An example set of 'international' pieces. Pieces in the most simplified kurobori ( 黒彫) typeface. Black has a bishop on 44, a pawn on 17, a lance on 19, and a rook, two golds, and a silver in hand. White has pawns on 13, 24, 34 king on 23 and a promoted rook on 29. Bottom: +L, L, +S, S, G, N, +N, P, +P Another popular style of shogi pieces different from the usual Japanese characters. Top: +R, R, K (reigning), K (challenging), B, +B. The abbreviations are used for game notation and often when referring to the pieces in speech in Japanese.Ĭloseup of shogi pieces. In some cases, the backsides of the King pieces (the narrow side which faces back toward the player during normal play) will display kanji containing additional information about the piece manufacturers.įollowing is a table of the pieces with their Japanese representations and English equivalents. On the reverse side of each piece, other than the king and gold general, are one or two other characters, in amateur sets often in a different color (usually red) this side is turned face up during play to indicate that the piece has been promoted. Several of these names were chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in international chess, and not as literal translations of the Japanese names.Įach piece has its name written on its surface in the form of two kanji ( Chinese characters used as syllabograms or as logograms to record texts in Old Japanese), usually in black ink. The pieces from largest (most important) to smallest (least important) are: Pieces face forward by having the pointed side of each piece oriented toward the opponent's side – this shows who controls the piece during play.

Except for the kings, opposing pieces are undifferentiated by marking or color. Įach player has a set of 20 flat wedge-shaped pentagonal pieces of slightly different sizes. Pairs of dots mark the players' promotion zones.

The board is nearly always rectangular, and the rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. In Japanese they are called Sente 先手 (first player) and Gote 後手 (second player), but in English are conventionally referred to as Black and White, with Black the first player. Two players face each other across a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ranks (rows, 段) by 9 files (columns, 筋) yielding an 81-square board. The board itself is raised for the comfort of players seated on tatami mats (background), and is hollowed underneath to produce a pleasing sound when the pieces are moved. The stands on either side are komadai used to hold captured pieces.

The pieces on the far side are turned to show their promoted values. 1120).Įquipment A traditional shōgi ban (shogi board) displaying a set of koma (pieces). Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the drop rule was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period (c. The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century, and the game was likely transmitted to Japan via China or Korea sometime after the Nara period. This drop rule is speculated to have been invented in the 15th century and possibly connected to the practice of 15th-century mercenaries switching loyalties when captured instead of being killed. Shogi was the earliest historical chess-related game to allow captured pieces to be returned to the board by the capturing player. Shōgi means general's ( shō 将) board game ( gi 棋). It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. Shogi ( 将棋, shōgi, English: / ˈ ʃ oʊ ɡ i/, Japanese: ), also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players.

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