Do what you love and success will come.

“Come on, let’s play together, Little girl.” An old man repeatedly approached and invited me to play Shogi, although, I kept on refusing his proposals and said “No” to him. This old man was my motivator to start Shogi.

I just followed my Mother to pick my little brother from Shogi class. The old man, a Kasugai branch chief, continued to invite such an unmotivated girl to join Shogi class. Finally, I started to learn it three months later after my brother had started.

Those days, outside of school, I had several classes including piano, swimming, English, and calligraphy. None of them strongly attracted a little girl’s attention. The old man’s passion for Shogi wore me down and took me to the Shogi tournament. I didn’t expect Shogi would become my lifetime thing, but at the first stage, I played four games with two wins and two losses. I said, “I want to do more!”, which was my first experience that I expressed my initiative to continue “classes”.

Half year later, I quitted all classes other than Shogi class. On each holiday, my mom drove everywhere in Aichi Prefecture to give me and my little brother opportunities to attend Shogi classes. I and my brother didn’t remember all movements of pieces, and so our mother took game records for us.

When I was the sixth-grade at school and had the first grade in Shogi, which was Spring, I recognized the existence of ladies professional Shogi players. Until then, I had vague image about Shogi, which Shogi was for boys, therefore I believed professional players should be men. So, knowing that women could be professional Shogi player was sensational. Women who are talented and beauties do exist! I adored them and dreamed to become someone like them. I couldn’t help saying, “I will become a professional Shogi player.” It was funny, but inevitable. The chance to witness a real ladies professional Shogi player still remains in my mind.

I started to dedicate myself to Shogi, before I knew it. All the way, I went thousands of places in where Shogi tournaments were held, even Tokyo, Osaka. I remember I went to Tendo, Yamagata prefecture, when I was junior-high. It was my great opportunity to establish a circle of friends and give me uplifting influence for good.

Even though I had really enjoyed my life with Shogi, I sometimes complained about the lack of time to play with friends in my hometown and argued with my mother about that. It was common rebellious age problems. Now I think I can understand my feelings that I had, but at the same time I am glad not to throw away Shogi from losing my temper. Anyhow, I appreciate my mother played the role of the villain to talk me out of quitting Shogi.

“Do what you love and success will come.” I never imagined I would get so much attracted to Shogi in the future. Through many life experiences, I have found Shogi as things that I should engage with.

In this day and age, we have a large choice in our lives. I think it is wonderful if you could find something you like through your real experiences. But if you don’t notice the existence of something, surely you can’t develop a taste for it. So, I would recommend children to do and experience anything they would be interested in. When that happen, I believe parents’ support is crucial and the experience children gain will certainly become their life asset.

Ms. Akiko Nakakura is one of ladies professional Shogi players whom I adore foremost. I am wondering how my old self would look on me when I tell her, “Now I am working with your idol!”

Who is the next?

In this special series, “Ladies Professional Shogi Player and Her Mother”, at the end of each article, the writer will give you a clue for the next writer.

Guess who?