Twenty pieces, eight types
Both players use similarly colored pieces. Characters identify the piece type; the pointed end faces the opponent and shows ownership.
Japanese board game · Rules and history
Shogi: pieces that return to play
将棋 しょうぎ
Shogi is a strategy game for two players on a 9 × 9 board. Each side starts with 20 pieces. The aim is checkmate: an attack on the opposing king that no legal reply can remove. Captured pieces can return to play on your side.
9 × 9Board squares
20 per sideEight types of piece
Move or dropOne action each turn
CheckmateAttack the king with no legal answer
01
Recognize the board
02
Meet the eight piece types
Direction, range and obstacles
“Forward” means toward your opponent. Pieces that move several squares cannot pass through other pieces; the knight can jump. You cannot land on one of your own pieces.
King · 王 / 玉
One square in any direction. One per side.
King: one step in any direction.Rook · 飛
Any distance along a row or column. One per side.
Rook: straight lines.Bishop · 角
Any distance diagonally. One per side.
Bishop: diagonals.Gold · 金
One square forward, diagonally forward, sideways or straight back. Two per side.
Gold: six one-step directions.Silver · 銀
One square forward or along any diagonal. Two per side.
Silver: five one-step directions.Knight · 桂
Two squares forward and one sideways, jumping over intervening pieces. Two per side.
Knight: two possible forward destinations.Lance · 香
Any distance straight forward. Two per side.
Lance: forward only.Pawn · 歩
One square straight forward, including when capturing. Nine per side.
Pawn: one step forward.03
Capture, keep, return
1 · Capture a piece
On your turn, either move one piece on the board or place a captured piece back on it. This second action is called a drop. Land on an opponent’s piece to capture it. It becomes yours and waits off the board in your reserve, called your hand. If promoted, it returns to its original form.
Capture: the piece changes ownership.2 · Let the opponent play
The opponent takes the next turn. The captured piece stays in your hand.
The opponent makes a reply.3 · Drop it on a later turn
Place the captured piece on a legal empty square, unpromoted and pointing toward your opponent. The drop uses your whole turn.
Drop: the captured piece returns on your side.04
Turn a piece over to promote it
The promotion zone
Promotion changes how a piece moves. Your promotion zone is the farthest three rows. An eligible move starting or ending there allows you to turn the piece over. Pawns and lances must promote on reaching the farthest rank; knights must promote on reaching either of the farthest two ranks. A drop does not promote a piece on that turn. Kings and golds never promote.
Promotion zone: the opponent’s three rows.Before: a pawn
An ordinary pawn moves one square forward.
Pawn: one forward step.After: a tokin
A promoted pawn moves like a gold. Promoted silvers, knights and lances do too. A promoted rook, ryūō (龍王), adds one-step diagonal moves; a promoted bishop, ryūma (龍馬), adds one-step straight moves.
Tokin: the pawn’s promoted form.05
Check and checkmate
Checkmate: no safe reply
A king is checkmated when no legal move can remove the attack. A player may resign earlier to concede; the Japanese term is tōryō.
Checkmate: the king has no legal answer.06
If you know chess
A larger board, pieces that return
Chess uses 16 pieces per side on 8 × 8 squares, with ownership shown by color. Shogi uses 20 on 9 × 9 squares, with ownership shown by direction. In shogi, captured pieces can return as your own.
Chess and shogi: board size, ownership and captures.07
When the game needs another ending
Four identical positions
Sennichite requires the same board position, both hands and side to move to occur four times. Normally the game is replayed with the sides exchanged. If one player gave check on every one of their moves in that cycle, that player loses for perpetual check.
Kings in the far camp
A king entering the far three ranks is nyūgyoku. If mating prospects disappear, agreed impasse can be settled by points: rook or bishop counts 5, other pieces except the king 1, including pieces in hand. Under the 24-point procedure, both sides at 24 or above replay; a side below 24 loses. Some amateur events use a 27-point procedure.
The current JSA declaration procedure
Without agreement, before move 500, a player may declare on their own turn within their time. Their king must be in the enemy camp and out of check, with at least 10 other friendly pieces in that camp. Count only friendly nonking pieces in the camp and pieces in hand:31 points or more wins;24–30 leads to replay. Failing any condition loses. At 500 moves a separate replay rule applies; a continuing check sequence must first end. Tournament provisions should be checked before play.
08
Follow a game or play with a partner
Who starts, and when a move is finished
In formal even games, five pawns are tossed: more pawn faces gives the represented player the first move; more tokin faces gives it to the other player. Players exchange greetings and may review the game afterward. Releasing the moved piece completes a move, and the same hand presses the clock. Retaking a completed move, moving twice, leaving one’s king attacked, receiving advice or running out of time can lose the game.
One clock, several time systems
Each player has an allowance of thinking time. Byōyomi imposes a limit on each move after that allowance runs out. For example, the NHK main tournament uses 10 minutes, then less than 30 seconds per move, with ten additional one-minute consideration periods. Other events set different limits; two-day title games may seal the next move overnight.
Read a move record
In Japanese kifu, ▲ and △ mark the two sides. Files run 1–9 from right to left in a standard diagram; ranks run一–九 from top to bottom. ▲7六歩 means the first player moves a pawn to file 7, rank 6. 成 marks promotion, 不成 declining promotion, and 打 a drop where clarification is needed. English records may use P-76 for a pawn move, x for capture and * for a drop.
Make an uneven match playable
In komaochi, the stronger player starts without agreed pieces: a bishop handicap removes the bishop, while a two-piece handicap removes rook and bishop. Kyū and dan indicate rank, but amateur, apprentice and professional grades belong to different systems. A professional dan is not interchangeable with the same amateur number.
09
What players try to achieve
Prepare attack and protect the king
In Static Rook openings, the rook works from its original side; in Ranging Rook openings, it moves across before the attack. A castle groups golds, silvers and other defenders around the king. The opening develops these arrangements; the middle game brings direct exchanges, and the endgame focuses on reaching the king.
Count useful moves as well as pieces
To judge a position, consider material, the squares each piece controls, king safety and who can force the next response. A piece in hand can appear on a new square, so captures change future threats. Players may sacrifice material for an attack that wins sooner. Tsume-shogi problems train this reading by asking for a forced mating sequence.
10
How did shogi reach Japan?
Two proposed routes
A leading theory links shogi and other games in the chess family to chaturanga, a game from ancient India. The Japan Shogi Association describes two proposed routes to Japan. One runs through China and the Korean peninsula; another through Southeast Asia. These are historical hypotheses. Early pieces found in Japan establish its presence there, rather than proving either route.
Proposed routes, following the Japan Shogi Association’s account.11
From early pieces to public competition
Heian period: pieces at Kōfukuji
Pieces excavated at Kōfukuji temple in Nara in 1993 were found with a wooden tablet dated 1058. They already have the pointed, five-sided shape and written characters recognizable on shogi pieces today.
Archaeological pieces; 1058 is the associated tablet’s date.Early 1200s: two forms in writing
The Nichūreki, an early 13th-century encyclopedia, records small and large forms of shogi. Its small game had six piece types: king, gold, silver, knight, lance and pawn.
Historical manuscript reproduction, via the National Diet Library and JSA.1400s–1500s: the modern game takes shape
In the Japan Shogi Association’s account, modern shogi and the reuse of captured pieces took shape in the 1400s–1500s. Earlier small shogi had gained the rook, bishop and a piece called the drunken elephant from larger games; the drunken elephant was later removed.
Selected changes in the JSA’s historical account.Edo period: support from the shogunate
From 1612, leading players received stipends from the shogunate, Japan’s military government. The three houses—the Ōhashi main house, its branch house and the Itō house—supplied holders of the lifetime Meijin (“master”) title. In 1716, the ruling shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune (徳川吉宗) set the annual castle games for the seventeenth day of the eleventh month in the Japanese calendar. Shogunate support ended with its fall in 1868.
Historical teaching illustration: Edo-period patronage.1881–1908: newspapers bring new support
A shogi problem appeared in the Ukiyo newspaper in 1881; the Yorozu Chōhō printed a game score in 1898. A newspaper tournament followed in 1908. Players gained payments, while readers could follow games at home.
Historical newspaper item, 1881.1924–1938: organization and a title won in competition
The Tokyo Shogi Federation formed in 1924; players from western Japan joined in 1927, when it became the Japan Shogi Association. In 1935, the lifetime Meijin title began changing to one earned through competition. Professional player Yoshio Kimura (木村義雄) won the deciding contest in 1937; his accession ceremony followed in 1938.
1937: the contest was won; 1938: accession ceremony.Postwar organizations and broadcasting
The association resumed the name Japan Shogi Association in 1947 and incorporated in 1949. The NHK Cup began in 1951, adding broadcast competition to newspaper games. The Japan Shogi Association became a public interest association in 2011 and marked its centenary in 2024.
1974: a women’s professional circuit
The first women’s professional Meijin competition began in October 1974 with six players. The women’s professional system is separate from the kishi professional system, which is open to all genders.
Teaching illustration: two professional pathways.Today: play and watch
Amateurs meet in local shogi halls, school and workplace clubs, and tournaments. Media coverage also lets readers and viewers follow professional games.
Shogi in present-day settings.12
A few limits on drops
Choose a legal square
These restrictions keep captured pieces from returning just anywhere. You cannot drop a pawn in a column containing another unpromoted pawn of yours. Pawns and lances cannot be dropped on the farthest row from your side; knights cannot be dropped on the farthest two. A pawn drop that gives immediate checkmate is also forbidden.
Local positions: forward is upward. Pale pieces mark proposed drops.13
Digital play and wider audiences
A game for both people and programs
On 1 April 2017, PONANZA beat Amahiko Satō (佐藤天彦), then the reigning Meijin, in the first game of their Denō match. Shogi is also a research setting for self-play machine learning. Analysis software belongs to preparation and review; using outside advice in a regulated game is prohibited.
Places to play change
Internet services and game applications let players meet remotely and replay saved games. A historical example, Shogi Club 24, ended service on 31 December 2025. International clubs and competitions provide another route: the Japan Shogi Association held its 2024 International Shogi Forum on 7–9 November.
Beyond the live game
Shogi reaches audiences through newspaper columns, broadcast matches, digital games and tsume-shogi puzzles. Formal competitions preserve practices such as the pawn toss, greetings and post-game review. These connect the rules with how a game is played, taught and watched.
Ranks and titles describe different things
Professional rank describes a player’s grade; a title is won in a particular competition. The eight title events are Ryūō, Meijin, Eiō, Ōi, Ōza, Kisei, Kiō and Ōshō. The same player can hold more than one title.
Words and fiction
The word takabisha, “domineering,” has a shogi sense connected with advancing the rook. Fiction also introduces audiences to the professional world: Chica Umino’s manga March Comes in Like a Lion follows a young fictional player, Rei Kiriyama.
Check your understanding
How do you recognize which pieces are yours?
Your pieces point toward your opponent. Both sides use similarly colored pieces, and the written characters identify their types.
What can you do with a captured piece?
Keep it off the board in your hand. On a later turn, you may drop it unpromoted onto a legal empty square; the drop uses that entire turn.
What is the goal?
Checkmate the opposing king, leaving no legal way to escape the attack. A player may also resign before checkmate.
What do the Kōfukuji finds tell us?
They show early shogi pieces with the pointed shape and written characters still recognizable today. The pieces were found with a tablet dated 1058; that date does not establish the game’s origin.
What changed as modern shogi formed?
The small game gained the rook and bishop, then lost the drunken elephant. The reuse of captured pieces also took shape during the development of modern shogi in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
How did support change after the Edo period?
Shogunate support ended in 1868. Newspapers later printed puzzles and game scores, organized competitions and paid players, while readers could follow games at home.
What is the difference between 1937 and 1938 in the Meijin story?
Yoshio Kimura won the deciding competition in 1937. His accession ceremony took place in 1938, following the move away from a lifetime Meijin title.
What must match for a repeated position, and what changes if every move is check?
The board arrangement, both players’ hands and the side to move must match four times. If one player gives check on every one of their moves in the cycle, that player loses rather than receiving a normal replay.
Which pieces count in an entering-king declaration?
Only the declaring player’s nonking pieces in the enemy camp and pieces in hand count toward the points. The king must also be safe in that camp, with at least ten other friendly pieces there, and the timing and event rules must be satisfied.
How do rook deployment and a castle serve different purposes?
Static and Ranging Rook openings describe where the rook is deployed. A castle arranges defenders around the king. One concerns the rook’s attacking position; the other protects the king.
Sources and images
Sources for objects and archival images are listed below. Board diagrams show the positions discussed in the article.
- Japan Shogi Association · Rules
- Japan Shogi Association · Setting up the pieces
- Japan Shogi Association · Piece moves
- Japan Shogi Association · Moving pieces
- Japan Shogi Association · History 1
- Japan Shogi Association · History 2
- Japan Shogi Association · History 20
- Japan Shogi Association · Institutional history
- Japan Shogi Association · Women’s Meijin, anniversary history
- Japan Shogi Association · Amateur shogi
- Japan Shogi Association · Professional systems FAQ
- Japan Shogi Association · Xiangqi
- Japan Shogi Association · Chess
- 対局規則（現行PDF）
- 対局規則の修正（2025-10-01）
- 将棋のルールに関するご質問
- 戦法と囲い
- 基本用語集
- 棋譜の読み方 / How to read Kifu
- NHK杯将棋トーナメント
- PONANZA先勝（2017-04-01）
- 将棋倶楽部24は終了しました
- 国際将棋フォーラム2024
- Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithm
- 将棋のマナー
- 高飛車
- 3月のライオン・ストーリー
- JTプロ公式戦について
- 前田祐司九段「店じまい」— NHK杯の考慮時間
Archival manuscript and newspaper images are attributed local study references. The teaching positions are separately composed from game rules.