Punahou School teacher Brian Johnson has been announced the winner of the American Go Foundation Teacher of the Year award.
Johnson, who is the first Hawaiʻi resident to win the award since its inception in 1996, has been teaching the class, “Buddhist Philosophy and the Game of Go” at Punahou for the last 16 years. Lauded for his unique and innovative style of teaching, more than 180 Punahou students take his class each year, learning both practical strategy lessons related to the game alongside Eastern philosophy and ethical decision making and self-reflection.
Governor Josh Green declared July “The Month of Go” for the State of Hawaiʻi, recognizing the work of Johnson.
“We are so thankful to the American Go Foundation and Governor Green for recognizing the work that Brian has done in our community here in Hawaii,” said Honolulu Go Club President Sid Kobashigawa in a press release.
Johnson will be honored at the American Go Association’s US Go Congress in Portland Oregon on July 18.
Go (or baduk in Korean and weiqi in Chinese) is a board game first invented in China 4000 years ago and has a long history in the islands. Hawaii’s first go association was founded by the first generation of Japanese immigrants in 1917, called the Hawaii Kiin. This organization was later officially recognized as a branch organization of the Nihon Kiin, Japan’s official organizational body for Go, in the 1980s.
Photo credit: Honolulu Go Club