At the beginning of April a visitor to this website called “Jon” posted a comment asking,

What is the difference in quality between the Classic Shogi Set and the Nintendo Shogi Koma (Kaki-Goma Style)…?

A month has passed already, but the other day I had a close look at the two sets. Here are the results…

The two sets are actually quite different, more than you might suppose.

KOMA QUALITY

In terms of quality of material, the Nintendo Shogi Set  is better, particularly the quality and finish of the wood.

The wood of the classic shogi koma pieces are flecked and mottled whereas that of the Nintendo pieces is lighter and cleaner.

KOMA DESIGN

The Classic Koma design imitates a “hori goma” style of carving. I think the kanji design has been stamped onto the surface of the pieces because the lines of the characters are slightly indented into the wood.

The Nintendo Koma design is – or cleverly imitates – the sweeping hand-painted character style of kakigoma.

The result is that the design of the Classic Koma is a little easier to read, but the Nintendo set has a more sweeping and spontaneous feeling to it. The difference in style is clearly seen in a comparison of the keima or knights:

Classic Keima, left. Nintendo Keima, right.

KOMA BACKS

The two shogi sets have similar red characters on the backs of the pieces. The design is quite cursive in both cases.

Classic Koma, left. Nintendo Koma, right.

KOMA BOXES

The Classic Shogi Koma box lid has nicely jigsawed recesses for you to insert your fingers when lifting the lid off whereas the Nintendo box has straight edges.

Classic Koma box, above. Nintendo Koma box, below.

In conclusion, the Nintendo Koma set is definitely of higher quality, but the Classic Koma set is easy to read. If clarity trumps quality for you, you will prefer the Classic Shogi Set with its “stamped” images. On the other hand, if you are looking for a high quality mass market set the Nintendo Shogi Set would be the best choice for you.

David Hurley

Nintendo Hanafuda decks have been available on this site from the beginning, but for some reason or other, I never quite got around to uploading Nintendo shogi sets. Finally, however, I have got around to it and am pleased to announce that I can now offer two Nintendo shogi koma sets and the Nintendo folding shogi board.

I would place the Nintendo shogi koma in the “good quality mass market” bracket. You can choose between “kaki-goma” and “hori-goma” sets.

Kaki-Goma

Kaki-goma are shogi pieces with the characters that designate the piece values painted on with a calligraphy brush (“kaki” = written/painted + “goma” = “koma” = shogi piece).

Hori-Goma

Hori-goma have the characters carved into the surface (“hori” = carved), and then painted with sumi ink or lacquer . There are various types of hori-goma, but the Nintendo hori-goma are of a relatively simple design and the carved characters have been painted over with ink.

The Nintendo shogi board is a standard folding wooden board held together with a couple of metal hinges.

Check out tbe Nintendo Shogi Koma via the link.

DH

Beverly Enterprises Inc

The Japanese games company Beverly Enterprises Inc is building a strong brand image as a designer of cool looking games that are strong on “concept,” design and packaging.

You can get a good idea of what I mean if you compare their “Shogi Training Set” to an equivalent product by the child education specialists, Kumon (see my previous blog post). Whereas Kumon go for a solid, carefully designed, wooden set, Beverly aspire to creating something new, dynamic, and exciting using lighter materials, such as bonded card, plastic and glossy paper.

"...designed to hang on a stand and SHOUT!"

Two Hanafuda-Trump Decks

You can get a similar impression if you compare Beverly’s “Hanafuda Trump” deck to the old Tamura Shogundo Hanafuda Trump deck, (currently unavailable).

The Tamura Shogundo deck is made of plastic card stock and is packed in a plastic case with a cardboard sleeve.

It would be easy to overlook the Shogundo deck on a shop shelf, unlike Beverly’s Hanafuda Trump deck, which is packed in a box twice the size of the Shogundo Hanafuda pack, and which is designed to hand on a shop shelf stand and SHOUT!

Beverly Hanafuda: Strong On Design

And, you have to admit, there is a lot to shout about when it comes to the design of the cards. It was an inspired idea to set the hanafuda cards at a dynamic angle against a traditional tatami mat background. The light green colour and the texture of the tatami nicely sets of the strong colours and designs of the hanafuda cards.

Also, the light green backgound helps to make the Western playing card values stand out so they are very easy to read.

The cards are made of glossy card stock and measure 57mm x 89mm, a little narrower and a little longer than the Shogundo deck. I find them nicely proportioned for play as well as pleasing to look at.

Nice Box But…

The only real drawback with this deck is that the cardboard box was clearly designed to look good on the shop display rack rather than to serve as the ideal storage box for the cards. It’s cleverly put together so that the cards sit in two compartments inside the box. Yes, that means you have to split the deck before you can put it away. Sadly, there is no good solid plastic storage case such as you get with the Shogundo deck, but then Beverly is NOT Shogundo!

Beverly: A Youthful & Dynamic Company

Japanese companies like Shogundo and Kumon seem to be rather staid affairs run by old men who happen to make games for the young. Beverly was founded in 1977, but it remains a dynamic and youthful company that knows how to tap into the dynamic evanescent energy of youth…

Click the link to order a Beverly Hanafuda Trump deck from Japanese-Games-Shop.com.

David Hurley

Part of the process of learning how to play shogi involves remembering the kanji characters for each piece. That’s because shogi pieces have the piece-name on their face to distinguish them from each other. If you want to play shogi well you have to learn to read the kanji at a glance and know immediately which piece is which.

That can be a difficult job for foreign players who have not studied kanji, but it can be almost as difficult for Japanese children who may only know hiragana and a few basic kanji when they first begin to play shogi.

Kumon Shogi Training Pieces

Some years ago, the Japanese private education company, Kumon, brought out a wooden “Study Shogi” set to help Japanese children learn shogi.

The shogi pieces in the Kumon set have little grids on them representing the squares immediately surrounding the shogi piece, with red arrows to show where the piece can move. If the arrow finishes inside the square, then piece can only move as far as that square. If the arrow breaks through the outer boundary of the square, then the shogi piece in question can move several squares in that direction, like the rook, bishop or queen in chess.

The name of the piece is also given in hiragana underneath the traditional kanji character.

The Kumon set is made to their typically high production standards, and everything is made of wood.

Another nice feature of the set is that the wooden box that stores the pieces, and the wooden lid, double as trays for the shogi pieces during play. Because captured pieces can be reintroduced to the game as your own pieces, it is important to keep all the pieces you capture on display so that both your opponent and you can see what has been captured.

The "Master Shogi" Training Set

More recently, another shogi training set, called “Master Shogi” was released by Japanese game company, Beverly Enterprises Inc. It is a slickly packaged set designed more like a board game, with a cardboard board overlaid with a plastic grid into which the plastic pieces sit very snugly. The squares where the pieces go at the set up stage are marked with the kanji character of the respective pieces.

As you get better at reading the pieces and understanding how they move, you can replace the stickers that cover the plastic pieces with new ones with standard shogi kanji designs on them and no movement styles.

The Master Shogi set includes a couple of illustrated Japanese instruction pamphlets. One of the pamphlets is a in “manga” format, with the instructions explained in popular comic strip style.

If you have some knowledge of Japanese and can read hiragana you will be able to read the Japanese version of the rules that come with the set. If you can’t read Japanese, the diagrams show you clearly how the pieces move.

Both shogi training sets offer the learner a good way to get to know how the pieces move. The Kumon set is better quality, being made of wood, but the Master set is cheaper and has some nice features that youngsters will enjoy such as the option to “upgrade” pieces with new stickers as they master their movements.

Both shogi training sets are now available on this website via this link or under the Shogi tab in the horizontal menu.

David Hurley

Tsume are shogi mating problems. The key feature of a tsume puzzle, unlike a western chess problem, is that you have to check the opponent’s king in every move you make to complete the puzzle.

Here in Japan, some tsume puzzle books date back several centuries and tsume puzzles are generally recognized as a good way to improve your skill in playing shogi. Of course, you don’t actually have to play shogi in order to enjoy the puzzles.

T. Gene Davis’ shogi book, Tsume Puzzles for Japanese Chess starts with an introduction to the game of shogi, with a clear set of rules, with photos and diagrams. That is followed by a brief explanation of how to read the puzzles. Altogether, this shogi book has more than 200 tsume puzzles of varying complexity, ranging from single move solutions to puzzles requiring thirteen moves to solve. Explanatory notes and solutions are provided.

There is also a very useful “quick reference” section which gives you the kanji notation for shogi pieces. One interesting point about tsume puzzles is that they show your opponent’s pieces by printing the kanji upside down, and the quick reference guide shows you the kanji both ways up, which is very helpful for beginners.

David Hurley

Actually, their design resembles that of high quality modern soroban such as the Tomoe soroban – also available on this website.

A typical modern soroban is housed in a plastic “tray”. The tray serves to strengthen the frame, protect the rods and make the soroban easy to use whether you are holding it in your hand or working with it flat on the table.

All the parts of the basic soroban, the tray, the rods and the beads, are made of plastic. It is a bit “chunkier” than the Tomoe model, and not quite as smooth, but it is excellent value for the price, whether you opt for the basic 11 rod soroban or the basic 13 rod version.

The Basic Soroban

Please note that whereas the Tomoe soroban will be shipped by Express Mail Service, the basic version is shipped by air mail – unless you request, and pay for, a shipping upgrade.

Here is the link to the soroban page: http://www.japanese-games-shop.com/other-goods/soroban/

David Hurley

David,

I have the parts that you sent but I can’t read Japanese. I can’t get the Coleto pen together without instruction could you send me instructions in english, please.

All the best,

L.

It had not occurred to me that instructions were necessary, but on second thoughts I realized that loading a Coleto pen is not obvious.

Actually, it can be a bit fiddly.

It didn’t have a Coleto pen to hand, or time to sit down and write a clear set of instructions about how to load it, so I searched YouTube, and found the perfect solution:

I will be updating my Pilot pen listings shortly. For now, you can check them out here.

David Hurley

The Old Classic Shogi Set

One of my longest-standing listings on this site has just undergone a change in specs. The Classic Shogi Set used to be a single box set. The pieces used to be housed in a plastic box that fitted into the top of the game box above the folded board.

Now, however, that set seems to have disappeared; single boxed sets usually have plastic pieces and lighter boards. The “classic” folding board continues to be available, however, in a box of its own, and is sold sepearately.

Likewise, standard shogi pieces are also sold separately in a box of their own, a nice wooden box like the more expensive hand carved sets.

So, it’s out with the old and in with the new for the “classic” set. The specs are pretty much the same for the board, but the pieces may be a little better in quality and the traditional wooden shogi koma box is a big improvement on the old not-so-classical plastic box…

The price is currently the same as before, $55 plus S&H. You can order the set from the Shogi Sets page.

DH

The New "Classic" Shogi Set - Complete With Wooden Koma Box!

I’m interested in buying a Japanese Mahjong set, but I’m not a connoisseur. I would like to know the differences in terms of quality between The Take Mahjong Set, the Standard Japanese Mahjong Set and the Green Tile Mahjong Set, as I’m not fond of the diamond-like little jewel in the Take set, but have read good reviews of it.

I’ve also heard about Sango Mahjong Set but I haven’t seen it in your online shop…

Pierre

My reply:

Hi Pierre,

The key difference between the Take Mahjong Set and the Standard and Green Tile Mahjong sets is the shape of the tile-backs. The Take set has flatter backs for easy wall-stacking. The other sets have more traditional slightly-rounded backs that imitate the shape of the traditional bamboo-backed tiles of yesteryear.

To tell you the truth, “wall stacking” is not a problem with any set, so if you don’t like sets with embedded diamond tiles, I suggest you
choose either the Standard Mahjong Set or the Green Tile Mahjong Set.

The Standard Mahjong set I sell on my site is basically the “Sango” tiles in a cheap box. I can get you a Sango set if you wish, but it
costs about $35 more, and the box is not really much better quality! The TILES are the same.

The faces of the Green tiles are the same design as the Sango/Standard set. The tile backs are green (of course!), and the tiles are a little
heavier.

All sets are shipped by Express Mail Service from Japan.

Hope that helps you make a decision.

Best wishes,

David Hurley

The Nintendo Harifuda deck

Good news for collectors of Japanese card games worldwide! Last month I “accidentally” bought a small stock of Nintendo Harifuda card decks from my supplier. I misread the label, and bought them thinking I was getting Kabufuda decks.

Harifuda is a Japanese gambling game involving cards numbered from one to six.

I have been meaning to add Harifuda decks to my listings, but never got around to it. But with a stock of cards sat on my shelf, I finally found a moment yesterday morning and added them to my listings over on the Tripleclicks website.

Click here to check out the Nintendo Harifuda deck on Tripleclicks.

Tripleclicks is free to join and safe to use. I have a range of Japanese games available on the site and that’s also where I post “hot deals” or “closeouts”.