Xref: utzoo rec.games.board:2575 soc.culture.japan:2578 comp.sources.wanted:8485 rec.games.chess:2934 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!lb2e+ From: lb2e+@andrew.cmu.edu (Louis Blair) Newsgroups: rec.games.board,soc.culture.japan,comp.sources.wanted,rec.games.chess Subject: Re: Shogi (Japanese Chess) Message-ID:Date: 17 Aug 89 21:58:04 GMT References: <131@castle.ed.ac.uk>, <34077@apple.Apple.COM> Organization: Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 34 In-Reply-To: <34077@apple.Apple.COM> Bruce Lowerre writes: >Is [Shogi] a REAL game or just another >Fairy Chess game? Shogi sets can be purchased from Ishi Pres International, 1400 N. Shoreline Blvd., Bldg. A7, Mountain View, CA 94043. According to the rules that came with my set: "Shogi, the Japanese cousin of chess, is descended from the Indian game Chatur-anga. From India the game spread to Persia and then to China and Korea. The Chinese and Koreans created many variations of the original game, and some of these came to Japan in the 8th century. Early Japanese Shogi scarcely resembled the modern game; some versions had different types of pieces and boards ranging in size from 9 x 9 to 25 x 25 grids, with as many as 97 pieces to a side. The modern 9 x 9 board was formalized in the 16th century by the emperor Go-Nora. Shogi became very popular with some of the greatest generals of the 16th and 17th centuries. During this time the first Shogi championship tournaments were held. The second champion, Ohashi, set the modern rules for Shogi. Shogi has a ranking system similar to that used in GO. The lowest Shogi rank is 15 KYU and counts backwards to 1 KYU. After 1 KYU the next rank is 1 dan, the dan ranks increase up to 9 dan. In Japan only professional players have reached the highest dan levels. Shogi enjoys great popularity in Japan and has spread to over 30 countries worldwide." Ishi now also sells subsciptions to a Shogi magazine.