Japan Shogi Association

The Japan Shogi Association (日本将棋連盟, Nihon Shōgi Renmei), or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materials, supervises and trains apprentice professionals as well as many other activities.
For much of its early history, shogi followed an iemoto system centered around three families (schools): the Ōhashi (main) [ja], the Ōhashi (branch) [ja] and the Itō [ja]. The Meijin title was hereditary and could only be held by members of these three families. These three schools were supported by the Tokugawa shogunate and thus controlled the professional shogi world up until 1868 when the Meiji Restoration began. By the time Sōin Itō [ja], the eighth and last head of the Itō school and the 11th Hereditary Meijin, had died in 1893, the influence of the families had decreased to such an extent that they had no real power at all.
In 1921, there were three groups of professional players in the Tokyo area: the 東京将棊倶楽部 led by Kinjirō Sekine [ja] (the thirteen Lifetime Meijin), the 東京将棊同盟社 led by Ichitarō Doi, and the 東京将棊研究會 led by Kumao Ōsaki. Additionally, western Japan had its own separate organizations. On September 8, 1924, the Tokyo players united together to found the Tokyo Shogi Federation (東京将棋連盟, tōkyō shōgi renmei), the earliest form of the JSA, with Doi as president and Sekine as honorary president. The Tokyo Shogi Federation changed its name to Nihon Shōgi Renmei (日本将棋連盟) in 1927 with Sekine as president. In 1932, the president changed back to Doi with Sekine again as honorary president. Yasujirō Kon [ja] replaced Doi as president in 1934. However, the shogi world was split again in 1935 when a western guild of players called Japan Shogi Reform Society (日本将棋革新協会, nihon shōgi kakushin kyōkai) with Chōtarō Hanada as its president separated from the eastern Nihon Shōgi Renmei due to a controversy over the 8-dan promotion of Tatsunosuke Kanda. In 1936, the two sections along with a western third sect (Tatsunosuke Kanda's 十一日会 group) merged to form the Shogi Consolidation Association (将棋大成会, shōgi taisei-kai) with Sekine as its president. With this merger, it became possible to hold the first Real Strength (nonhereditary) Meijin tournament. Yoshio Kimura, who became the first nonhereditary Meijin in 1937, replaced Sekine as president in 1938. In 1947, it officially changed its name back to Nihon Shōgi Renmei with Kimura still as president. In 1949, it became a legal entity (社団法人 shadan hōjin 'corporate person') for the first time. The JSA celebrated its 81st anniversary in November 2005, which was significant because a shogi board consists of 81 squares.
On its official website, the JSA states that its aims are "to contribute to the development of Japanese traditional culture, to help increase shogi's popularity and development as an art form, to contribute to spread an increased understanding of Japanese culture and traditions and to establish friendly exchanges with people of other countries through shogi".
Both the JSA's official homepage and by-laws list the official activities of the association as follows:
The JSA officially registered as a "Public Interest Incorporated Association" [ja] (公益社団法人, kōeki shadan hōjin) under Japanese law on April 1, 2011. Prior to that, the JSA had been officially registered as "Membership Association" [ja] (社団法人, shadan hōjin) since July 29, 1949.
The headquarters (本部, honbu) of the JSA is located in the Sendagaya area of Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, while the main office for western Japan is the Kansai Shogi Kaikan located in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture and the main office for northern Japan is in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. In addition to the three main offices, there is also a promotion office located in the Sakae area of Naka Ward, Nagoya for the Tōkai region.
In June 2019, the JSA announced that it would be moving its headquarters from its current location to a commercial property close to Sendagaya Station. The current JSA headquarters was built in 1976, and forty years of aging needed to be addressed. A committee set up in June 2018 led by Yoshiharu Habu discussed options and presented them at the JSA's June 2019 General Meeting, where the members voted to move to a new location. JSA president Satō stated that he would continue negotiations either to purchase or lease a new location with the goal of completing the relocation sometime around the year 2024. On September 8, 2024, JSA president Habu presided over a unveiling ceremony for the media to celebrate the completion of the new headquarters as part of the JSA's celebration of its 100th anniversary. The grand opening of the new headquarters to the public was held on October 1, 2024, and included several events such as a memorial tournament.
In February 2021, the JSA announced that it would also be moving its Kansai office from Osaka to neighboring Takatsuki on property owned by the Takatsuki City government. The move is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023. The current office will be demolished and the land sold to help offset the cost of the move. There was a proposal to rebuild at the existing location, but the cost of a temporary location was deemed prohibitive. The new office will have improved playing conditions, a TV studio and other new features. It will provide a major upgrade over the current facilities and also allow the JSA to better take advantage of the increase in shogi's popularity due to the impact of professional shogi player Sōta Fujii.
Yoshiharu Habu has been JSA president since June 9, 2023. Once a year (more often if needed), the JSA membership meets to discuss matters relevant to the association. Organizational matters, financial matters, disciplinary matters, etc. are all discussed and placed to a vote. Each regular member is given one vote.
Every two years, the JSA's board of directors is chosen during the annual meeting. No less than eight, but no more than twenty members are selected to be directors for a period of two years. The recently elected directors then choose one of their fellow directors to serve as president, one to serve as senior managing director, and no less than four to serve as executive directors. In addition, the general membership selects no more than three individuals to serve as the association's comptrollers. Directors, their relatives, persons having special relationships with directors, and JSA employees are not allowed to be comptrollers.
The JSA maintains a business office and hires staff to help manage the everyday affairs of the association as well as assist in other tasks deemed by the president to be important.
The following is a list of past presidents of the JSA.
Note: Names marked with an asterisk (*) died while in office.
Members of the Japan Shogi Association are of two types: professional players (棋士 kishi) and women professional players (女流棋士 joryū kishi). As of 2017, there are no women who have qualified for the professional player group, which consists only of males as a result.
All professional players are members of the JSA. However, not all women professional players are members of the JSA. Other women professional players belong to a separate female shogi guild (日本女子プロ将棋協会 nihon joshi puro shōgi kyōkai ) or are free agents.
The JSA maintains an online presence through its official website and Twitter account. The association also provides mobile app which provides some free content such as shogi-related news updates, but offers live tournament reports, game scores and detailed analysis, etc. for a fee. In addition, the JSA also owns and operates Shogi Club 24, an online shogi game site, and provides official support to the international shogi server 81Dojo.
The JSA has an official YouTube channel called "Shogi Association" where it provides instructional and event video clips hosted by JSA professionals and women's professionals as well as an official Twitter account for the channel.
The JSA has its own publishing division for shogi-related books, magazines, and other printed matter. Together with the Mynavi Publishing Corporation, the JSA published a weekly newspaper called Weekly Shogi (週刊将棋 (Shūkan Shōgi)) from January 1984 to March 2016, but ceased publication due to changes in the media environment. The JSA also publishes a monthly magazine called Shogi World (将棋世界 (Shōgi Sekai)). The JSA and MyNabi also operate official Twitter accounts for both publications.
The JSA maintains an international presence and promotes shogi internationally through 40 official chapters in 28 countries worldwide. These chapters are local shogi clubs or national federations which are officially recognized and supported by the JSA.
The JSA has also held an International Shogi Forum once every three years since 1999. The multi-day event includes individual and team tournaments involving representatives from overseas national shogi federations and Japan, simultaneous exhibitions by professionals and female professionals, displays of shogi equipment as well as various exchange events. The event has been held six times in Japan—Tokyo (1999, 2002, 2005), Tendō (2008), Shizuoka (2014) and Kitakyushu (2017)—and once overseas, France (2011).
Matches of the Ryūō title tournament have occasionally been held overseas as well in Australia, China, England, France, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.