Using real Shogi pieces

July 12, 2023 by shogishack

Many of the Shogi fans overseas are probably using Online platform to enjoy Shogi, because Shogi fans are few and apart from each other. You may have never touched actual shogi pieces. In Japan, there are Shogi dojos in many places where people play against each other using actual Shogi pieces. The YouTube video here are the game played between a professional instructor(at the left. He is ex-Shoreikai 3Dan) and high-ranking armature. So the game itself is interesting (10 seconds blitz), but I would like to share this to highlight how the pieces are placed on the board (They both used Ohashi style piece placement order), how they have decided who will go first (shuffle 5 pieces of pawns and based on number of front and back) and how the pieces are handled. Also note that the pieces used here are plastics with a board made of vinyl sheet or cloth. It is relatively inexpensive setup in casual Dojo atmosphere.