The History of Chess. H. J. R. Murray
known theoretical objections of Buddhism to war and slaughter. The rapid promotion which can be attained by all the minor pieces reminds one of other Buddhist games of the ‘promotion’ type in which the counter, as it moves round the appointed course in obedience to the throws of the dice, passes through a succession of incarnations until it reaches the Buddhaship which is its goal.
The Japanese authorities are unanimous in ascribing the origin of their chess to China, while they admit the wide differences that now exist between the two games. Unfortunately they have nothing to say as to the origin or cause of these changes in the Japanese chess, but this is not surprising, as the present game was fully developed before the earliest accounts of it were written. The encyclopaedias also treat the game almost entirely from the practical side, and after a few references to the Ohashi family they pass on to a discussion of the names and powers of the pieces in the various varieties of chess that have been played in recent times. To these I return later.
The present game was certainly played before the close of the 16th century, for it was under the Mikado Go-yo-zei, who ruled from 1587 to 1611, that the first and most noted of all the Ohashi family flourished. This player, Ohashi-Sokei, ranks in tradition as the greatest master of Japanese chess, and his chess works are still sold as standard books on the game. His renown was more useful to him than is generally the case with chess champions, for he was appointed by the Mikado chief chess-player of the empire, a dignity that was made hereditary in his family. The Japanese Government in old days would seem to have been excellent patrons of shōgi, for the Fak-buts-zen (1768) says that at the time of its compilation the Government allowed the best player of each generation to build a house called Shōgi-tokōro, ‘chess-place ‘, where the principles of the game were taught, and the player received an official salary for his services. And in 1860 there were seven State teachers of chess in Yeddo alone.59
Government patronage also extended to the holding of an annual tournament for chess. According to a notice in the Japanese Mail, quoted in the Times, April 16, 1890, the palmy days of shōgi were during the long peace which Japan enjoyed under the rule of the Shōguns.
‘Once every year, on the 17th day of the 11th month, the masters of the game met in Yedo, and fought a grand tourney 60 in an appointed place within the precincts of the palace. Judges, umpires, strict rules, and all things necessary to the combat were provided, and after the fight was over the ranks of the various combatants were officially fixed. The number of ranks was seven in all, the seventh being the highest.61 Rarely did any player attain the distinction of reaching this, but the sixth generally had one or two representatives. There appears to have been a certain element of heredity in the game as played in Japan, for certain families took the lead for many generations, and the contests between these champions were a salient feature of every tourney. To this time-honoured custom, as to many another of even greater merit, the Revolution of 1867 put a stop. A long era of neglect ensued for chess-players, but it did not fall into disuse because Court patronage was wanting. Its votaries still studied their gambits and elaborated their variations, and now once more the science promises to resume its place of importance. In October last (1889), a grand meeting of all the important chess-players in Japan was organized in Tokio. Over 200 players assembled, all boasting greater or less degrees of skill, from the first up to the sixth. Count Todo, the former Daimio of Tsu, who has the honour of belonging to the sixth rank, is among the chief promoters of the revival. Another meeting took place on the 18th of January (1890), when a ceremonial in honour of the revival of chess was performed.’62
It is not unknown for Japanese to play shōgi blindfold (Jap. mekakushi shōngi or mekura shōbu = blindfold chess).
There is a very considerable Japanese literature on the game, and many of the Ohashi family have distinguished themselves as chess authors. Thus among the standard authorities are works by Ohashi Sokei, the founder of the house, by his son Ohashi Soko, who is generally named with his father as a great master, by Saindaime Ohashi Soyo, and Ohashi Soyei, by Goidame Ohashi Sokei (1810), by Ohashi Eshun, by the brothers Ohashi Soyei and Ohashi Riyo Yei (1839), the grandsons of the fourth Ohashi (Ohashi Soyei). Among other writers on the game may be mentioned Tukuzhima Zhunki, Ito Sokan (1694), Ito Kanju (1821), Ito Sokan (1849), Ito Soin, Ito Kanju (1858), S. Hamashuna (1891), S. Hasegawa (1892), S. Yamashima (1821), and Kuwabara Kunchu. The chess works of these writers comprise treatises on the practical game, on games at odds, on End-games, chess studies, and collections of problems. The advanced character of some may be judged from the fact, stated in the Japanese Mail, that ‘one leading work contains problems, the solution of which is said to make the player worthy to be placed in the sixth rank’.
Chess is very widely practised in Japan at the present time, but its popularity is greatest amongst the middle and lower classes: with the upper and the educated classes it comes only second, wei-k‘i (ī-go) being ‘the classical or, rather, aristo-plutocratic game’ of Japan.
Shōgi63 or Seo Shōgi (small shōgi—to distinguish it from the enlarged varieties) is played upon a board (shōgi-ban) of 9 × 9, or 81 squares. Unlike the other games of this group it is played upon the squares, not on the intersections of the lines. The technical term for the squares, ma, means spaces, intervals, or eyes, and the last meaning can be paralleled from other Asiatic languages.64 There is no river on the Japanese board, and no nine-castle. Nor is there any trace of these characteristic Chinese additions ever having existed in Japanese chess, nor of the game ever having been a line-game. The board is in general a small four-legged table, with a drawer for holding the chessmen, and the players squat on the ground on either side of it; but, as in China, paper diagrams are also in common use. The board is not exactly square, as the squares are slightly elongated to facilitate the play with the long-shaped chessmen.65 At the four corners of the central block of nine squares there are small marks, either small circles or crosses upon the intersection of the lines, which are intended to mark off the three rows at each end of the board. It is on these three rows that a player arranges his men at the commencement of the game, and they are called his dominion or territory (Jap. ryōbun). They have additional importance, since a piece may receive its legal promotion as soon as it is played into the opponent’s territory.
The Japanese Chessboard.
The chessmen are five-sided or punt-shaped pieces of wood or ivory which lie flat upon the board. They are made rather thicker at the base than at the vertex, and differ slightly though not materially in size, the Kyōsha and Fu being rather narrower than the other pieces. Each man bears on the one face its ordinary name, and on the opposite face its promotion name. This is, in the case of the majority of the pieces, Kin or Kin-shō, but it is rendered possible to tell the original value, without it being necessary to turn the man over, by the use of certain variations in the manner of writing the word kin. This is a matter of some moment when there is a choice of captures possible. There is no distinction between the pieces on the two sides, but each player places his men with the vertex towards his opponent, and the direction in which the point projects alone determines to whom any particular piece belongs. When a player promotes one of his men he merely turns it over so as to show its new rank.
The pieces are called ma uma, or more commonly koma, meaning a colt or small horse. It is possible that the form koma contains the word go, = Chinese k‘i, game;66 it is by no means uncommon to find the men used in a game called ‘horses’ Each player has twenty koma at the commencement of the ordinary game. Their names, powers of move, and promotion values are exhibited in the following table. All the pieces take as they move.
Players generally say Ō, Kin, and Gin for Ō-shō, Kin-shō, and Gin-shō. The Fu-hyo is usually called Fu or Hyo, and the Keima is often simply Kei. In the problem works the opponent’s King is called Gyok-ō-shō or simply Gyok-ō, i.e. the Usurper General.
The relative values (kurai, rank) of the koma are thus estimated by Chō-Yō: