Yumi Hotta
Yumi Hotta (堀田 由美 Hotta Yumi, most often written as ほった ゆみ) is a Japanese mangaka, best known as the author of the best-selling manga and anime series Hikaru no Go, about the game of go that is widely credited for the recent boom of the game in Japan. The idea behind Hikaru no Go began when Yumi Hotta played a pick-up game of go with her father-in-law. She thought that it might be fun to create a manga based on this traditional board game, and began the work under the title of Nine Stars (九つの星 Kokonotsu no Hoshi), named for the nine "star points" on a go board. She later worked with Takeshi Obata (the illustrator) and Yukari Umezawa (5-Dan, the supervisor) in the creation of Hikaru no Go. She won the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Award and the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for Hikaru no Go.
“Every time I played Isumi he made calm deliberate moves regardless of how the game was going.If he can maintain that in match play he'll always have a vital edge going in.”
“I have, actually. I'm under pressure, but I'm also observing myself under pressure from the standpoint of an onlooker.Once I create this other self within my mind I can proceed calmly, at my own pace.”
“Whether it's anger, panic, doubt, tension, nervousness or pressure…you can't let your emotions throw you!That's the thing you've really gotta learn…to look only at the stones. You can do this through selfobservation and training.It doesn't matter what your general nature is like, you can acquire the skill to overcome distraction.”