This magazine titled Go (in English) is aimed at an audience of fanatic players of a two player, somewhat abstract strategy board game – like Japanese chess for lack of a better analogy. The goal of the game, like the war that was about to start, is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago.
The design of the covers are created in an art deco style common in Japan prior to World War II. The advertisements are, likewise, representative of this international style.
Go has a larger board with more scope for play and longer games, and, on average, many more alternatives to consider per move. Go was considered one of the four essential arts of the cultured aristocratic Chinese scholars in antiquity. The magazine was sold to the average person, like chess columns in newspapers and game magazines are today.
