Which is more popular in Japan, shogi or Go?

The popular American drama "The Queen's Gambit" the year before last introduced the extraordinary experience of a chess prodigy, which must have made the audience more interested in Chess, or at least learned some relevant knowledge. With the limited knowledge I know, there should be not many chess games that can rely on playing chess to make a living. Besides chess, there should be only Go and shogi. Everyone has heard of the first two, and there may not be many people who know shogi .

Chinese native speakers should know chess , and shogi is similar to chess, except that the game is more difficult than chess. (Go is the most complicated of the mainstream chess games) So when it is called in Chinese, it is sometimes called Japanese chess , but because of the Japanese characters, it is also common to use shogi (しょうぎ; Shogi) directly.

A few days ago, Japanese professional shogi player Satoshi Fujii won the title of the 5th shogi competition, and broke the record of the youngest holding 5 titles at the same time (19 years and 6 months), and let the Japanese media collectively. A round of crazy reports, including the meals or desserts he had eaten during the game, also exploded. I use a lot of "again" here to mean that these deeds have happened more than once, and I can know how popular this board game is in Japan.

The question is, shogi and go are the two major chess games in Japan, which one is more popular with the Japanese? The answer is really hard to say!

Try to approach this question in the following aspects.

• Income of professional chess players on both sides
• mass population on both sides
• Difficulty of both sides rules
• state grant
• news

Income of professional chess players on both sides

There are about 200 professional shogi players and about 450 professional Go players.

The top prize in shogi is the Dragon King , with 44 million yen for the winner and 16.5 million for the loser. There are 8 major titles in the shogi competition, and the total prize money is 124 million yen. There are 7 major titles in the Go game in Japan, with a total of 146 million yen, which is a small victory in Go. Moreover, Go has become an international chess game. It is also very popular in China and South Korea. Japanese Go players can also participate in foreign Go competitions. This is also the bonus and game fee for top Go players. s reason.

Shogi is basically only so grand in Japan, although the Japan Shogi Federation also tries its best to promote shogi internationally. At this stage, it seems that there is a long way to go. Refer to the table below for the bonus rankings of both parties.

In addition to the competition bonus, both the Japan Shogi Federation and the Nippon Chess Institute (Go organization) will also provide certain allowances based on the professional chess players' performance. The monthly allowances of the top players are more than 500,000 yen, and the worst are tens of thousands of yen. The average chess player's annual income is roughly the same as that of the average company's employees. On the contrary, the average income of professional shogi players is relatively higher because the number of professional shogi players is smaller than that of Go. However, if your shogi performance drops too much, you will be discouraged (forced to retire), while Go will not discourage players.

In other words, the side that loses the title also gets a bonus, with different rules for each title, roughly half of the winner's. In fact, the real biggest winner is the government! No matter who wins the prize, about half of it must be deducted and turned over to the treasury.

In addition, there are also many games with low prize money, and professional chess players in the middle and late classes also have the opportunity to win the prize money. In addition, there are other ways of making money, such as guiding students, explaining chess games, publishing books, and giving speeches (forgot to say that advertising endorsements are the biggest income, but there are only a handful of people that can make money owners fancy!) . Anyone who can become a professional chess player can basically rely on the skill of playing chess to make a living.

mass population on both sides

According to the "White Paper on Leisure Activities 2021", the population of shogi in Japan in 2020 is 5.3 million, a decrease of 900,000 from 6.2 million in the previous year. The Go population is 1.8 million, a decrease of 500,000 from 2.3 million in the previous year. The main reason for the decline is that due to the impact of the epidemic, the face-to-face matches and various activities of players have been forced to cancel one after another.

This event is won by shogi.

Difficulty of both sides rules

For people who don't know the rules of these two types of chess at all, Go is easier to learn, and both sides can start the game by taking turns. On the other hand, in shogi, you must remember the characteristics and movement rules of various pieces at the beginning, otherwise you will not be able to even start the game, and the first step will be difficult for beginners.

However, after getting started, the difficulty is reversed, and Go is difficult for shogi. If you want to advance in Go, you have to learn how to lay out, enclose, and calculate the outcome. Shogi is like chess. After the rules are understood, the conditions for winning and losing are very clear. It is enough to trap the opponent's general .

It is also because of the above reasons that the survey results of the above white paper appear, that the population of shogi exceeds the population of Go.

state grant

The government's Cultural Affairs Agency allocates funds to relevant non-governmental organizations every year. The Japan Shogi Federation and the Nippon Chess Institute are also among the subsidy objects, and the amount of the two sides is almost the same. In addition, these two organizations can also accept donations from the outside world, and the amount of donations is tax-deductible, equivalent to disguised state subsidies.

news

Let’s talk about the conclusion first. At this stage, this one is won by shogi.

The news media in capital society pursues audience ratings, and the audience's viewing preferences in different periods will allow the media to adjust their reporting efforts on their own. In recent years, due to the emergence of the talented young Satoshi Fujii in the shogi world, his popularity has been enhanced by a large number of media reports.

Assuming that the popularity is determined by the performance of the strength, Yuta Iyama of the Go world is the first person. He is the first seven-time champion in the history of Japanese Go to hold seven titles at the same time, and he has also won the Japanese National Honor Award together with Hanyu Zenji in the shogi world (this award can be said to be the highest honor that ordinary people can get, and the first winner is Wang Sadaji ). Compared with bonus income, he has dominated the Go bonus ranking for 11 consecutive years, and looking at the current trend, he can still hold the title for several years. By the way, his total prize money is also higher than the first place in the shogi world. (However, the strength of Go in China, Japan and South Korea has been with Japan for a long time. Maybe because of this, since the popularity of Go Soul comics has declined, it has fallen to the limit. By the way, I have collected a complete set of the original version of Go Soul (ヒカルの碁), I don't know where to go now. QQ)

It is a pity that popularity is such an ethereal thing that it cannot be quantified and compared so easily. However, the current social atmosphere often makes Go-related people jealous of the popularity of shogi.

Seeing this may make friends who love chess envy. Shogi, which is very similar to chess, can grow and become professional in Japan, becoming one of the career options and having the opportunity to produce star players. Although the feeling will change when the hobby becomes a profession, for those who are interested, it should also be their dream to play chess for a lifetime.

2022/02/15 posted.

Original link to Japan behind-the-scenes observation