Editing Shogi (section)

== Equipment ==
[[File:Shogi Ban Koma.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.5|A traditional ''shōgi ban'' (shogi board) displaying a set of ''koma'' (pieces). The pieces on the far side are turned to show their promoted values. The stands on either side are ''komadai'' used to hold captured pieces. 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.]]

Two players face each other across a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ''ranks'' (rows, {{lang|ja|段}}) by 9 ''files'' (columns, {{lang|ja|筋}}) yielding an 81-square board.{{efn | Cf. the 64 square [8x8] board in western chess and the 90 intersection point board [9x10] in [xiangqi]).}} In Japanese they are called {{nihongo||先手|Sente|"earlier move"}} and {{nihongo||後手|Gote|"later move"}}, but in English they are conventionally referred to as Black and White, with Black being the first player.{{efn|The first player is called Black because moves from the first player are traditionally marked with a black triangle or pentagon (▲ or ☗) in Japanese [[shogi notation]], while moves of the other player are marked with a white triangle or pentagon (△ or ☖).<ref>{{cite web |date=Aug 2023 |title=How to Read Kifu |url=https://shogishack.net/pages/internet-resources/how-to-read-kifu.html |url-status=live |website=shogishack.net |access-date=2025-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102152544/https://shogishack.net/pages/internet-resources/how-to-read-kifu.html |archive-date=2023-11-02 |quote=Unfortunately, Japanese notation historically uses white triangle (△) to indicate Gote's move and black triangle (▲) to notate Sente's move. Therefore, in Shogi, Black moves first, not White.}}</ref> This is notably reversed from [[Western chess]], where the player who moves first is called White and the other Black, but the same as in [[Go (game)|Go]], where the first player usually plays with black stones.}}
The board is nearly always rectangular, and the rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. Pairs of dots mark the players' promotion zones.<ref>Fairbairn, John (1985), ''Shogi'', in ''The Book of Games''. New York, USA: Exeter Books {{ISBN|0-671-07732-5}}.</ref>

Each player has a set of 20 flat wedge-shaped pentagonal pieces of slightly different sizes. Except for the kings, opposing pieces are undifferentiated by marking or color. 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. The pieces from largest (most important) to smallest (least important) are:

* 1 [[King (chess)|king]]
* 1 [[rook (chess)|rook]]
* 1 [[bishop (chess)|bishop]]
* 2 [[Fairy chess piece#G|gold generals]]
* 2 [[Fairy chess piece#K|silver generals]]
* 2 [[knight (chess)|knights]]
* 2 [[Fairy chess piece#L|lance]]s
* 9 [[pawn (chess)|pawns]]

Several of these names were chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in international chess, and not as literal translations of the Japanese names.

Each piece has its name written on its surface in the form of two ''[[kanji]]'' ([[Chinese characters]] used as [[syllabogram]]s or as [[logogram]]s to record texts in [[Old Japanese]]), usually in black ink. 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.

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.

Following is a table of the pieces with their Japanese representations and English equivalents. The abbreviations are used for game notation and often when referring to the pieces in speech in Japanese.

[[File:Shogi Koma Ryoko.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.3|Closeup of shogi pieces. ''Top:'' +R, R, K (reigning), K (challenging), B, +B. ''Bottom:'' +L, L, +S, S, G, N, +N, P, +P]]
[[File:DifferentStyleKoma.jpg|thumb | Another popular style of shogi pieces different from the usual Japanese characters. Shows a 7-move [[tsumeshogi]] problem. White has pawns on 13, 24, 34; king on 23; and a promoted rook on 29. Black has a bishop on 44, a pawn on 17, a lance on 19, and a rook, two golds, and a silver in hand.]]
[[File:Kurobori shogi pieces.jpg|thumb|Pieces in the most simplified {{nihongo|''kurobori''|黒彫}} typeface]]
[[File:Shogi-Set-08 cropRotate.jpg|thumb|An example set of "international" pieces. In this set, those pieces that do not have their equivalents in chess have symbols that iconically show their movement (e.g. the silver general's crown and ribbons point towards its possible directions of movement).]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English name
! Image
! [[Kanji]]
! [[Rōmaji]]
! Meaning
! colspan=3| Abbreviations
! [[Fairy chess piece#Ralph Betza's "funny notation"|Betza notation]]
|-
| King<br />(higher ranked player or reigning champion) || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shogi osho(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|王将}} ||  ''ōshō'' || king general{{efn|Originally both kings were named {{nihongo|"jewelled general"|玉將}}, but at one point in history the dot in {{nihongo|"jewel"|玉}} was left out on one piece to make {{nihongo|"king"|王}}. This is said to be introduced by the great warlord [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] in the 16th century.<ref name="zatsugaku"/>}} || '''K''' || {{Lang|ja|王}} || ''ō'' || K
|-
| King<br />(lower ranked player or challenger) || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shogi gyokusho(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|玉将}} ||  ''gyokushō'' || jeweled general || '''K''' || {{Lang|ja|玉}} || ''gyoku'' || K
|-
| Rook || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shogi hisha(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|飛車}} ||  ''hisha'' || flying chariot || '''R''' || {{Lang|ja|飛}} || ''hi'' || R
|-
| Promoted rook<br />("Dragon") || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shogi ryuo(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|竜王}} ||  ''ryūō'' || [[Chinese dragon|dragon]] king || '''+R''' || {{Lang|ja|龍}} or {{Lang|ja|竜}}{{efn|The kanji {{Lang|ja|竜}} is a [[shinjitai|simplified]] form of {{Lang|ja|龍}}.}} || ''ryū'' || FR
|-
| Bishop || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi kakugyo(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|角行}} ||  ''kakugyō'' || angle mover || '''B''' || {{lang|ja|角}} || ''kaku'' || B
|-
| Promoted bishop<br />("Horse") || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi ryuma(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|竜馬}} ||  ''ryūma'' or ''ryūme'' || dragon horse || '''+B''' || {{Lang|ja|馬}} || ''uma'' || WB
|-
| Gold general<br />("Gold") || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi kinsho(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|金将}}  ||  ''kinshō'' || gold general || '''G''' || {{Lang|ja|金}}  || ''kin'' || WfF
|-
| Silver general<br />("Silver") || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi ginsho(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|銀将}} ||  ''ginshō'' || silver general || '''S''' || {{Lang|ja|銀}} || ''gin'' || FfW
|-
| Promoted silver || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi narigin(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|成銀}} ||  ''narigin'' || promoted silver || '''+S''' || {{lang|ja|(全)}} || — || WfF
|-
| Knight || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Shogi keima.svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|桂馬}} ||  ''keima'' || [[Cinnamomum cassia|cassia]] horse{{efn|Although sometimes translated as "[[Cercidiphyllum japonicum|katsura]] horse," the name ''keima'' is derived from a word for {{nihongo|[[Cinnamomum cassia|cassia]]|肉桂|nikkei}}, also known as "Chinese cinnamon," the bark of which is a spice that used to be very valuable in Japan, similar to jade, gold, silver, and incense.<!-- see also definition 1 of 桂 (kei) at https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%A1%82_%28%E3%81%91%E3%81%84%29/#jn-65913 --><ref name="zatsugaku">{{cite web | url=https://kerokero-info.com/2018/11/02/post-19484/ | title=将棋の駒の意味や名前の由来、王将は昔存在しなかった。 |trans-title=The meaning of shogi pieces and the etymology of their names, the king general used to not exist. | access-date=2025-01-20 | date=2018-11-02 | website=雑学.com | lang=ja | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104055741/https://kerokero-info.com/2018/11/02/post-19484/ | archive-date=2018-11-04}}</ref>}} || '''N''' || {{lang|ja|桂}} || ''kei'' || ffN
|-
| Promoted knight || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi narikei(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|成桂}} ||  ''narikei'' || promoted cassia || '''+N''' || {{Lang|ja|(圭}} or {{Lang|ja|今)}} || — || WfF
|-
| Lance || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi kyosha(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|香車}} ||  ''kyōsha'' || [[Joss stick|incense]] chariot || '''L''' || {{Lang|ja|香}} || ''kyō'' || fR
|-
| Promoted lance || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi narikyo(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|成香}} ||  ''narikyō'' || promoted incense || '''+L''' || {{Lang|ja|(杏}} or {{Lang|ja|仝)}} || — || WfF
|-
| Pawn || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi fuhyo(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|歩兵}} ||  ''fuhyō'' || foot soldier || '''P''' || {{Lang|ja|歩}} || ''fu'' || fW
|-
| Promoted pawn<br />("tokin") || style="text-align:center;"| [[File:shogi tokin(svg).svg|35px]]||{{Lang|ja|と金}} ||  ''tokin'' || reaches gold || '''+P''' || {{Lang|ja|と (}}or {{Lang|ja|个)}} || ''to'' || WfF
|}

English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as ''horses'' and promoted rooks as ''dragons'', after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese term ''tokin'' for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as ''silvers'' and ''golds'', respectively.

The characters inscribed on the reverse sides of the pieces to indicate promotion may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive variants of {{lang|ja|金}} 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These cursive forms have these equivalents in print: {{lang|ja|全}} for promoted silver, {{lang|ja|今}} for promoted knight, {{lang|ja|仝}} for promoted lance, and {{lang|ja|个}} for promoted pawn (tokin). Another typographic convention has abbreviated versions of the original values, with a reduced number of strokes: {{lang|ja|圭}} for a promoted knight {{lang|ja|(桂)}}, {{lang|ja|杏}} for a promoted lance {{lang|ja|(香)}}, and the {{lang|ja|全}} as above for a promoted silver, but {{lang|ja|と}} (a [[hiragana]] symbol for the syllable "to") for ''tokin''.

The suggestion that the Japanese characters have deterred Western players from learning shogi has led to "[[Western world|Westernized]]" or "international" pieces which use iconic symbols instead of characters. Most players soon learn to recognize the characters, however, partially because the traditional pieces are already iconic by size, with more powerful pieces being larger. As a result{{fact|date=January 2025}}, Westernized pieces have never become popular. Bilingual pieces with both Japanese characters and English captions have been developed as have pieces with animal cartoons.