Kyoto Shogi
Kyoto Shogi was invented by Tamiya Katsuya around 1976. It is played on a 5×5 board, and every piece except the King represents a pair: after each move, the moved piece must flip to show its other face. The game name plays on the pairing of the Japanese pronunciation of Kyoto (京都, Kyō-to) with piece name components. Public domain.
Kyoto Shogi — starting position
https://engine.moddable.games/play/?game=shogi&variant=kyoto-shogi
Setup
Board: 5×5 grid, 25 squares.
Pieces per player: 5 (King + 4 dual-sided pieces).
Starting position:
| Player | Rank | Pieces (files 5–1, left to right) |
|---|---|---|
| White (top) | Rank 5 | Pawn · Gold · King · Silver · Tokin |
| Black (bottom) | Rank 1 | Tokin · Silver · King · Gold · Pawn |
Black (Sente) moves first. The position is point-symmetric (180-degree rotation).
Piece Pairs
Each non-King piece has two faces. The piece flips to its alternate face after every move, mandatory.
| Face A | Face B |
|---|---|
| Tokin (と) | Lance (香) |
| Silver General (銀) | Bishop (角) |
| Gold General (金) | Knight (桂) |
| Pawn (歩) | Rook (飛) |
Piece movements:
| Piece | Movement |
|---|---|
| King | One square in any direction |
| Tokin | One step orthogonally or diagonally forward (Gold General movement) |
| Lance | Any number of squares forward only |
| Silver General | One step diagonally, or one step forward |
| Bishop | Any number of squares diagonally |
| Gold General | One step orthogonally or diagonally forward |
| Knight | Jumps two squares forward and one sideways |
| Pawn | One step forward |
| Rook | Any number of squares orthogonally |
The Flip Rule
After every move, the moved piece must flip to its alternate face. A piece may be moved to a square from which it would immediately have no legal move (for example, a Lance on the final rank that will flip to a Tokin on the next turn) — this is legal in Kyoto Shogi, unlike Standard Shogi.
Drops
Captured pieces may be dropped back onto any empty square. When dropping, the player chooses which face of the pair to place face-up.
Win Condition
Checkmate the opponent’s King.
Draws
The same position occurring three times with the same player to move is a draw.
Attribution
Kyoto Shogi. Invented by Tamiya Katsuya, c. 1976. Rules published freely since at least the 1980s; game mechanics are not copyrightable. Sources: pychess.org/variants/kyotoshogi; Fairy-Stockfish variants.ini engine definition.