Shogi Board Setup: Starting Position Explained
To set up a shogi board, each player fills three rows of the 9x9 grid: nine pawns across the third rank, the bishop on the second rank’s left and the rook on its right, and the back rank from corners inward reading lance, knight, silver, gold, king, gold, silver, knight, lance.
The starting position
Work from the back rank forward and the pattern is easy to hold in your head, because the back rank is a symmetrical hierarchy: cheap pieces at the edges, royalty in the middle. Lances guard the corners, knights beside them, then silvers, then golds, and the king at dead center, flanked by his gold generals.
The second rank holds just two pieces with seven empty squares between them: from your own seat, bishop on the left, rook on the right. The third rank is a wall of nine pawns.
Your opponent’s setup mirrors yours, rotated 180 degrees. That means the two rooks start diagonally opposite each other, not facing each other, and the two bishops share one long open diagonal with only pawns between them. That bishop-vs-bishop standoff shapes many openings; some begin with an early bishop trade straight down that diagonal.
Want it drilled into muscle memory? The setup trainer below shuffles the pieces and times you putting them back.
Ranks, files, and reading the board
Shogi coordinates take one minute to learn and pay off forever. Files (columns) are numbered 1 to 9, ranks (rows) lettered a to i in the Western style. The count starts from the first player’s top-right corner: file 1 on their right edge, rank a at the opponent’s back rank. So the far corner square on your right is 1a, and the center of the board is 5e.
Two things chess players should unlearn. First, there’s no “queenside” or “kingside”; players say things like “the rook file” or “the 2-file” instead. Second, square color never matters. The board is deliberately uncheckered because no shogi piece is bound to one color of square the way a chess bishop is.
Each piece has its own habits on this grid, covered in the pieces guide.
Who moves first? The furigoma
Shogi decides the first move with a piece toss called furigoma. One player shakes five pawns and tosses them onto the board. Count the faces: if more land showing the plain pawn side (歩), the tosser takes the first move. If more land showing the promoted side (と), the other player moves first. Pieces landing on edge or standing are simply not counted.
The first player is sente, the second gote. In professional matches the toss is performed formally by the timekeeper onto a silk cloth, which tells you something about how seriously shogi takes its rituals. Sente is considered a small advantage, so between friends it’s polite to alternate or toss fresh each game.
On our board, you can choose your side or let the site flip a coin for you; against the computer, playing sente as the human is the friendlier default.
Setup mistakes everyone makes once
Swapped bishop and rook. The classic. Remember it from your own seat: bishop left, rook right. If your rook is on your left, your board is wrong (or you’re reading your opponent’s half).
Rooks facing each other. If both rooks sit on the same file, someone set up from the wrong side. The position rotates, it doesn’t reflect: rooks belong on opposite wings.
Pawns on the second rank. Chess habit. Shogi pawns stand on the third rank, one row further forward, with the rook and bishop behind them.
King orientation subtleties. Traditionally the two king pieces differ: the higher-ranked player takes the one inscribed 王将 (king general) and the other player uses 玉将 (jeweled general). Casual sets and beginners can ignore this entirely, but if your set has two slightly different kings, that’s why.
Pieces pointing the wrong way. Every piece points at your opponent. A backwards piece isn’t just untidy; in shogi, orientation is ownership, since captured pieces switch sides when dropped.
Setup done. Now what?
From the starting position, most good first moves do one of two things: open the bishop’s diagonal (a pawn step) or begin developing the rook’s attack. From there you’ll castle your king and pick a plan, which is exactly where the how to play shogi lesson picks up. For the complete rulebook, see shogi rules.
FAQ
How do you set up a shogi board?
Each player fills three rows of the 9x9 board. Back rank from the corners inward: lance, knight, silver general, gold general, king in the center, then mirrored back out. Second rank: bishop on the player’s left, rook on the right. Third rank: nine pawns. The opponent’s setup mirrors yours, rotated 180 degrees.
Who goes first in shogi?
The first player, called sente, is decided by furigoma: one player tosses five pawns, and if more land showing the unpromoted pawn face, the tosser moves first. If more show the promoted face, the opponent moves first. Sente carries a slight advantage, so casual players often alternate between games.
Why do the rooks not face each other in shogi?
Because the starting position has 180-degree rotational symmetry rather than mirror symmetry. Each player places the rook on their own right, so the rooks begin on diagonally opposite wings. The bishops, both on their owners’ left, end up sharing one long diagonal through the center of the board.
How many pieces does each shogi player start with?
Twenty pieces per player, 40 on the board in total: one king, one rook, one bishop, two gold generals, two silver generals, two knights, two lances, and nine pawns. All 20 fit into three rows, leaving the middle three ranks of the board empty at the start.