How Many Shogi Koma Make Up A Single Set Of Pieces?

Feedback and enquiries from customers or potential customers is always informative!

Here is an email I received just now:

"About the shogi pieces, when you write "complete set of pieces" is that for one or two players?
Just to know how many I need to buy."

That is a very good question! It is also helps me to see things better from the customer's point of view. When I wrote the phrase "complete set of pieces" it seemed obvious to me that it meant 40 pieces - enough for two players to play a game of shogi.

But, actually, it is not so obvious. Just because I deal with shogi sets every day and am used to my own terminology does not mean that it is clear to someone who might be interested in buying a set from me. The customer comes to my site with no prior knowledge of me or the goods I offer.

So, let's be clear about this... my website offers "complete sets of shogi pieces that contain 40 pieces - all the pieces that two players need to play a game on one board". (Some sets include a spare piece, to make a total of 41 pieces!)

David Hurley
http://japanese-games-shop.com

New Hand Carved Japanese Shogi Koma Added To The Range!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning to add a new set of hand carved shogi pieces to my range of top quality shogi koma sets.

It took me a while, but at last, today, I have done it!

The set is hand carved by craftsman Yamagami, using a deep-cut carving style. The style is very distinctive, as can be seen in the above photo.

The wood used for this set is Siamese boxwood.

For more photos and details about the set, click here.

David Hurley
http://japanese-games-shop.com

Spring Pruning and Planting!

The cherry blossom season has come and gone in Hiroshima and now the dogwood trees are out in bloom.

Meanwhile, over at Japanese-Games-Shop.com some pottering, pruning and planting has been going on behind the scenes....

Some items have been pruned from the listings.

OUT:

• Various sized mahjong dice - hardly an "in demand" line since most sets come with dice supplied. Then, when an order comes in I can rely on my supplier to be "out of stock" in the particular size and colour I require!!
• Plywood Shogi boards. Supplies became erratic in this neck of the woods.
• Beige Shogi cloths... Supplies seem to be erratic but a few still get through...

NEW LINES COMING SOON

• An "curvacious" style of high-quality hand-crafted Shogi koma.
• Glass Shogi sets!!
• Plastic Shogi playing mats.
• Igo boards
• Igo stones
• Igo bowls
• Novelty character (Doraemon?) mini igo sets

In short, authentic Japanese games lovers, "Watch this space"!!

David Hurley

http://japanese-games-shop.com/

"Pellucid & Energetic" Shogi Pieces Delicately Hand Carved On Japanese Boxwood

Here are some photos of a "ryoukobori" style hand carved shogi set. "Ryoukobori" is a particularly delicate calligraphic font style which requires an immense amount of skill and concentration on the part of the craftsman.

I took these photos with the camera on my mobile phone the last time I visited my shogi supplier. We did not take the pieces (shogi-koma) out of their wrappers, so the photos are not the best and there is a lot of reflected light.

Even so, I think you can get a good idea of the quality of workmanship that goes into creating a hand-carved set of shogi pieces.

The shogi pieces photographed here have been carved out of Japanese boxwood ("tsuge"). Japanese boxwood is highly prized by craftsmen for its warm tone and fine grain.

On a high quality set the craftsman carves his name in the rear edge of one of the kings. On even higher quality sets the calligraphic style of the characters is carved on the rear edge of the other king.

In the photo on the left, the upper king has been engraved with "ryoukobori" and the lower king has been engraved with the name of "craftsman Sanpo," one of Japan's top shogi-koma makers.

I recently shipped a set of "ryoukobori" shogi pieces to a customer in America, and this is what he had to say about them when he received them:

"They are absolutely beautiful! You're right, the Japanese boxwood does have a warmer tone to it, also a tighter grain. And I keep wanting to call them "pellucid"-- I know the term doesn't strictly apply to an opaque two-dimensional surface, but as I look at the pieces the word somehow keeps coming into my mind. And the Japanese characters (to this Iowan whose "reading comprehension" of Japanese begins and ends with Shogi pieces!) have a very elegant & energetic look to them...

"The energetic aspect of the kanji on these pieces is something that comes forth more and more strongly to me, the more I look at them. " Paul Burgess

If you would like to order a set of hand carved shogi-koma, check out the range on offer on this page of my website.

As soon as I receive an order I contact my supplier and they will be carefully packed and shipped directly to your door by Express Mail Service from Japan.

David Hurley
Japanese-Games-Shop.com