It has been said that Japan takes in ideas from all over the world, and reinvents them in a style which is uniquely Japanese. As you will see, the game of shogi illustrates this idea beautifully.

Looking at the shogi board, at right, what similarities to other forms of chess are already apparent?

Like the Chinese game:
T he pieces are flat, caligraphed figures, nine across, with the commanding general (king) in the center, and there are two special pieces on their own row.

Like the Persian game:
The pieces are placed on the spaces (not lines), and there is a pawn in each column.

Like the Thai game:
T he pawns start out on the third row...

And yet, the neat wooden board, divided into rectangles, with wooden tiles seems to have a very Japanese character.

In fact, the Japanese pieces are written in Chinese characters (one of Japan's three official alphabets!). The Japanese pieces, however, are composed of two characters — the first is an adjective. For instance, look at the fourth and fifth pieces in the Chinese and Japanese line-up at the left. The Chinese pieces are "horse" and "chariot." The corresponding Japanese pieces are "laurel horse" and "fragrant chariot."

Notice the two pieces which stand alone on the second row. Strangely enough, one has the move of a western bishop (called, "angle-goer") and one has the move of the western rook (called "flying chariot" — did you recognize the character for chariot?). It is said that the historic line-up of shogi pieces did not have anything in the second row, and that these pieces were simply borrowed, several centuries ago, from European chess.

Most of the moves found in shogi are already already familiar to us, and some are slight variations on familiar themes. The chariot and horse, for instance, move like our rook and knight...but only in the forward directions. The pawn moves and captures with a forward movement, like the Chinese pawn.

Now, let's talk about elephants. Well, there is no elephant in the Japanese chess...but that piece two spaces to the king's right and left, the silver general — has the characteristic elephant move found in Southeast Asia — just like the nobleman of Thai chess.

Now, here's where things start to get complicated. Notice that the pieces are all flat tiles. This shape serves a special function: Each player starts with twenty pieces, and all but three of these pieces (the king and two gold generals) can flip over, to show a promotional value.

Promotion occurs when a piece enters the enemy's third row (as it does in Thai chess). Upon entering the promotional zone, the piece may flip over (as the pawn does in Thai chess) to show a new character. The newly promoted piece has a new, more powerful move, becoming at once a greater threat in the enemy's territory.