from fallen kaya trees is available. Due the to very low availability of, and high demand for kaya, the wood is very expensive.

Kaya is a slow growing tree, and the trees used to make Go boards are usually about 500 years old, which is another reason why kaya Go boards are rare and expensive these days.

Because of its slow growth, kaya is a very dense wood with a fine, attractive grain. Kaya boards are known and valued for their gentle golden coloring, beautiful tree rings, fine grain, pleasant scent and the sound produced by the wood when a stone is played on the board.

Kaya takes a very long time to dry before it can be used to make a board, because the wood is so dense and breathes very little. The best practice is to dry the wood for at least 10 years to ensure that it has settled sufficiently, before using it to make a Go board.

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