The pieces look like flattened obelisks pointing toward the enemy, with their names written on them in Japanese characters. Many pieces' moves are somewhat similar to chess, but there are several differences. Golds move like a King, but not diagonally backward. Silvers move into one of the forward three squares or two diagonally backward ones. Incense Chariots move like Rooks, but only straight forward.
Knights move as in chess, but only to one of the two possible forward squares.
Pawns move and capture one square directly ahead. There are two additional rules not found in chess. The first is promotion, which is indicated by flipping a piece over. The other rule is that you own the enemy pieces that you capture and can put them back in the game to fight for you. Instead of making a normal move, you can drop a captured piece on the board.