Shogi

What it is

Shogi is a strategy game for two players. A board of nine rows and nine columns gives eighty-one squares, and each side begins with twenty flat pieces. There is no colour difference between the two armies: instead the pieces point toward the opponent, so their direction shows who owns them. The Japanese name breaks into two parts, shō, meaning general, and gi, meaning a board game. In English the game is often called Japanese chess. When people say shogi today they usually mean the standard form, hon-shōgi, rather than older varieties such as chu shogi or the newer ones.

Origins and history

The game's earliest ancestor is chaturanga, a board game from India that dates to the sixth century. From there it is thought to have travelled to Japan through China or Korea, at some point after the Nara period. A document from 1210, the Nichūreki, records a related game that had no drop rule. The version played now existed by the fifteenth century. Nobody knows exactly when the drop rule appeared: one suggestion places it in the fifteenth century and ties it to mercenary samurai who changed sides after being taken in battle. Among chess-like games, it is the earliest known to use it.

How a game is played

Before play, each player arranges the pieces in three rows on their own side. The king sits in the middle, with gold and silver generals, knights and lances spread to either edge; the bishop and rook stand on the second row, and nine pawns fill the third. A toss of five pawns decides who moves first, and in a series the players take turns at going first. The aim is to checkmate the opposing king. Most pieces step one square at a time, though the lance, bishop and rook travel any distance along a line. Knights are the only pieces that can leap over others. Players snap a piece down with the fingers when they move it.

Promotion and drops

The far three rows form a promotion zone, marked on the board by pairs of small dots. A piece that moves into, through or within that zone may be turned over, showing a second character on its back. Promotion is usually a choice, but a pawn or lance on the last row, or a knight on either of the last two, has to promote. Captured pieces are not lost. They join the capturing player's reserve and can be dropped back onto the board on a later turn. Dropping is what makes shogi distinctive, and it is not a feature of Western chess.

Pieces and their look

Each piece carries its name in two kanji, usually in black ink. Turn a piece over and one or two more characters appear, often in red in sets made for amateurs, marking it as promoted. The promoted bishop and rook are sometimes called horse and dragon in English, following the Japanese names; a promoted pawn is a tokin. Because the characters can put off newcomers, makers have also produced pieces with chess-style symbols, English captions or letters, drawings of how each piece moves, and even animal cartoons. Many players pick up the characters quickly, helped by the fact that stronger pieces are cut larger.

How Shogi is kept

Two players sit facing each other. The pieces are set out in three rows, and a toss of five pawns settles who begins. Black, as English speakers call the first player, moves one piece, then White replies, and so on. A turn is either a move on the board, which may include a capture or a promotion, or the drop of a piece held in reserve. Captures change hands rather than leaving play. The game ends when one king is checkmated. Pieces are placed with a snap of the fingers, partly so the opponent notices the move.

When and where

There is no fixed season or date. Shogi is played throughout the year, in clubs, at home and in professional matches. A game may take half an hour, or run for two hours or more. When several games are played in one sitting, the players take turns at moving first.

Shogi belongs to Japan, where it is the board game with the widest following and where the professional game is centred. Players outside Japan learn the rules in translation, and pieces with English captions or chess-style symbols have been made for them. Other games in the same family are found across Asia, among them chaturanga in India, xiangqi in China, janggi in Korea, makruk in Thailand and Western chess in Europe.

What Shogi means

For the people who play it, shogi is a mind sport as much as a pastime, and the drop rule gives it a character of its own: nothing taken is ever gone for good, since a captured piece may return to the board on the other side. Players find the game unusually decisive, because drawn results are rare when compared with international chess, and the advantage of moving first matters less than in that game. The snapping of a piece announces a move with care and attention.

Questions people ask about Shogi

See also

KendoA Japanese martial art of swordsmanship using bamboo swords and protective armourCujuAn ancient Chinese kicking game played without hands using a stuffed or air-filled ballKarutaJapanese playing cards from the 16th century, still raced over poems each New YearKyūdōThe Japanese martial art of archery, practiced with an asymmetrical longbow

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Shogi on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.