Iijima Bishop Pullback

In shogi, Iijima Bishop Pullback or Iijima's Back Bishop (飯島流引き角 Iijima-ryuu hiki kaku) is a less common defensive Static Rook opening used against a Ranging Rook opponent.

It is characterized by not opening the bishop's diagonal with a pawn push (P-34 or P-76) and instead moving the bishop back (to 31 if played by White or 79 if played by Black) so that it can then exit one's camp via the central (5th) file, which has been opened by advancing the central pawn.

The opening is named after professional player Eiji Iijima who has won the Masuda Award in 2009 for developing the strategy.

Black starts castling their king rightward, and White pulls their bishop back to rank 1, which allows for a possible pawn and bishop exchange on the eighth file at the 86 square focal point.

In the last diagram, both players have (a) finished moving their kings into their castles, (b) developed their attacking silvers further, and (c) exchanged their central file pawns.