Our work at Kumasu Gobanten is not simply about selling Go or Shogi boards.
It is about quietly continuing to make tools that can be used for a long time.

Here in Aya Town, Miyazaki, our family has worked with Go and Shogi boards for generations—making them, repairing them, and caring for them as tools meant to last.We use Japanese kaya wood, and from selecting the timber to the final finish, we face each step of the process with our own hands.

Wood comes to life through use. By being repaired, resurfaced, and cared for, a tool gradually becomes part of its owner’s daily life.
Our belief that “we do not make what cannot be repaired” comes from this simple idea.

A Go board or Shogi board is not something one must have to live.
Yet sometimes, the sound of a single move or the feel beneath the hand stays with a person for many years.
We wish to support those quiet moments by making tools with sincerity and without haste.

In recent years, we have also applied what we have learned from board making to everyday items such as cutting boards and chopsticks.
They are not meant to be special objects, but tools whose value is revealed through continued use.

At Kumasu Gobanten, we will continue our work here in Aya Town—listening to the wood, shaping it by hand, and creating things that can endure time.

Kumasu Gobanten
Toyokazu KUMASU