From: Nobuyoshi Fujimoto <Nobuyoshi_Fujimoto <at> QMGATE <dot> ARC <dot> NASA <dot> GOV>
Date: 23 oct 1995
Subject: Re: Variants

        Reply to:   RE>>Variants

>Noteworthy is that Shogi originally seemed to have been played with the
>equivalent of Chu Shogi's "Drunk Elephant,"
Exactly, Drunk Elephant is unique piece.
I think it was invented for the old Big shogi variants.

The following is my understanding based on  Dr. Masukawa and Ouchi 8dan's book

The origin of the current Shogi is known as Ko-shogi(little shogi)
It had no rook bishop and Drunk Elephant (very simple and not exiting)
Maybe in hundreds of yeas  someone invented drop rule.
On the contrary, the other evolution involved rook bishop and Drunk Elephant
from big shogi variant.
One day, earlier than 15th century, the different rule meet together, and as
you said,
Drunk Elephant and drop rule cannot exist together.
Then the current rule became selected.

>I have played tori, chu and maka-dai-dai-old-rules (I think, it may also
>have been just plain old dai-dai <g>).

Pieter.
How did you feel for playing maka-dai-dai-old-rules.
I suppose it is just big but not so exiting game.