---
title: Kyoto Shogi
slug: kyoto-shogi
board: "5×5"
players: "2"
parent: shogi
win: "Checkmate the opponent's King"
special: Every piece except the King flips to its alternate face after each move
engine:
  topology:
    type: grid
    rows: 5
    cols: 5
  players: [sente, gote]
  setup: "pgskl/5/5/5/LKSGP"
  render:
    cellSize: 40
---

## 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.

{{svg:kyoto-shogi-board.svg "Kyoto Shogi — starting position"}}

### 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.