From: Richard Jernigan <richj <at> MICROSOFT <dot> COM>
Date: 30 jan 1996
Subject: Re: game analysis and annotation

Reijer Grimbergen writes:
> As a matter of fact, I will have to make a collection of tesuji myself
> to teach to the Shogi program I am making as part of my research
> here in Japan.

I was just thinking the same thing, regarding my own Shogi program.
Unfortunately, while I would love to pick up a book listing 100 of
these, the only phrase I can read in Japanese is "where is
Mr. Tanaka?".  Comon-sense rules like these are often the best way
for beginning players to learn how a game is supposed to -feel- when
played correctly, which in turn helps them become better players
and enjoy the game more.

As a non-Japanese-speaker, I find I am limited to a very small subset
of Shogi material available around the world.  Language has apparently
been quite a deterrent to Shogi's popularity outside of Japan; its popular
literature and commentaries, board annotation, and (of course) its
playing pieces all give it an extremely high learning curve for anyone
who isn't used to discerning the differences in Japanese characters,
and make it difficult for non-Japanese-speakers to follow the game's
popular contestants, as they would be able to follow Western chess
games played through FIDE.  But there is a strong urge--I'm sure it's been
evident on this list for quite a while--to keep Shogi as-is: how dare anyone
suggest Staunton-style pieces for the board, or switching the official
board notation to a lower-left -centric orientation?  Why is this such a
religious issue--after which suggestion did the game stop being
Shogi, and start being something less enjoyable?  Is it fear of
wounding the pride of the Japanese, in making the game less
friendly to its creators?  Or is there a camaraderie between Shogi
players outside of Japan, the disruption of which by a mass influx
of suddenly-able-to-play-Shogi western chessites would cause
the existing players to enjoy the game less?

--Richard