Posts Tagged ‘shogi’
I have just made a new page under the Shogi tab on this website and added two shogi training sets to the listings. Shogi training sets are popular with children here in Japan, and would also suit non-Japanese beginners who want to learn shogi as quickly as possible and master the moves as they play.
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
The first English langauge shogi book of “Tsume“, or shogi puzzles, was published earlier this year. Tsume Puzzles for Japanese Chess
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
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.
| T. Gene Davis runs a Daily Tsume Puzzle at Japanesechess.net . He also provides shogi information at Japanesechess.org. You can download shogi board PDFs and a shogi applet from this site. See also Genedavissoftware.com, a website where T. Gene Davis writes and maintains the Shogi: Samurai Chess computer program. |
David Hurley
Shogi Pieces & Paper Board
The dollar is low, the yen is high…
…but that doesn’t mean we can’t sometimes find a way to offer Japanese Shogi Koma at a 50% discount!
(“Shogi koma” is Japanese for “chess piece”.)
This set of Japanese Chess Pieces plus a paper playing board would make an ideal stocking filler for any games-loving child or adult! It also offers a super-economical way for people to try out Japanese chess…
What happens in a game of chess when you have 20 pieces to work with on a 9×9 board… and when you can recruit any piece you capture to fight on your side?
Japanese Shogi Pieces with Paper Board & English Manual is currently reduced from $8.07 to $3.73 at:
http://www.tripleclicks.com/detail.php?item=62899
This cheap and cheerful Japanese shogi set is ideal for anybody who wants to play shogi with no frills attached!
- And now you can get it for half price!
You get full set of 42 Shogi pieces made from linden wood with black calligraphy characters on the front. The backs of of “pieces that can be promoted” are marked with red characters.
The set includes a paper playing board and full English instructions.
The Shogi game is available at a 50% discount between 4th and 10th December at Tripleclicks. So you need to be quick if you want to take advantage of the “Tripleclicks Hot Deal” price.
http://www.tripleclicks.com/detail.php?item=62899
The set will be shipped by airmail from Japan.
David Hurley
P. S. Click the link to check out the rest of my Japanese Shogi range.
