The rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. Two players, Sente 先手 (Black more literally, person with the first move) and Gote 後手 (White person with the second move), play on a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). 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. The stands on either side are komadai used to hold captured pieces.
The pieces on the far side are turned to show their promoted values. EquipmentĪ traditional shōgi-ban (shogi board) displaying a set of koma (pieces). David Pritchard compares this rule to the practice of 16th century mercenaries switching loyalties when captured. Shogi was the earliest chess variant to allow captured pieces to be returned to the board by the capturing player. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the drop rule was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period (c. The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century. Shōgi means general's ( shō 将) board game ( gi 棋). Shogi ( 将棋, shōgi) ( / ˈ ʃ oʊ ɡ iː/, Japanese: or ), also known as Japanese chess or the Generals' Game, is a two-player strategy board game in the same family as Western (international) chess, chaturanga, makruk, shatranj, janggi and xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan.