Shogi; Japan's Game of Strategy

Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1980. Seventh Printing. Hardcover. Good/Fair. 99, [1] pages. Figures. Appendix. DJ has some wear and soiling. Step-by-step instructions and thorough diagrams of how to play shogi, the Japanese representative of the family of chess games. The shogi board and game pieces which were bound into the book are present. Trevor Pryce Leggett (22 August 1914 - 2 August 2000) was a British judo teacher, author, translator, and head of the BBC's Japanese Service for 24 years. He was one of the very first Europeans to study martial arts in Japan. Leggett served in the Ministry of Information during World War II. After the war, he taught judo at the Budokwai and worked in Japanese language services at the BBC. He held the title of Shihan, and the rank of 6th dan in judo from the Kodokan. Leggett helped introduce Japanese culture to the United Kingdom, and was honored for this by being inducted into Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1984. Shogi, also known as Japanese chess or the Game of Generals, is a two-player strategy board game native to Japan. In the same family as chess, makruk, shatranj, janggi and xiangqi, it is the most popular chess variant in Japan. Sh gi means general's board game. Shogi was the earliest chess variant to allow captured pieces to be returned to the board by the capturing player. This drop rule is speculated to have been invented in the 15th century and possibly connected to the practice of 15th century mercenaries switching loyalties when captured instead of being killed. The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the drop rule was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nich reki, which is an edited copy of Sh ch reki and Kaich reki from the late Heian period (c. 1120).