allergies

a powerful state, inexperienced with conflict inside its borders, will have allergies. even modest threats and attacks will induce its hypersensitive war machines to overreact. the show of force during such cases is always incredible and, without foresight and careful consideration, could negatively impact everyone else in the world. if one or two “allergens” are able to move an army and shut down a major city, what would a group of trained “allergens”, deployed in every major city and attacking in concert, be able to do? such attacks can be augmented if they have the support of the populace within the state itself. it’s vital that the state cultivate a perception of divinity among the people. a healthy body’s reaction to foreign agents is usually invisible, with little impediment to daily life.

a common mistake of novice players is to spend too many stones trying to contain a living group. a living group is invincible. it should be contained from far away by other groups working together coherently. instead of trying to punish an invader and clinging onto territory, we should let the other player have it and instead control other areas of the board (振り替わり). it’s possible a player may not have the competency to use this strategy or even know what is happening. perhaps there is no other place to go and the player has no choice but to “over-defend” in a do or die, in which there will be no margin for error. in either case, this represents a dire situation and is indicative of mistakes made during earlier moves. we should always be able to give away just as freely as we are able to take.