Traditional games are Asian chesses, Go, and Mahjong.
Asian Chess. Shougi, Chaturanga, Shangzi
Shogi the Japanese chess is said to have originated in Chaturanga, India. So if chess is from the west, shogi is from the east. Mongolia, China and South East Asian countries of course have their own versions of Shogi and Chaturanga, but Shogi is different from all of them in one respect.
None of the pieces can die. And they can be used as prisoners of war.
Just after the Second World War, the USA banned Shogi in Japan, along with other martial arts such as Judo and Kendo, because they were considered militaristic, but it is a very humane and eco-friendly game.
Japanese TV media loves foods always. In shougi game, it’s the same. This report broadcasted that the master Hifumi Kato ate camembert in break, without the match info...
The Indian game of Chaturanga has since evolved to include the use of dice, probabilistic elements and two-player to four-player rules. It is now available as an app and can be played with a smart phone.
Chinese Shangqi is like a Chinese version of chess, with very similar rules. The most obvious difference is that there are no queens and few pawns. If you walk down the street in China, especially in residential areas, and you see old men putting cookies on each other, it must be playing Shangqi.
You don’t see this in Japan or the West, but in China, even in recent years, it is common to see old men playing smilingly in the shade of trees in cool places where there is not much traffic.
Go
Go is an international game in East Asia. It originated in China and was also used for divination in ancient times.
Although Go is a very simple game, in which the stones are taken when they are surrounded, you will soon discover that it is very deep. If a beginner and a professional were to compete against each other, the difference would probably be much greater than in chess or shogi. It is the most difficult game that a layman can’t tell whether he is winning or losing by looking at the board. The game is also played internationally by China, Korea and Japan.
In Japan, a manga called Hikaru no Go was published in Jump, a manga magazine famous for Dragon Ball, and for about a year it became a hot topic on TV news.
In a short time, the manga made its way to China, Korea, and some parts of Southeast Asia, and it seems to have gained more or less players abroad. In Japan, the number of young people playing Go seems to have changed a lot before and after the manga came out. Until then, it had the strong image of being a sport for old people only, played in the town’s go-playing areas.
Mahjong
Mahjong also originated in China, where it was banned as gambling for several decades after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The rules of the game are much more complicated than those of other board games, but if you don’t want to go into too much detail, it is a game played by four players, and the winner is the one who can make four combinations of three or two identical numbers.
The numbers must be arranged in the order in which they are connected or in three identical ones. For example, 123, 333, 555, 456, 33, and so on.
The game is now enjoyed in China and Hong Kong, and in Japan, like Shogi and Igo, it is enjoyed mainly by middle-aged and older men. I heard in the Japanese media that it is also enjoyed by MLB players in the USA, but is it true? Anyway, it is an addictive board game because of the probability element and the element of reading each other. Nowadays it’s also available as an app on smartphones, which you can download and play against people from all over the world.
As always, of course, mahjong has its own anime, and there have been international collaborations between Chinese mahjong games and Japanese anime such as this one.
