History of Shogi - The Birth of The Women's Game

The Birth of The Women's Game

While there are both men and women among the ranks of professional shogi players, no woman player has yet won through the pro qualifier leagues (新進棋士奨励会 shinshin kishi shōreikai) to become an officially certified professional player (棋士 kishi). This served to slow the spread of the game among women, and to overcome the problem, the system of professional woman shogi players (女流棋士 joryū kishi) was introduced.

In 1966, Akiko Takojima (蛸島彰子) left the pro-qualifier leagues at the 1-dan level and became the first professional woman shogi player. However, at the time women's contests were not held, and so her only work as a professional was giving shogi lessons. In 1974, the first women's contest, the Women's Meijin Title Match (女流名人位戦 joryū meijin-sen), was held, which Takojima won, becoming the first woman meijin. 1974 is often considered to be the year in which women's shogi began, and indeed the Ladies Shogi Professional Organization (女流棋士会 joryū kishi kai) celebrates "anniversary parties" counting from this year.

At present there are more than 50 professional women players, and as well as the Women's Meijin title match, there is also the Women's Ōshō Title Match (女流王将戦), the Women's Ōi Title Match (女流王位戦), the Ōyama Meijin Cup Kurashiki–Tōka Title Match (大山名人杯倉敷藤花戦), the Ladies' Open Tournament (レディースオープントーナメント), and the Kajima Cup, a total of six competitions. In addition, each of the standard professional tournaments has a women's section, in which the top women in each tournament compete.