Go-Getter

Japan's national game is called go. More complicated than chess, it is played with 180 white and 181 black stones on a board of 361 squares. The results of big matches are posted in store windows, like U.S. World Series scores.

During the war Japanese officialdom frowned on go as a time-waster. After it came off the blacklist, millions of fans stayed down in the dumps--the game was not the same without Chinese-born National Champion Wu Ching-yuan. Wu had become a convert of Aiko Nagashima, high priestess of the Jiwu cult of Buddhism, and she had said no go.

Last week, the clouds were lifting. Priestess Aiko had sent Wu charging back into competition. Without so much as a practice jump he squelched squat Utaro Hashimoto, the come-lately champion, breezed through the Yomiuri newspaper's big tournament, hoped to reclaim his old title by early 1947 (one hard-fought go match took him three years to finish). Wu explained that he was not using his own mind at all; his moves were divinely inspired.

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