Castles · 右矢倉
Right Yagura.
A Yagura built on the right, for games where both players have swung their rooks: king 2h, silver 3g, golds 3h and 4g.
How it goes together
Start from a Mino: king 2h, silver 3h, golds 5h and 4i. Push the 3f pawn and lift the silver from 3h to 3g behind it. Push the 4f pawn and lift the 5h gold to 4g behind that. Then bring the 4i gold across to 3h, beside the king. It is the Gold Yagura turned round: the silver in front, one gold beside the silver, one beside the king. The 3h gold guards the silver and the 4g gold, the 4g gold guards the silver from the side, and the silver and the 4g gold both guard the 4f pawn.
This Right Yagura starts as a Mino: the first seven moves below are that castle, and five more turn it into a Yagura.
Move by move
Black only. The first seven moves are the Mino; five more turn it into a Yagura.
Step through the moves, or press play.
Tap a move to jump to it. Arrow keys work once the board has focus.
Twelve moves, five more than the Mino. In real games the Mino’s own moves are often mixed in with these: the record on shogi-rule.com lifts the silver to 3g before the gold comes to 5h.
What it is good against
Strong from above, which is where the attack comes from when both players have swung their rooks and the opponent’s rook faces your king. The third file is thick, which is why Japanese sources recommend it against the Third File Rook and the Ishida. And unlike the Gold Twins, it leaves the king a way out to the first file.
Where it breaks
Moves. It takes longer than the Mino or the Gold Twins, the usual castles of this kind of game. Everything depends on getting the 3f pawn and the 3g silver in. If the 4f pawn cannot follow, shogi-rule.com suggests settling for a lower Yagura shape (平矢倉), and if neither works, putting the king on 3i, out of the bishop’s line.
When to build it
Only in Double Ranging Rook games (both Wikipedias), above all against the Third File Rook and the Ishida (Shogi Wars, hibitonshi), when the game is slow enough to build from a Mino.
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.