Shogi for Beginners Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 1984

This is a great book for anyone looking to learn Shogi from scratch. The book covers the rules of the game, the symbols on the pieces and their movement. It also goes describes some of the most commonly used castles and opening lines as well as middle game and end-game tactics.The book finishes up with examples of illustrative games.As with western chess books, this book is best used with a Shogi board in front of you.

If Shogi suddenly became your obsession, do not look any further. This is the best introduction and you will not just flip through its pages, but spend time thinking and going back and forth. I can rave more, but what is the point? Just get it and start reading. You won't regret it.

Shogi and Chess share a common ancestor and have as their objective the capture of the enemy king. They are alike in many other ways, but someone seeing both games for the first time might never suspect that they are so closely related.Shogi is a challenging and satisfying game. It is visually a little off-putting to the Western tyro, but Westernized sets are available. I'd recommend switching to Japanese sets as soon as you can decipher the hieroglyphics. Play with authentic Japanese pieces enhances the pleasure of the game tremendously.Fairbairn's book is the better of the two introductory books on Shogi that come from Western authors. (Trevor Leggett's "Shogi: Japan's Game of Strategy" is the other). The book is well organized. Fairbairn begins with six chapters on the basics of the game. Chapter 7 is a collection of mating problems, and then Chapter 8 introduces the reader to a complete game. Fairbairn then gives a chapter on castles. (In Chess there are two castles, in Shogi there are dozens). Then he gives chapters on the opening, the middle game, and the endgame. The endgame to Shogi is much more exciting than the endgame in Chess. In Shogi the board is just as cluttered with pieces as in the beginning, and frequently both kings simultaneously totter on the brink of checkmate. The penultimate chapter deals with certain of the finer points of Shogi, and the final chapter gives a collection of games. As the old TV commercial says, "Try it, you'll like it!"After reading this book and playing a few games, if you'd like to learn the game in greater depth, try to find "Better Moves for Better Shogi," a bilingual book written by Aono Teriuchi, a Japanese Shogi champion, with an English translation by John Fairbairn.

For my journey into shogi, starting 2-1/2 years ago, this book proved invaluable. I've now read it through carefully twice, the second time to cement the illustrated castle formations, and browsed several sections repeatedly. This and the Hidetchi shogi lessons on YouTube made a big difference in my play. I study other shogi books now, especially tsume shogi puzzlebooks from Japan, which can be understood without commentary, and a couple other prizes with English translation, but this Shogi for Beginners stays up with the others for all its information and historic game records that are fun to play through. We started a Portland Shogi Club, and keep Shogi for Beginners on hand as the first book for a beginner to see; like it says.

Just the other day I came across the copy of this book I bought 4 years ago. It brought back so many memories. A Japanese friend bought be a shogi set as a gift, and out of codependent tendencies I felt obligated to learn how to play the game. Its a fascinating game because unlike chess, when you capture the pieces you can reverse it and use it against your opponent, so you not only have to think about "position" (also envisioning drops) but exchanges in the *literal*sense of the world.Anyway, at the time it was the only book I could find... I read it, I played it, I beat him... he stopped returning my phone calls. Within a year I wound up going to Japan, playing at the local Shogi dojos... I even became friends with some famous shogi players... reached sho-dan level. The definitely set me on a journey... Thinking about it, I'm almost depressed to think I haven't played in about a year or so. Still, looking back I can say that this book set me on the right path. Your next step is to learn how to read Japanese numbers, then go to your local Japanese book store. You can buy books that show shogi matches move by move or have problems. Though you won't be able to read the explanations, you definitely won't be in the dark.Anyway, when you finish this book, if you're thinking of becoming an English teacher in Japan, the good news is you *will* be able to wip most your students. Its not as popular as young people as it used to be, and if you play with an adult, they'll think you're a "henna gaijin" and buy you a drink !P.S. No, this isn't the same thing as GO ! ! !

Shogi is almost unknown in America, but is one of the great games of the world. Unlike Go, the foremost board game ever invented, Shogi can be played much more quickly, but has as much depth as chess. This book will teach you the rudiments, but goes far beyond them to teach the various strategies that have been worked out over the years (much as books on chess openings do). It has a number of problems so you can try out your skills on them. If you like board games, I heartily recommend this excellent little volume. It is one of the first books in English about this elegant and challenging game.

I enjoy the privillage of having been tought Shogi by a japanese gentelman who is attempting to expand Shogi to Iceland. Having learned the basics from him I was desperatly looking for a book that leads you through basic tactics such as castling and climbing silver and found all that I wanted in this book. The first chapters also include simple and straight forward explanations on the game so this book is an excellent entry into the world of Shogi.

This book is probably THE book written for beginners. It was published quite a while ago, out of print, and reprinted by Keseido again. Yes, this book is still available for only $15 plus shipping here: http://www.kiseido.com/shogi/shogi_equipment.htm

Compared with Go (and of course Chess) there are regrettably few books available in English on the beautiful game of Shogi (which I rate as the second greatest game in the history of civilisation - after Go, and just ahead of western Chess, followed by Chinese Chess and Contract Bridge). If you are looking at this book wondering whether you should take the plunge and learn this game, with the weird kanji characters - do it! The initial game is slower than chess, since most pieces are less powerful than a Chess king. The most powerful piece is the rook (and you only get one), followed by the bishop (only one of those, too). Unlike chess, however, pieces never go out of the game, because once captured they can be reintroduced by the capturing side as one of their own men - on any legal square. Rather like chess with paratroops. This means that as the game goes on it gets faster and more exciting, rather than slower like the end game in chess. There is much less need to learn lots of opening variations than in chess, which removes a bit of a drudgery.OK, what about this book? I think this is a great introduction to the game, it really gave me a good feel for what it was about, introduced a number of principles for the opening (and several specific openings), middle and end game. It ends with a number of professional games. The other main introductory text is Hosking's "The art of shogi". I would suggest that as a second book, as although it also has introductory material, there is a lot of more advanced material too, and I think this is a better first book (but Hosking would be considered the better book once you have been playing for a while). It is hard to find opponents unless you live in London, but fortunately, like Go, you can play online for free. Just go to 81dojo.com and create a free account. Youtube producer Hidetchi has a sequence of videos introducing the game too, and a japanese company (run by a lady professional) called Nekomado produces high quality sets. They are expensive though, so initial cheaper sets are better bought here on Amazon.

I enjoy the privillage of having been tought Shogi by a japanese gentelman who is attempting to expand Shogi to Iceland. Having learned the basics from him I was desperatly looking for a book that leads you through basic tactics such as castling and climbing silver and found all that I wanted in this book. The first chapters also include simple and straight forward explanations on the game so this book is an excellent entry into the world of Shogi.

Haven't had the time I would have liked to really study it but as a Chess player I can tell that this book will really help anyone who has the will to learn to play Shogi. I plan to settle down in the new year and get into it one thing I can say is that this book will help a beginner to play the game and have an idea as to what he is doing.

Excellent start to the game.

Expensive for 167 page book.. although if you can get it .. do. It is easy to understand and apply