From: Hunter Johnson <hunter <at> hunterandlori <dot> com>
Date: 14 aug 2004
Subject: Re: Kanji-Less Shogi Sets = International Sets ? Where Available ?

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--- E R <nkaidou <at> webtv <dot> net> wrote:

> Maybe I should agree if there were only one kind of kanji used. Why
> should I learn two?

There is only one kind of kanji used, with different fonts, but you
shouldn't learn any.  Just learn to recognize the images (with no
linguistic connotation) that are on the pieces for the game you want to
play.

> The former Marine did not recognize the one I had
> and told me that he could not play me with them.

I don't know your former Marine, but I have never lived in Japan and I
can assure you that it is possible to play shogi with the Japanese
pieces without knowing how to read kanji. Neither my brother nor my
eight-year-old son read any kanji, but they've played shogi with me.

> Do the Japanese want to keep the game Japanese? Why not have a set
> with lines showing the direction the piece moves or one with
> pictures.

Such sets are apparently available.  As are (western) chess sets with
movement arrows on the bases.  Most sets of both types of chess rely on
the players to associate the form of the piece with its function,
without having the function on the piece, however.

> I was able to figure out what some of the pieces had to be but not
> all of them. You don't need to be able to read to recognize chess
> pieces.

But you need to be able to distinguish chess pieces to play chess.

> You should not need to be able to read hieroglyphics to play Shogi.

And you don't.  You just need to be able to distinguish the pieces, and
mentally associate those distinctions with their moves.

> If someone came up with a nice design carved into the wood as Shogi
> sets are (that is how it's done, right?) easily recognizable by
> folks who don't know kanji, do you think that it would catch on?

Actually, I don't think it would.  There's not a large audience out
there waiting for the next (western) chess alternative who would
embrace the set, regardless of how it were manufactured.

Now, maybe it they made "Simpson Shogi" (or Yu-Gi-Oh! Shogi) it might
sell a lot of copies. :-)

> Thanks for the international set images, but IMO if one wants to
> replace the kanji then one ought to replace it with something better
> looking. Would that make it more acceptable?

I'd enjoy seeing such designs, but I'm not sure it would be any more
acceptable.  Part of shogi's draw is its tradition.

Hunter


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--
J. Hunter Johnson    <><
http://www.hunterandlori.com

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