Castles · 木村美濃
Kimura Mino.
A light Mino with a gold beside the king on 3h and the silver pushed up to 4g: three moves on top of a Half Mino.
How it goes together
Start from a Half Mino: king 2h, silver 3h, gold 4i. Push the 4f pawn, lift the silver from 3h up to 4g behind it, and bring the 4i gold up into the 3h square the silver has just left. The gold now stands beside the king and guards the silver diagonally; the silver guards the gold back, and the pawn in front of it. The left gold never joins and stays on 6i, so only two generals defend the king.
A Kimura Mino grows out of a Half Mino: the first six moves below are that castle, and the last three make this one.
Move by move
Black only, from the start position. The first six moves are the Half Mino; then the pawn, the silver and the gold.
Step through the moves, or press play.
Tap a move to jump to it. Arrow keys work once the board has focus.
Nine moves. The silver has gone up to 4g and a gold has taken its old square on 3h, so the castle’s weight has moved forward, toward the centre.
What it is good against
The centre and the front. The silver on 4g covers 3f, 4f and 5f, and the gold on 3h guards that silver, so a piece that takes the 4f pawn is taken by the silver, and a piece that takes the silver is taken by the gold. Japanese teaching sites add that it covers the Half Mino’s diagonal weak point, and that pushing the third-file pawn lets the right knight jump to 3g and join the attack. It costs only three moves after a Half Mino, and the left gold stays free.
Where it breaks
It is thin. Two generals guard the king, where a Mino has three, and nothing guards 4i, the square diagonally behind the 3h gold: a silver dropped there attacks the gold and cannot be taken. The edge and the bottom rank are weak too. Shogi Wars calls the king position thin and says the castle is seldom used today.
When to build it
A ranging rook castle, today mostly with a Central Rook or after the bishops have been traded; the build here keeps the rook on 6h, as on the Half Mino page. ja.wikipedia says it suits the Silver Horns Central Rook (ツノ銀中飛車) and the Gangi, and that a static rook builds it mirrored on the left in Gangi games. Kimura himself played it in lance-handicap games, as the stronger player.
Build it at the board.
The app’s lesson walks the king into a Mino one step at a time, and its review names the castle you were building when a game turned.