Mihoko Iwasa

[1] She learned how to play shogi as a fourth-grade student due the influence of her older brothers.

[2][3] She subsequently began attending a local shogi school and had become good enough to enter the Tōkai branch of the Japan Shogi Association's training group system as a fifth-grade elementary school student.

Iwasa qualified for women's professional status after being promoted to training group B2 in December 2021.

[3] A meeting between the two was arranged by a mutual acquaintance and Toyoshima agreed to take her on as his first apprentice.

[3][4] She applied for women's professional status and her application was accepted by the Japan Shogi Association; she was granted women's professional status on February 1, 2022.