Mino美濃囲い minō
The first castle everyone learns: three king steps, a silver, a gold. Fast, strong against attacks from the side, weak at its head. The castle of the ranging rook.
Castles · 囲い一覧
Every castle, side by side.
Eight shapes cover nearly every game: the Mino family on the right for ranging rook players, and the boat, Left Mino, Yagura and Anaguma on the left for static rook players. Each is shown from black’s side with its pieces ringed.
A castle is chosen by where the rook went and how much time there is. A ranging rook player starts with a Mino and lets it grow, into a High Mino and then a Silver Crown, as the game allows. A static rook player facing a ranging rook chooses between speed (the boat), balance (the Left Mino) and strength (the Anaguma); facing another static rook, the Yagura. The three on the castles page have full guides.
MinoHigh MinoSilver CrownDiamond MinoLeft MinoBoat CastleYaguraAnaguma
High Mino高美濃 taka-minō
A Mino whose gold has stepped up from 5h to 4g behind an advanced 4f pawn. Better against attacks from above, since the gold now guards the squares in front of the castle; a little thinner from the side. Most Mino castles grow into this one when there is time.
Silver Crown銀冠 gin-kanmuri
The High Mino grown one step further: the silver climbs to 2g, over the king’s head like a crown, and the gold moves to 3h beneath it. Very strong against attacks from the front and above, at the cost of two more moves. The natural final form of a ranging rook castle in a long game.
Diamond Minoダイヤモンド美濃 daiyamondo minō
A Mino with the second silver brought across to 4g, so the king is surrounded by four generals in a diamond: silver 3h, silver 4g, gold 5h, gold 4i. About as solid as a castle gets without going into the corner, and correspondingly slow to build and short of attackers.
Left Mino左美濃 hidari-minō
The Mino mirrored to the left, for a static rook player facing a ranging rook: king 8h, silver 7h, golds 5h and 6i, with the bishop moved up to 7g out of the way. Quicker than an Anaguma, sturdier than a boat castle, and the usual choice when there is not time to dig in.
Boat Castle舟囲い funa-gakoi
The static rook player’s quick castle against a ranging rook: king 7h, silver 6h, golds 7i and 5h. Four moves, and the king is out of the centre and behind a wall, but only just; it is meant as a stop on the way to something better, or as enough cover for a fast attack such as the Climbing Silver.
Yagura矢倉囲い yagura
King 8h behind a silver on 7g and golds on 6g and 7h. The classic fortress of games where both rooks stay home, and the most studied shape in shogi.
Anaguma穴熊 anaguma
The king in the corner behind the lance, sealed in by a silver and two golds. The strongest castle in the game and the slowest to build; shown here in its ranging rook form on the right, and built as its mirror image on the left by static rook players.
Other names you will hear
- Gangi (雁木), the snowroof: a static rook shape with the two silvers standing side by side on the third rank and the golds behind them, so the roof slopes like a row of geese; old, and fashionable again since the 2010s.
- Kinmusō (金無双): the quick castle of double ranging rook games, two golds side by side in front of the king.
- Nakazumai (中住まい): not a castle at all but a king kept in the centre with a gold each side, seen in Double Wing games.
- Elmo castle (elmo囲い): a recent static rook shape named after the computer program that played it, king 7h with a silver on 7i.
Build them at the board.
The app names the castle you are building and how far along it is, and its bot builds them too.