Ichiriki Ryo, the holder of three titles of the Japanese Go, won the Ing Cup World Professional Weiqi Championship in Shanghai on September 8.

This is the first time in 19 years that a Japanese player won in a major international Go tournament.

On September 9, Ichiriki returned to Japan and was welcomed by children at the dojo he has attended since he was a boy.

Ichiriki Ryo (27):

I am very happy. One of the most attractive points of Go is that we can communicate with each other on the Go board even if we don't understand each other's language.

S/ Hon Seisen, Go player who runs dojo where Ichiriki attended:

I have been waiting for this since long time ago. It is the return of the king. For the children, he is a hero.

Ichiriki said that he would like to use the prize money of 400,000 dollars, about 57 million Japanese yen, for the development of the Go world.