Kageyama Yuri
Kaji Maki
Tokyo (Associated Press)-His Japanese company stated on August 17 that Maki Kaji, the creator of the popular digital puzzle Sudoku, has passed away and his life’s job is to spread the joy of puzzles. He is 69 years old and suffers from cholangiocarcinoma.
Kaji, known as the “Godfather of Sudoku”, created this puzzle to make it easy for children and others who don’t want to be too difficult. Its name consists of “number” and “single” Japanese characters. Players place numbers 1 to 9 in rows, columns and blocks without repeating them.
Ironically, it wasn’t until 2004 that Sudoku became a global hit when a fan from New Zealand voted it and published it in the British newspaper The Times.two Years later, Japan rediscovered its own problem, namely “gyakuyunyu” or “re-import”.
Kaji served as CEO of his puzzle company Nikoli Co. until July, and died on August 10 at his home in Mitaka City, Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Maki traveled to more than 30 countries to spread his enjoyment of puzzles. According to Tokyo-based Nikoli, the Sudoku Championship has attracted about 200 million people from 100 countries over the years.
Photo courtesy of NIKOLI
Nikoli said that apart from outside Japan, Sudoku has never registered a trademark, which has promoted its overseas boom.
“Kaji-san came up with the name Sudoku and it is loved by puzzle lovers from all over the world. We sincerely thank you for your support for his life,” the company said in a statement.
Maki was born on the main island of northern Hokkaido. After dropping out of Tokyo Keio University, he founded Japan’s first puzzle magazine. He founded Nikoli in 1983 and proposed Sudoku around the same time.
Yoshinao Anpuku, who succeeded Kaji as CEO of Nikoli, said that Kaji is easy to make friends and has a “unique and interesting attitude” to life.
“Our mission is to pursue Maki’s vision and possibilities,” Anpuku said.
Nikoli has provided original puzzles to more than 100 media companies, 10 of which are foreign media companies.
Mainichi, a major Japanese newspaper, praised Kaji for opening a puzzle section in the bookstore in its obituary and introduced the term “Sudoku” into the Oxford English Dictionary.
Kaji’s wife Naomi and two daughters survived. The funeral was held in a close family. Nikoli is arranging a separate memorial service, but the details are still undetermined.
