Shogi 24 October 2016
Shogi Rules – How to Play Shogi – : How to Move/Drop a Piece Like a Professional Shogi Player
Explore art of Shogi. A professional Shogi player invites you to the world of Shogi along with traditional Japanese culture.
It’s really cool if you can move/drop a piece with a nice snapping sound like a professional Shogi player. Let’s practice!
The previous step
First, hold a piece with three fingers, a pointing finger, a middle finger and a third finger.
Then, supporting with a thumb, put the piece between a pointing finger and a middle finger.
The pointing finger is placed under the piece and the middle finger is on the top.
Then, hit the board with the piece. It may not make a nice snapping sound at first, but soon you will be able to make a cool, stylish sound.
If there is an existing piece of yours on the board, and you want to place a new piece over it, move/drop the new piece gliding over the existing piece.
Let’s practice these finger moves.
Once I supervised an actress taking a role of a professional Shogi player in a movie titled “Travail.”
I saw her struggling with Shogi pieces at first, but just in a few days, she was able to move and drop a piece in a very stylish way. Very impressive!
She said that she always carried the pieces with her and practiced during her free time.
You can also try and practice.
Akiko-Sensei’s hand and finger moves are so beautiful and fascinating. Nice snapping sound of Shogi piece dropped on the board.
My girls tried to copy her, but couldn’t do it well right away.
“I did it!”
“I couldn’t!”
“It made a strange sound!”
The girls got so excited as they practiced copying Akiko-Sensei’s finger moves. 🙂
The next step
この記事の執筆者Akiko Nakakura
I-tsu-tsu Co. Ltd. President, lady's professional shogi player. After winning successive victories in the female amateur master’s tournament in 1991 and 1992, she made her debut as a professional shogi player in her third (last) year in high school. She retired from professional shogi play after a 21-year career in March 2015, and currently involved in activities to spread the game of shogi among children.
