American Go E-Journal

Go Spotting: Documentary: “Tora, Tora, Tora”

Sunday December 18, 2016

Japanese naval personnel may be seen playing both go and shogi at 31:38 in “Pearl Harbor: Tora, Tora, Tora: True Story of 2016.12.11_ToraToraToraPearl Harbor,” the History Channel documentary from 2000.

In a related film, Daniel Acheson, who sent in this item, also reports that “A relic from the time of World War II, Frank Capra’s 1945 propaganda film Know Your Enemy — Japan’ mentions go.”  Acheson writes that the film speaks of “attempts to eradicate Western influence in Showa-era Japan” and asserts that “Western card games were purged in favor of [go]” which they refer to as “a game of super chess.” The narrator then notes, “somewhat threateningly, that it is ‘a game of military strategy.’”

Categories: Go Spotting
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