Hikaru no Go

Fujiwara No Sai

Main

A spirit from the Heian era of Japan and mentor of Hikaru Shindo. Sai continually plays Go in attempt to one day play the divine move (also known as the Hand of God). In the manga and anime, Sai had possessed the real-life figure Honinbo Shusaku and throu...

Shindou Hikaru

Main

Protagonist who is assisted by Sai. At the beginning of the series, Hikaru is a sixth grader in elementary school. An important factor in the development of Hikaru's passion for Go was an encounter early on where Hikaru becomes the rival of Akira Toya. At...

Touya Akira

Main

Birthday: December 14Hikaru's biggest rival and Kaio Middle School student. The son of Koyo Touya, Akira is already a very strong Go player when Hikaru first begins playing and is amazed by Hikaru's seemingly impossible strength. Since his first game with...

Ahn Tae-seon

Supporting

A prominent Korean player who has defeated Kurata 6-dan in the quarter final of Korea's Samsung cup. Kurata, who is referred to as "Japanese Ahn Tae-seon" in Korea, holds a particular grudge with him due to him (well-intentionedly and rather bluntly) aski...

Fujisaki Akari

Supporting

Hikaru's childhood friend. She begins to learn Go as well when Hikaru becomes interested and later joins the Haze Middle School Go club, serving as vice captain of the girls' team, despite her being a weak player. She also seems to have feelings for Hikar...

Fukui Yuta

Supporting

An insei and classmate of Waya who is known for his extremely fast-paced style of play. Although Waya is the stronger player, he cannot seem to defeat Fuku. Hikaru loses one game to him during the pro exam.(Source: Wikipedia)...

Honda Toshinori

Supporting

Honda is a strong insei who almost makes the top three players in the professional exam, but is beaten too many times and doesn't pass. However he has a potential to become a professional player and like Isumi Shinichirou, he intends to take the exam the ...

Hong Suyong

Supporting

Name in Hangul: 홍 수영A Korean Go professional, 2 years younger than Hikaru. He was 12 when he first appeared in the manga. During the month before the pro exam, Hikaru, Waya and Isumi traveled to go salons to sharpen their skills, and in one of them they m...

Ijima Ryou

Supporting

He used to play go but because he wasn't very good he stopped....

Isumi Shinichiro

Supporting

Another insei friendly with Hikaru, he appears to be doing very well in the first pro exam shown in the manga, going undefeated, until his match with Hikaru. During that match, rumors about Hikaru's incredible strength add to the pressure of time constrai...

Kaga Tetsuo

Supporting

President of Haze Middle School's Shogi club. Kaga hates Go and prefers Shogi better because his father forbade Shogi and forced him to play Go from an extremely early age, and he could never please the old man no matter how well he did, because he always...

Kishimoto Kaoru

Supporting

Kaio Middle School Go club president and former insei who did not become a professional. He played Akira in a game, and had to resign early and admitted he was outclassed and right not to pursue professional play. Later he plays a match against Hikaru to ...

Ko Yeong-ha

Supporting

A 16-year-old prodigious Korean Go player who is internationally considered Koreas finest young professional. Despite his age hes played in the fifth round of the prestigious Kuksu title (the equivalent of the Honinbo title in Korea) and is later selecte...

Kurata Atsushi

Supporting

First mentioned as a prominent 4-dan player, Kurata doesn't make an appearance until later in the story as a 6-dan. Despite being only in his early twenties, Kurata (together with Ogata 9-dan) is widely considered as one of Japan's best professionals and ...

Kuwabara Honinbou

Supporting

The current holder of the Honinbo title in Hikaru no Go. Kuwabara is friends with Toya Meijin, but rivals Ogata. He also has an interest in Hikaru and bets on Hikaru in his Beginner Dan series game.(Source: Wikipedia)...

Mitani Yuki

Supporting

A player at the Go Club at Haze Middle School who overcomes his cheating habit. He is angry at Hikaru for choosing to be an Insei rather than stay at the school Go club when they have a tournament around the corner.It is shown that he and Hikaru still tal...

Morishita Shigeo

Supporting

Also known as Morishita Sensei or Mr. Morishita. A 9-dan pro who is Waya's go teacher and leader of the study group which Hikaru also frequents on Waya's invitation. He considers Toya Meijin a rival, since the two of them became pros at the same time. Mor...

Nase Asumi

Supporting

Asumi Nase is one of the first class insei Hikaru studies and plays with. She often wears a sweatshirt that has "LSU" printed on it. ...

Ochi Kousuke

Supporting

Birthday: November 2Yet another insei in the same group as Hikaru, Ochi is one of the youngest (12 years old when introduced), yet very outspoken about his ability. His bragging about his strength hides his insecurity; after each loss he is known to disap...

Ogata Seiji

Supporting

A Go professional 9-dan and student of Touya Kouyo. He first took notice of Hikaru when the latter explained a go move during a children's tournament that even professional Go players would take some time to see (which was actually Sai's doing) and later,...

Touya Kouyou

Supporting

Akira Touya's stoic father. As the holder of five titles (Meijin, 10-dan, Tengen, Gosei and later Ouza), he's regarded as the best Go player in the world, and, among the Japanese, is believed to be the only player capable of holding his own against the Go...

Tsubaki Toshirou

Supporting

An older go player who applied for the Go test. He plays against and defeats Hikaru during the test. Tsubaki has a large beard and is very loud; Tsubaki easily intimidates people. Hikaru and Tsubaki become friends and later asks Hikaru to carry on his dre...

Tsutsui Kimihiro

Supporting

Tsutsui is the nerdy and kind hearted Haze junior high school Go club president who uses a play book while playing in tournaments. While he is not a strong Go player and doesn't play too well, he loves the game and plays with a positive attitude. Hikaru f...

Waya Yoshitaka

Supporting

Hikaru's "big brother" insei. Like Kaga, he has a dislike for Akira Toya because he can never defeat him and because of Akira's detached attitude towards the game. He has once faced Sai in Internet Go as Zelda for his nickname. He becomes a pro (at age 15...

Yang Hai

Supporting

A Chinese pro player. Outwardly an amicable man with a relaxing attitude, Yang Hai is in fact very mature-minded and extremely keen on Go psychology. Hes also known for his language hobby (he can speak Korean, Japanese and English fluently) and his immerg...

Yashiro Kiyoharu

Supporting

Age: 15A player from the Kansai Go institute. Yashiro studied Go when he was ten and became a professional player by the age of fifteen, thus praised by his teacher and regulars of the Kansai institute as a prodigy. However, he often has trouble garnering...