Aya Imai

[2][3] At first, she mainly played against her older brother and continued to improve to the point where she start attending a local shogi school.

[4] As a second-grade elementary school student, she entered the Tokai branch of the Japan Shogi Association's training group system under the tutelage of shogi professional Masataka Sugimoto.

[4] By June 2016, she had performed well enough in the training school system to qualify for women's professional status even though she was still a third-year junior high school student, but decided to enter the JSA's professional apprentice school instead to try and obtain regular professional status.

[2][4][5] At the end of November 2022, she decided to formally leave the apprentice school at the rank of 1-kyū because she did not feel she would be able to achieve promotion to the next rank of 1-dan in accordance with JSA apprentice school's rules which require that apprentice professionals achieve said rank within one year of turning 21 years old.

[3][5] She decided to switch over to women's professional shogi, and formally requested to be allowed do so in January 2023.