From: tn <tn <at> PANIX <dot> COM>
Date: 12 oct 1995
Subject: Re: Notation of position and score?

Toshiya Kawakami wrote:
> Though each name from chess is not so familiar for most Japanese
> people, I feel these English names are natural.

They do sound natural to me now, but they didn't when I first
heard about them, and even today I don't particularly like the
use of chess term/notation when simple Japanese terms are
available. But then, I hardly have chance to talk about shogi
with English speaking individuals, so it hasn't affected my
mental health yet.

I guess it helps to attract the chess crowd to shogi better
this way, making the transition easier, which alone probably
is a good reason to keep using chess words. On the other hand,
Japanese chess players use the original chess terms as they
are, and they don't use shogi notation for a chess game.

Does anybody know if those chess terms are the official
English terms endorsed by the Japanese Shogi Association (or
whatever that rules Japanese Pro shogi)?

-Taki Naruto <tn <at> panix <dot> com>