The History of Sugoroku

■Board Games in China

As board games in China, there existed racing games including shuang-lu (sugoroku), xin-jun-tu (picture sugoroku), bo, and guan.

Igo has the oldest tradition besieging as a game and liu-zi-qi (six-piece-game), ge-wu (three-piece-game) and san-qi (three-piece-game) are arrangement games. Chinese Shogi's existence in later Han dynasty is also proved.

The oldest in records among all is wei-qi (igo). Chun-qiu-zuo-shi-zhuan (548 BC) has a record on it. Wei-qi was appreciated as a sophisticated brain game by royalties, nobility and intellectuals. The history of Igo in Korea is also very old, the article of 475 BC in"Kudara-Hongi" writes that the king was so much absorbed with Igo that the country has been ruined.

Sugoroku is written lu, shuang-liu-zi, liu-cai in China, it is said to have originated in Hara-saigi of India and Cao Zhi of Wei in Three Kingdom era began it in China.

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