What is Kyoto Shogi?
Kyoto shogi is a small shogi on a 5×5 board with five pieces a side, and every piece except the king has two faces. After each move it turns over and continues as the piece on its other face: a tokin becomes a lance, a silver general a bishop, a gold general a knight and a pawn a rook, and the next move turns it back.
Each side starts with its five pieces on the back row: tokin, silver, king, gold and pawn, from the player's left. Captured pieces go to hand and can be dropped with either face up, on any empty square.
There is no promotion zone; the flipping takes its place. Planning in Kyoto shogi means thinking about what each piece will be after it moves, not only where it goes.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Shogi | Kyoto Shogi |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Standard Shogi9×9. | Kyoto Shogi5×5. |
| Pieces | Standard Shogi20 each: king, rook, bishop, two gold generals, two silver generals, two knights, two lances and nine pawns. | Kyoto Shogi5 each, all on the back row: tokin, silver, king, gold and pawn. |
| Promotion | Standard ShogiA piece may promote when it moves in the far three rows, and stays promoted until it is captured. | Kyoto ShogiNo promotion zone. After every move, any piece but the king turns over: tokin and lance, silver and bishop, gold and knight, pawn and rook. |
| Drops | Standard ShogiPieces are dropped unpromoted. One unpromoted pawn per file, no checkmate by a pawn drop, and no piece dropped where it could never move. | Kyoto ShogiDrop either face up, on any empty square. Several pawns may share a file, and a pawn drop may give checkmate. |
| Repetition | Standard ShogiThe game is drawn when the same position occurs for the fourth time, unless one player gave check with every move of the repetition: that player loses. | Kyoto ShogiThe game is drawn when the same position occurs for the third time. |
| How to win | Standard ShogiCheckmate the opponent's king. | Kyoto ShogiThe same: checkmate. |
History
Kyoto shogi was invented by Tamiya Katsuya around 1976. Its name is a pun: kyō is the first sound of kyōsha, the lance, and to is the tokin, the two faces of one piece, and together they spell Kyōto, the old capital of Japan.
The flipping pieces make a five-by-five board play much bigger than it looks, and the game has stayed a favourite among players of shogi variants.