Dai dai shogi

The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on the earlier dai shogi.

Apart from its size, the major difference is in the range of the pieces and the "promotion by capture" rule.

Different sources often differ significantly in the moves attributed to the pieces, and the degree of contradiction (summarised below with the listing of most known alternative moves) is such that it is likely impossible to reconstruct the "true historical rules" with any degree of certainty, if there ever was such a thing.

It is not clear if the game was ever played much historically, as the few sets that were made seem to have been intended only for display.

Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after being captured.

The pieces are of slightly different sizes, from largest to smallest (or roughly most to least powerful) they are: Many of the English-language names are chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in Western chess, not necessarily as translations of the Japanese names.

(Sometimes the queen is called the "free king", a direct translation of its Japanese name.

†† The second character in 'wizard stork' is not present in most fonts: it should be 而 atop 鷦 ().

The queen could also be abbreviated FK (for free king) and the kirin as Ky (for kylin).

(The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally correct.)

The rule for promotion in these larger games is different from smaller board variants.

Some pieces can move along a limited number (2, 3, or 5) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions.

Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board.

If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board.

The hook mover and long-nosed goblin (tengu) can move any number of squares along a straight line, as a normal ranging piece, but may also abruptly change tack left or right by 90° at any one place along the route, and then continue as a ranging piece.

In the diagrams below, the different types of moves are coded by symbol and by color: Blue for step moves, yellow for jumps, green for multiple capture, and gray for range moves, as follows: Piece names with a grey background are present at the start of the game; the four with a blue background only appear with promotion.

Betza's funny notation has been included in brackets for easier reference, with the extension that the notation xxxayyyK stands for an xxxK move possibly followed by an yyyK move, not necessarily in the same direction.

By default continuation legs can go into all directions, but can be restricted to a single line by a modifier 'v' ("vertical", interpreted relative to the piece's current position on its path).

The default modality of all legs is the ability to move and capture: other possibilities are specified explicitly.

There are many divergent descriptions in the Edo-era sources; mostly, the rules from The Chess Variant Pages are followed below, with the exception of the great elephant.

As it finishes a capturing move, the lion dog promotes to a great elephant (above).

Nothing promotes into a racing chariot, but it was included here due to the symmetry of its move with that of the square mover (right).

Because it cannot move orthogonally or promote, a bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.

A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining king or prince wins the game.

In practice this rarely happens; a player will resign when loss is inevitable and the king will be taken on the opponent's next move (as in International Chess) because of the tradition that it is seen as an embarrassment to lose.

The very artificial situation of a smothered stalemate, where no moves are possible (even those that would expose the king), is not covered in the historical sources.

The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976.

According to the German Chu Shogi Association, the average values of the pieces are (using the interpretations of The Shogi Association, e.g. the lion dog as only a three-square range mover with no lion power):[42] These average values do not take into account the special status of the king as a royal piece.

This is particularly significant for the old kite and poisonous snake, which promote to the two most powerful pieces in the game.

The first two are generally though not always in agreement, but the third differs in the case of most pieces which are not found in smaller shogi variants.