Kazuto Hasegawa, a great Japanese master of 9 dan, has always been one top of Japan renju throughout past 30 years. He has participated in Meijin-Sen Matches 12 times (!!), and been Meijin 6 times - in 1996 and 2005-2009.
He started to play renju in 1976, improving his level by playing games and solving problems.
The year after becoming Japanese Meijin first time, he represented the Japanese in the World Championship and got the World Champion title in 1997 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Without a doubt, he is one of the world's best players today!