page_title: Meijin (shogi)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Meijin (shogi) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The 将棋名人退就位式 Meijin Resignation Ceremony in February 1938. The three people pictured in the foreground from left to right are 関根金次郎 Kinjirō Sekine, 木村義雄 Yoshio Kimura, and 小菅剣之助 Kenosuke Kosuge. Here, Sekine, the last heritary Lifetime, resigned his position as Meijin to make way for the first tournament-determined (Real Strength) Meijin, which was Kimura.
context_page_description: Meijin is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word meijin refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field.
context_section_description: The Meijin institution started in the 17th century (Edo period), and for around 300 years (1612–1937) was a hereditary title that was passed from the reigning Meijin upon his retirement or death to another selected from three families, as deemed to be worthy. This is known as the Lifetime Meijin system (終生名人制). In 1935, however, the Japan Shogi Association, or JSA, announced that it was abolishing the existing system of succession in favor of something more short-term and reflective of actual playing strength, known as the Real Strength Meijin system (実力名人制). In 1937, the reigning 13th Meijin Kinjiro Sekine, who had received his title under the old system and was 70 years old at the time, voluntarily gave up his title so that a new Meijin could be decided through actual tournament play. Later that year Yoshio Kimura, who was a student of Sekine, became the first Meijin to gain the title based upon actual performance by winning a tournament which included eight other top players. From 1937 to 1947, the challenger for the Meijin title was determined through tournaments involving a select number of players. Finally, in 1947, the JSA officially established the preliminary round of ranking tournaments (順位戦, jun'isen) that it currently uses.
caption: Sekine's Meijin Resignation Ceremony (将棋名人退就位式) in February 1938. Pictured sitting in the foreground are Sekine (left) and Kimura (right). (The person standing in the foreground is Kenosuke Kosuge.)
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