Go in suits, Shogi in kimonos, and what lies behind them

In late autumn 2021, I went out for autumn leaf peeping. The destination was Shosenkyo in Kofu. Kofu is also blessed with hot springs. The most well-known of these is the Ishiwa Onsen in Fuefuki-shi, which is adjacent to Kofu City. However, this time I visited Yumura Onsen, which is said to have been founded by Kobo Daishi in 808.

The inn is the Tokiwa Hotel, founded in 1929. The autumn sun falls early. When I entered the hotel, I saw a deep red zelkova tree over the lobby, illuminated in the dark night. The Tokiwa Hotel is known not only for its well-kept Japanese garden, but also for its frequent Go and Shogi title matches.

Go and Shogi title matches are played in five or seven rounds, with the venue changing after each round. The venue of the matches is often the Tokiwa Hotel in the latter half of the season.^*1 In other words, if the games are over by then, the matches will not be played at the Tokiwa Hotel.

If the game goes all the way to the Tokiwa Hotel, it is a big game, and must be full of excitement at that time. Even if it is only a small part of the excitement, visitors can feel it in the gallery permanently set up in the hotel.

In the gallery named "Meijin no Komichi" (The Path of the Masters), photographs of past title matches and the writings of professionals are displayed. Although I don't enjoy Go or Shogi, I was fascinated by the exhibition after taking a hot spring. This is because the photos showing the games of Go and Shogi were so contrasting.

This is due, in part, to the fact that it was Go in Western dress and Shogi in Japanese dress. In both Go and Shogi, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of young professionals. Many people may immediately think of Yuta Iyama and Ryo Ichiriki wearing Western-style clothing in Go, and Sota Fujii and Masayuki Toyoshima wearing Japanese-style clothing in Shogi.

A lot of people seem to be interested in what professionals wear. There are a good number of reports on websites.^*2 They point out that there are no rules on how to dress. This means that it is a customary practice, but why have western-style clothes taken hold in Go and Japanese-style clothes in Shogi?

The history of the establishment of Western-style dress in Go title matches seems to have been triggered by the rise of the Chinese player Lin Haifeng in the mid-1960s.^*3 On the other hand, in Shogi title matches, it is not known when this started, but today it is almost obligatory to wear Japanese-style clothing.^*4

These refer to the direct roots of today's dress. However, at a deeper level, I think that Go and Shogi, which were brought from overseas in ancient times, are deeply related to the changes that took place in the process of their popularisation in Japan.

Therefore, I would like to consider how professionals dress today, looking at the changes that have happened in Go and Shogi in Japan. Although verification is necessary for a complete discussion, this is a future task, and here I will only present a hypothesis.

There are various theories as to the arrival of Go and Shogi,^*5 but all have in common that they must have come from overseas. Therefore, I would like to focus on the improvements made in Japan after their arrival. I think that two things can be mentioned as similar to clothing: the board and the rules.

Wherever it came from, the original boards were probably thin wooden boards, rather than the thicker ones used in title matches today. This is because the custom of sitting on the floor is rarely seen in other countries, and it is thought that the game was played on chairs and on desks.

However, in Japan, they played sitting on the floor. This led to improvements that are unique to Japan. In the Tale of Genji Picture Scrolls, which are based on paintings from The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), said to have been written in the 11th century, scenes of playing Go are illustrated, and it can be confirmed that the board has legs.^*6

Shogi would also have been improved so that the board is higher. This is thought to have helped to make the posture of the players more correct during the game and to reduce the risk of accidentally moving stones or pieces with the sleeves of the Japanese kimono. In other words, it can be said that Japanese lifestyle led to the improvement of the board.

The use of the uniquely Japanese board created in this way presupposes that the players sit on the floor to play. This can be seen from the fact that the rooms in the hotels and inns where the title matches are held are Japanese-style rooms with tatami mats.

At the Tokiwa Hotel, both Go and Shogi are held in a room called Kokonoe, which is located in a detached villa built around a Japanese garden. It is in the 12.5-tatami-mat Japanese-style room that the two players face each other in a game. Incidentally, Kokonoe was also the favourite accommodation of the writer Hitomi Yamaguchi before it was rebuilt.^*7

Next, looking at the rules, Go was not improved, but Shogi was. Among them, the rule that allows the reuse of pieces taken from the opponent, which was invented in the Middle Ages, is said to have been revolutionary.^*8 It can be said that Shogi has been steadily Japaneseised as a result.

Go did not make any uniquely Japanese changes to its rules. It is also a nod to the early adoption of Western-style dress. This is because universal rules would have low barriers to entry for foreigners, even in the Japanese Go world.

For foreign professionals who qualified for the title matches, they had to accept the venue decided by the organisers, but were free to choose their dress. As writer Keitaro Kondo has already pointed out,^*9 it is inevitable that foreigners unfamiliar with kimono would choose to wear something other than Japanese dress.

The universal rules also facilitate cross-national competitions. In recent years, there have been many international Go tournaments,^*10 but the organisers naturally do not use Japanese-style rooms as venues. Games are played on a table with a legless board and seated on chairs,^*11 and the professionals from each country are basically dressed in Western-style dress.

On the other hand, there are no global competitions in the Japaneseised version of Shogi.^*12 Although there are chess-like games in various countries, it is not easy to play against them, as in the case of different martial arts. The fact that exchange with foreign countries was difficult to occur may be one of the reasons for the delay in the appearance of professionals in Western dress in Shogi title matches.^*13

In both Go and Shogi, since the appearance of professionals in Western dress, there seems to be a reasonable view that title matches must be played in Japanese dress. Taking into account the improvements made to the board in the process of Go and Shogi's acceptance in Japan, this view may be summarised as follows.

In the title matches, a board with legs, modified to Japanese specifications, is used. The board with legs is designed to be sat on the floor, so a Japanese-style room is chosen as the venue. The players must be dressed in Japanese clothes to play in a Japanese-style room.

If this is the case, it can be said that over the millennia since their arrival, Go and Shogi have been sublimated into a uniquely Japanese culture as a result of improvements adapted to the Japanese way of life. Here we can see that Go and Shogi have been established as traditional Japanese entertainment.

After all, the 'objects' of the Go and Shogi boards, which were adapted to the traditional Japanese way of life of sitting on the floor, today seem to have inversely restricted the space in which they are used, and even dictated what the players wear.