The production of boards begins with selecting old wood of Kaya. The Kyushu Mountains that straddle Oita, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima, centered on the mountainous areas of Miyazaki, Kaya in this area is prized as Hyuga Kaya (日向榧).
In particular, the highest quality material is the Kaya cut out from the jurisdiction of the Aya Forestry Office in Miyazaki Prefecture.
The first condition of the top quality boards is to use the fine grained wood with many annual rings carved by the unique geology and the strong sun and heavy rain in the southern country in the unexplored deep mountains.
Kaya used for boards is 400 to 600 years old or older, but most of it is now a national forest, and old Kaya suitable for boards has been exhausted.
In addition, when processing wood, the biggest issue is whether it is dry or not, not just on the Go board. When raw, it is easy to crack, stains, be verminous, and uncomfortable to play.
So, after cutting out raw wood, it must be left to stand for at least 10 years before it is processed, and it is naturally dried. Today, Kaya is a very valuable item. At my place, We make domestic materials after drying them for more than 10 years, so we have never received any complaints from customers.
As a long-established shop of Go board, our shop has received a testimonial from the late Noriyuki Nakayama 7 Dan, a professional Go player.
"Mr. Kito's board is not particularly low-priced. However, all the products can be recommended with confidence."
Noriyuki Nakayama
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