From: ivan <ivan <at> TREASURY <dot> GOVT <dot> NZ>
Date: 24 oct 1996
Subject: Re: tenjiku shogi questions

Hello Ben,

> question 2:
> the diagram for the honju, the free eagle, does not make sense to me.
> it has arrows extending in all 8 directions from the piece, indicating
> that it can move indefinitely in these directions.  it also has x's in
> the squares 2 away in the orthogonal directions, indicating that it can
> jump to these squares in the event that there is an interposing piece.
> but these are also circles (meaning that the piece can step to these
> squares) in the squares 1 and 2 away in the diagonally directions.  but
> these squares are already covered by the arrows in those directions, so
> aren't necessary.  and it's not the same as the fire demon, the lion
> hawk, or the vice general, where they are necessary to indicated that
> these pieces can also reach these squares by an alternate route.
> there's no other mention of the free eagle in the instructions.
> so is the this just an unnecessary redundancy by gf hodges or is there
> more to the free eagle?  can someone please clarify for me?

I was confused by this myself, so I wrote to him. He explained that yes,
it is redundant having the circles there, but they are present in the
manuscript which was his source. So they are there for historical reasons,
not anything else.

Ivan