Castles · 囲い
Where the king goes first.
Because captured pieces come back, a king in the open is never safe: a piece can be dropped next to him at any moment. So before the fight starts, a shogi player spends the first moves walking the king into a corner and building a wall of generals around him. That wall is a castle, kakoi (囲い), and this app is named after it.
There is no castling move as in chess. A castle is built one move at a time, and which one you build depends on where your rook went: a rook that stays home on the right sends the king left, a rook that swings left sends the king right. Three castles cover most games, and every beginner learns them in this order.
Three ideas that hold for every castle
- Generals close, king behind. Golds and silvers are the wall; the king stands behind it, never in it. A gold beside the king is worth more than a gold attacking.
- Castle before you attack. The proverb is igyoku wa sakeyo, avoid a sitting king. Attacks that start with the king still on 5i tend to end with the king still on 5i.
- Every castle has a head and a side. The Mino fears attacks from above, the Yagura from the edge, the Anaguma being caught half-built. Knowing your castle’s weak point is knowing what the opponent is aiming at.
Build one tonight.
The app tells you which castle you are building and how far along it is. Its bot builds them too, so you can see each shape from the other side of the board.