Artisan behind Korea's legendary baduk boards

His right index finger tells the entire story before he utters a single word. Unable to straighten naturally and stuck resting lifted upward, misshapen from more than six decades of pressing down on hand planes, it is the quiet, undeniable badge of a craftsman who has spent a lifetime shaping raw timber into pieces of living history.

At 75, Shin Wan-sik bears the physical toll of 60 years dedicated to an ancient craft. He commands 70 percent of Korea's domestic baduk board market through his company, Six Brothers Baduk. Baduk is more commonly known internationally as "go."

Virtually every landmark event in modern Korean baduk has unfolded over his creations. Recently a custom board made by Shin was presented by Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Chinese President Xi Jinping during an APEC summit in Gyeongju in 2025.

His influence reaches far beyond diplomatic gifts: One of his boards was used in the historic match between Lee Se-dol and AlphaGo, as well as the personal boards favored by legendary masters Cho Hun-hyun and Lee Chang-ho — the real-life inspirations behind the film "The Match" (2025).

Escaping poverty with wood plane

Shin’s journey began in the 1960s in rural Gokseong, South Jeolla Province. Driven to Seoul as a young boy to escape grinding poverty and avoid a life of grueling farm labor, he took his first step into the baduk world at age 14.

Through the legendary late baduk master Cho Nam-chul, a relative of Shin's, he found work as an errand boy at the Songwon Baduk Club in Myeong-dong. The following year, he joined a relative’s woodworking factory, taking up the plane for the first time.

The Vietnam War brought a breakthrough for the factory where Shin worked, driven by the Korean government's push to promote baduk among troops.

"Vietnam was the Korean baduk industry's first export destination," Shin recalled during an interview with The Korea Times at the company's offices in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 8.

"There were only four of us — my master, myself and two others — working until 3 a.m. every night. We barely had time to go to the bathroom. We worked nonstop, with no special allowances made just because I was young."

In 1989, Shin united with his five brothers and their wives to establish Six Brothers Baduk in Namyangju. Together, they built an empire that offered everything from cheap folding boards that cost only $3 to museum-quality masterpieces priced at more than $75,000.

Lifelong pursuit of perfect timber

For Shin, true craftsmanship begins with respecting nature.

"A master-grade board is impossible to craft without pure artisan spirit," Shin asserted. The physical creation spans a demanding sequence — curing the raw timber, precise cutting and planing, carving the acoustic resonance cavity on the underside, ruling the grid lines in traditional lacquer, and fitting the hand-carved wooden legs. While every phase demands precision, Shin emphasized that seasoning the timber remains the ultimate foundation.

A master-grade board requires timber from a bija (Torreya nucifera) tree at least five centuries old — a wood prized for its pale golden hue and the clear resonance it produces when a stone strikes its surface.

"Only a tree that lives out its natural life and dies on its own terms yields the finest bija wood, its grain maturing into a flawless, unified tone," Shin explained. "That is something granted by the heavens. Human hands alone cannot make a master board; nature must provide it."

Even from a magnificent tree, perfect wood is sparse. Only a fraction of the wood — the straight, finely grained wood cut clear of the core — meets the standard. Sourcing it has become an obsession. Because Korea’s ancient trees are legally protected, craftspeople like Shin rely heavily on imported logs, but international supplies have dwindled in recent years.

The board gifted to President Xi also used wood procured from abroad. It was carved from a tree estimated to be 700 to 800 years old, naturally dried for two decades and recut three times over the course of a month to achieve absolute perfection.

For Shin, true fulfillment has never been about gaining wealth, but about the raw potential resting inside his workshop.

"The moment I feel most proud is like a farmer gazing at a granary brimming with grain — it’s seeing those logs stacked high," he says. "People called me crazy for buying only timber. My eldest child asked why I didn't invest in real estate instead. But I didn't need land; the wood was what mattered. Looking at the timber I've gathered over a lifetime — that is what makes me happy."

Guarding legacy in digital era

Originating in China, the ancient board game is now played around the world, but Japan helped popularize the game worldwide in the 20th century. The name “go” is Japanese, and is commonly used as a result of their influence on its contemporary development.

In recent years, Korea has gained influence in the baduk world beyond Asia, as more people visit the country to learn and play the game.

Lee Se-dol’s famous match against AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence developed by Google's DeepMind, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, prompted many players to move to online platforms, slowing demand for physical boards. As a result, Six Brothers Baduk has kept its business going by turning its attention overseas.

Following the passing of two brothers, Shin’s three sons joined the enterprise, using their fluency in English, Chinese and Japanese to expand exports across Taiwan, the Philippines, Germany and the United States.

Looking out over his workshop, Shin remained hopeful that the tangible warmth of the game will never fully fade. "We may never return to the days when grandfathers sat down with their grandsons to teach them the game," Shin reflected, his bent finger resting against a slab of aged wood. "But online screens can't replace everything. Someday, people will miss the human connection and that clear, beautiful sound of a stone meeting real wood."