# Tengen (Go)

Tengen (天元, center or origin of heaven) is a Go competition in Japan.
The name Tengen refers to the center point on a Go board.
The event is held annually, and has run continuously since its inauguration in 1975.

## Tengen competition (天元戦)

The Tengen competition is a Go tournament run by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin and Kansai-Kiin. The Tengen is the 5th of the 7 big titles in Japanese Go.
It has the same format as the other tournaments. There is a preliminary tournament, which is single knockout, where the winner faces the holder in a best-of-five match.
Before the 6th Tengen, the format was different. Instead of the title holder waiting for a challenger, it would be the two Go players left from the single knockout tournament who then played a best-of-five match to determine the holder.
The tournament was formed from a merger between the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in championships. The former ran from 1954 to 1975.

## Past winners

| | Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
| 1 | 1975 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 3–1 | Ohira Shuzo |
| 2 | 1976 | Kobayashi Koichi | 3–1 | Sugiuchi Masao |
| 3 | 1977 | Shimamura Toshiohiro | 3–1 | Sonoda Yuichi |
| 4 | 1978 | Kato Masao | 3–1 | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 5 | 1979 | Kato Masao | 3–0 | Kataoka Satoshi |
| 6 | 1980 | Kato Masao | 3–0 | Yamabe Toshiro |
| 7 | 1981 | Kato Masao | 3–2 | Kobayashi Koichi |
| 8 | 1982 | Kataoka Satoshi | 3–2 | Kato Masao |
| 9 | 1983 | Kataoka Satoshi | 3–1 | Awaji Shuzo |
| 10 | 1984 | Ishida Yoshio | 3–1 | Kataoka Satoshi |
| 11 | 1985 | Kobayashi Koichi | 3–0 | Ishida Yoshio |
| 12 | 1986 | Kobayashi Koichi | 3–1 | Sonoda Yuichi |
| 13 | 1987 | Cho Chikun | 3–2 | Kobayashi Koichi |
| 14 | 1988 | Cho Chikun | 3–2 | Sonoda Yuichi |
| 15 | 1989 | Rin Kaiho | 3–2 | Cho Chikun |
| 16 | 1990 | Rin Kaiho | 3–1 | Kobayashi Koichi |
| 17 | 1991 | Rin Kaiho | 3–1 | Kato Masao |
| 18 | 1992 | Rin Kaiho | 3–1 | Yamashiro Hiroshi |
| 19 | 1993 | Rin Kaiho | 3–1 | Kataoka Satoshi |
| 20 | 1994 | Ryu Shikun | 3–1 | Rin Kaiho |
| 21 | 1995 | Ryu Shikun | 3–2 | Kobayashi Koichi |
| 22 | 1996 | Ryu Shikun | 3–2 | Rin Kaiho |
| 23 | 1997 | Kudo Norio | 3–1 | Ryu Shikun |
| 24 | 1998 | Kobayashi Koichi | 3–2 | Kudo Norio |
| 25 | 1999 | Kobayashi Koichi | 3–0 | Kudo Norio |
| 26 | 2000 | Ryu Shikun | 3–0 | Kobayashi Koichi |
| 27 | 2001 | Hane Naoki | 3–1 | Ryu Shikun |
| 28 | 2002 | Hane Naoki | 3–0 | Cho Sonjin |
| 29 | 2003 | Hane Naoki | 3–2 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 30 | 2004 | Yamashita Keigo | 3–0 | Hane Naoki |
| 31 | 2005 | Kono Rin | 3–2 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 32 | 2006 | Kono Rin | 3–1 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 33 | 2007 | Kono Rin | 3–1 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 34 | 2008 | Cho U | 3–0 | Kono Rin |
| 35 | 2009 | Yamashita Keigo | 3–2 | Cho U |
| 36 | 2010 | Yuki Satoshi | 3–0 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 37 | 2011 | Iyama Yuta | 3–0 | Yuki Satoshi |
| 38 | 2012 | Iyama Yuta | 3–0 | Kono Rin |
| 39 | 2013 | Iyama Yuta | 3–0 | Akiyama Jiro |
| 40 | 2014 | Takao Shinji | 3–2 | Iyama Yuta |
| 41 | 2015 | Iyama Yuta | 3–0 | Takao Shinji |
| 42 | 2016 | Iyama Yuta | 3–1 | Ichiriki Ryo |
| 43 | 2017 | Iyama Yuta | 3–0 | Ichiriki Ryo |
| 44 | 2018 | Iyama Yuta | 3–2 | Yamashita Keigo |
| 45 | 2019 | Iyama Yuta | 3–2 | Kyo Kagen |
| 46 | 2020 | Ichiriki Ryo | 3–2 | Iyama Yuta |
| 47 | 2021 | Seki Kotaro | 3–1 | Ichiriki Ryo |
| 48 | 2022 | Seki Kotaro | 3–2 | Ida Atsushi |
| 49 | 2023 | Ichiriki Ryo | 3–1 | Seki Kotaro |
| 50 | 2024 | Ichiriki Ryo | 3–1 | Shibano Toramaru |

## Trivia

* The first player to defend the title was Kato Masao who won four consecutive terms in the 4th-7th Tengen.
* Rin Kaiho surpassed this with a record five consecutive wins in the 15th-19th Tengen.
* Iyama Yuta equaled this record in the 41st-45th terms, and has won the title a record eight times over nine terms starting with the 37th.