第四章　棋士の魅力——深浦康市の社会性

 

 

「喧嘩したら勝つと思うよ」／"If we get into a fist-fight, I'm going to win"

 

First I went to see the 1st round of the Kisei title match on June 11th. in Nigata and then returned to Silicon Valley via Tokyo.

 

Then we had only about a month before going to another title match. That was because I made a promise with Oui Fukaura to go to see the second round of the Oui title match which was held in Toyota-city in Aichi Prefecture. But in that one moment our shogi world changed dramatically.

A week after the first round of the Kisei title match, Habu won the sixth game of the Meijin title match (June 16th to 17th) of the Meijin championship. So he got the title of the 19th Eisei Meijin. And then on June nineteenth. which was two days after traveling, he got the chance to compete for the Oui title after defeating 7-dan Takanori Hashimoto.  In addition, he won the Kisei title match series with a great comeback on July 18th.  There were five rounds and he won the last three in a row after losing the first two rounds. He had only two titles on June 11th. But  37 days later he had four titles and the challenger Habu won the first round of the Oui title match. He kept so many titles that it became a main topic that Habu may get seven titles for the first time in thirteen years. Of course he had to defend his titles, but if he won three titles in a row (the Oui title match with Koichi Fukaura, the Ryuoh title match with Akira Watanabe in October, and the Kisei title match with Yasumitsu Sato in February), Habu might become a seven title holder in March, 2009. People started to say the "Road to the grand slam again." 

 

It seems Fukaura may feel uncomfortable to play the second round of Oui title match as part of his first match to defend his title because Habu won the first round.

But Fukaura may be a person who shows his true colors in such adverse circumstances.

I was thinking like this while I was riding a bullet train to Toyota-city.

In fact, Fukaura was a bit upset and said that it was too early to say that and then he turned this angst into positive energy.

 

 

Later he asked younger fellows what they would think if he started a fist fight with Habu.

 

 

I think I'm going to win. What do you think? Don't you think so?

 

 

I was surprised and asked him what he exactly meant.

 

 

Then he explained that it was important to think that there was something he could defeat Habu at as a human and didn't have to be afraid of him.

He hated to think he would lose everything to Habu.

Does everybody think they will lose the game when they start it with him?

That is meaningless, isn't it?

He said we had to have the attitude that we were all equal when we played shogi and our careers didn't matter at all.

 

 

Although most professional shogi players were overwhelmed by their cumulative results with Habu, only Fukaura was about to break even.

His mentality as mentioned seemed to be the secret for his results.

 

 

 

サンフランシスコの棋士たち／Professional shogi players in San Francisco

 

 

In the shogi world, the off season came in April after the league ranking tournament called Juni-sen was over.

Oui Koichi Fukaura, 8-dan Hisashi Namekata, 7-dan Hirotaka Nozuki, and 4-dan Yusuke Toyama had a plan to travel to San Francisco, Vancouver, and Seattle.

I was invited by my old friend Toyama to go for lunch or dinner in San Francisco.

I thought I couldn't miss it and I took one day off and went to San Francisco on April 14th.

 

In May, I had a conversation with Shigesato Itoi and Satoru Iwata, the CEO of Nintendo.

 

Iwata: "What are you going to do after your career?"

 

Umeda: "This is kind of strange but I think I have been too disciplined.(...) So recently I started to try to be more relaxed and do something other than my job.

For example, I really like "Shogi".(...) I really liked it since I was a child but I haven't played it between the ages of twenty and forty.

 

Itoi: "What does that mean? You intentionally didn't touch it?"

 

Umeda: "Yes. I'm that kind of person."

 

Iwata: "So you sacrificed something for something else"

 

Umeda: "Yes. I have been doing that, but I have started to change.  I started to have communication with professional shogi players recently. I don't know how to say this, but I really love them.(Laugh)

 

Iwata: (Laugh)

 

Itoi: "I totally understand.(Laugh) ""They are really pure."

 

Umeda: "That's true. Recently I spend hours with them and I felt like I enjoyed it from bottom my heart."

(If only problems which are appropriate size, Almost daily Itoi News paper)

 

The precious time I mentioned above was with those four professional shogi players in San Francisco.

 

 

Itoi pointed out their essence by one word "Pure" but their charm as humans comes from the pureness that they always thought they would spend their entire life as professional shogi players from their childhood. As professional shogi players who started because they really liked it, they needed to become engrossed in shogi to become a professional, even though everybody thinks they are addicted and worried about them.

If they become a pro, competition for the top professionals will last forever. 

As part of  that process during each competition, "Winning or Losing" is always obvious and the players have to take responsibility for it.

I can say there's no other such world as that of shogi.

 

 

We sometimes envy them because they found what they really like as a child and have made it their job.

It looks like they are earning their living by doing only what they really like.

But when we realize they are living in such a harsh world we start to feel comfortable in our ambiguous world.

 

 

How did they look to me from living in such a world?

First, they are incredible geniuses.

They are really smart, have quick minds, have good memories, and are good at talking and confident.

While in conversation, they get to the point incredibly fast.

I always feel comfortable with their smooth style of conversation.

They are totally different from people who belongs to organizations.

They are also different from engineers, artists, scholars but at the same time

they are part of the mysterious and wonderful Japanese culture.

They exude a unique atmosphere.

Sometimes they look to have an old-fashioned temper but they are really gentle and look mature even when they are young.

They take everything seriously and they obviously think and decide individually and also

always responsibility for anything.

Living in an unrestricted world in relation to time, many like drinking and overindulge when it comes to hanging out.

They tend to be very fussy about the details of their sport and play by using their good memory.

And they really cherish people who love shogi and the shogi world.

They are communicating with people deeply through shogi.

I got those feelings from them.

 

 

深浦康市の郷里・佐世保への思い／Koichi Fukaura's Feelings about his hometown, SASEBO

 

 

Among the professional shogi players, Fukaura stands out for having inner strength.

When I had a conversation with him, he obviously memorized everything I said and got the point easily.

But he was really easy to talk with and after spend a day with him,

I had the feeling that he was my old friend even though that was my first time to meet him.

In San Francisco, we crossed Golden Gate Bridge and went to a small seaside town called Sausalito.

As everybody suggested that we had better relax at seaside and have a chat rather than to move around to many spots,

we spent time in Sausalito by taking a walk and chat.

While we were taking a walk, I started to talk about the major league and said that

"The thing that touched me when I went to a ballpark to see a major-league game is that the audience knows a lot about baseball and

is engrossed in watching baseball. For example,when a player who just became a major league player from a minor league comes to the batter's box, the audience welcomes him and he receivs a standing ovation even if there's no reason to on the scoreboard."

 

Then Fukaura said that "We see the same situation when we go to the country side of Japan." 

I envy him because I was born in Tokyo and am not in his same situation but Fukaura deeply loves his home town, Sasebo.

His fans from his home town are as enthusiastic as the audience who supports their home team in the major-league at a baseball stadium.

 

The second game of  the Oi title match in Toyota-city was therefore an important match for him.

As the fourth game was schedule to be held in Sasebo, this was a big topic for Nishi-Nippon Newspaper and everyone in the town could not wait for Oi Koichi Fukaura's come back.

But if he lost that second round, then he has to go back to his home as a loser.

Think about the worst possible case, that he lose his title by losing four games in a row in Sasebo.

To refrain from such a situation, Fukaura cannot lose the second round.

 

 

In spring when he was a sixth grader at his elementary school, he participated in the Munakata Oi match (held by our paper) which many amateur shogi players from Kyushu and Yamaguchi competed.

He participated as the representative of Nagasaki Prefecture. That autumn he said "I want to join the club and become a professional shogi player."

Everybody was surprised because he was not good at expressing himself. (...)

He graduated from his elementary school in spring, 1984 and went to Tokyo supported by his relatives and joined the club, but it was hard for him.

It took a year to become 5 kyu from 6 kyu which was his first challenge.

Everybody else was getting higher grades and he couldn't.

He went back to his room and cried by holding his board.

After he graduated from junior high school, he rented his own room.

Once his allowance from home was delayed and he couldn't pay the 30,000 Yen for his rent.

Fukaura said "I cried and apologize to the owner. I'm so embarrassed."

(Nishi-Nippon News Paper, 1st August, 2008)

 

 

There are plenty of biographies for Habu.

But every professional shogi player has his own story from his childhood when he was found as a genius shogi-boy in a part of Japan and he has to live in the shogi world to compete as a "Top Genius" for his entire life. 

 

Fukaura left his home town and came to Tokyo when he was twelve, so he just graduated from elementary school.

Twelve is just a kid. Fukaura said "How my parents would allow that kid to go to Tokyo."

My friend from my home town said the same thing when I left my home town, but I was fifteen years old.

Three years make a big difference.

 

Fukaura became really strong after he left his relative's house, started living alone,and became a scorekeeper.

As a member of the Shoreikai who didn't get paid to play games, scorekeeping was the only way to make money other than the allowance from his parents,but it was good chance to learn about shogi at the same time.

In that sense, Fukaura learned about shogi and was trained the old fashioned way.

(Aspects Of The Game by Teruichi Aono)

 

 

 

9-dan Teruichi Aono wrote that more than ten years ago, but even he chose to live the way he likes. His reality is that he went to Tokyo right after he graduated from elementary school and survived while playing the game everyday is far beyond the imagination of the people who live ordinary lives like us. And more than twelve years later,when he was in his middle 30's he got the title of "Top of the Shogi World". As a brain sport athlete, a professional shogi player, Fukaura was a late bloomer.

That is why the Oui title was very important for him.

 

 

 

 

"There are many cases where talented professional shogi players who were expected to stay A class resulted in falling down to B2, and C1. Even he couldn't stay at class B1. I think they reach the time to give up.

One day they lose their ambition. And their heart goes far away from shogi. That moment tends to come when the players are around their middle thirties.

How do I keep my ambition? This sounds a little hypocritical but the expectations from my home town are huge.

This is my main motivation.

Of course I hate to lose, but my reason is totally different from other professional players, including Habu.

My hometown is my reason.

 

 

 

When I listened his words, I couldn't stop asking him "Is 'Hometown' really your main reason?".

But his feelings about his home, Sasebo are truly really strong.

 

 

 

安易な結論付けを拒む「気」を発する対局者／Players who have atmosphere of refusing to get to an easy conclusion.

 

The Oui title match is played on a two-day system but the Kisei title match is played on a one-day system. In order to watch the second game of the Oui title match with the authorized parties, you need to make a three night stay. It was impossible to secure that much time during my business trip to Japan in July, so I had no choice but to head for Nagoya by Shinkansen after finishing a breakfast meeting in Tokyo on the second day of the match. If I visited the resort hotel, Hotel Foresta in Toyota city, where the match was being held, after checking into a hotel in Nagoya, I could watch the second afternoon when the match reached the best part.

 

The second round of the Oui title match started with "R-3b as the 2nd move  (2手目△3二飛)" by Habu(Gote), which was a surprising move after the first move P-7f. This was a typical example of "freedom on the board" in the opening and the match was a rough-and-tumble fight in a style had never before been seen.

Fukaura described the "R-3b as the 2nd move" with "To be honest, I thought that ‘he really did it’. It was about three minutes later and the official observer, Yonenaga the chairman appeared around us and said: "I thought he was a real entertainer." After "R-3b as the 2nd move," the match maintained an explosive situation with the players in high spirits until the end.

 

In the past, this kind of game was called "Free Shogi," and it was not studied or researched seriously because the same position is unlikely to reoccur. However the current Shogi trend is to study this ‘’Free Shogi’’ deeper and deeper, and to try to find a way to improve the situation. The late 9-dan Kingoro Kaneko defined "Free Shogi" as follows;

We call it ‘Free Shogi’ when the two players fight each other building an amorphous piece formation which is different from all of the standard openings. It takes a high level of skill to judge all positions on your own. Only high level professionals can keep it under control, and others have a hard time understanding it or to even have a chance to see it. (Kindai Shogi, November 1951 issue）

 

The major reasons that this type of shogi is felt to be hard to understand are the following points that Kaneko described;

(1) You have to keep proceeding by yourself while perceiving and judging positions you have never seen before.

(2) You have to build an amorphous piece formation during the battle.

 

I spent my time on the afternoon of the second day of the game, alternating between the waiting room in Hotel Foresta and the room of  the commentary show using a demonstration board. I felt so relaxed and happy watching shogi without the pressure to write any commentary.

 

Speaking of the match, I had been watching all the surroundings such as the professionals discussing the match, but it was very interesting that they all would say anything off the top of their head without having a concrete thought. The atmosphere which differed from an ordinary shogi match was very exciting.  The result of this match was that Fukaura won this game by coming back in the endgame.

 

After the match, both players came out to the room of the commentary show using a demonstration board and talked of their impressions of the match for the fans, then they went back to the playing room again for the post-game analysis. However, they did not say anything and both dropped into deep thought. They did not even exchange their thoughts. It was like they did not have time to think enough during the match.

 

In order to write instant articles, though the media reporters and authorized people tried to get the reasons for victory & defeat, both players exuded an atmosphere of refusing to come to an easy conclusion. Habu said "We’ll find the meaning of this match in two or three years,"  I understand that it requires to take a lot of time for this "Free Shogi(Animal Trail without a milestone)" becomes a set of standard sequences of "R-3b as the 2nd move(Paved Highway)" and that the meanings of the game will be looked back to be showed clearly only after the whole standardization process is over.  

 

現代将棋を牽引する同志／Fellow who take the initiatives of Modern Shogi

 

Speaking about the post-game analysis, just as same as Kisei title match between Sato and Habu, I saw researchers thinking about the meaning of experimental result, rather than fighters looking back the game.

 

I mentioned about Habu’s first book Habu’s brain in the first chapter, but Fukaura’s first book This is the cutting-edge. – perfect guide of latest standard sequences (April 1999, Kawade Shobo Shinsya, written when he was twenty seven) shows he was well-qualified in research. This book was published at the same time when Habu was serializing The Changing Modern Shogi in the shogi world, but this was a great book with the taste of the history of current technological evolution of Modern Shogi. The preface says,

There are variety of latest standard sequences from those changed in this few years to those kept staying for long time, from Showa era. I picked up the important games and title matches as much as possible, therefore this book became "History Book of Shogi Strategies" in this ten years as a result. I have also covered most of all the openings, so you could enjoy professional Shogi by using this book as a dictionary when watching title match, TV games, and any commentaries.

It was of course my first time to write 300 pieces of 400-character papers and to insert 400 board diagrams. I spent at least six hours for each theme, and I feel I spent all of my few time writing this book in this nine months.

Same as Habu’s Brain, this book covered all the strategies, and very detailed information is stated whenever any evolution occurred. whose games drove such evolution,  Interestingly, he added,

Also in my study, Since I have written down some new moves that I have never tried yet(but I will try) without hiding anything, which is kind of disadvantage to me though, I will have no choice but study more. 

This strongly indicates the compatibility of "freeing the knowledge" and "winning" in Habu’s Brain. Fukaura certainly derived the philosophy of intelligence evolution which Habu started. Habu and Fukaura are on the same boat by not just leading current Shogi with their play, but also enlighten others.

 

After the post-game-analysis was over and Habu left the room, Fukaura basked in the afterglow of the victory with his face beaming with smiles. Maybe Sasebo, the venue of the coming fourth match, crossed his mind. He whispered "Winning is not that easy" when he noticed me with a sigh. Fukaura had showed his fighting spirit before the challenger was decided by saying "In my head, my foe is only one (Habu)." According to Fukaura, match against Habu is totally different than those against others, which gives him feelings of something is happening or some excitement or fear. Today’s match seemed the same and that gave him particular pleasure when he beat Habu.

 

 

二つのテーブル／Two tables

 

I moved to party place only for authorized people after the post-game analysis. Private party in hotel differed from ones in Ryokan, there were two rows of round table for eight people, just like a small wedding party. The title holder’s table had elites of the society, host, executives of sponsors, official observer etc, mainly elderly people surrounded Fukaura who held the title. I had seated beside Habu, escorted by staff, but Habu was so relaxed with easygoing attitude.

 

I found that there was huge difference between those two tables in a while. The challenger’s table was just like a fun party, but the title holder’s table had great meaning for Shogi industry, by talking with sponsors and elites of the society. Habu had been taking lots of responsibilities as the face of shogi industry in his many years, but on this night, he gave everything over to Fukaura and relaxed. When I saw the Fukaura in the table next to us, he managed his responsibility perfectly.

 

I remembered Fukaura’s word ‘’I used to be responsible, or should I say I was a tough kid with feeling of things must get done.’’ With the fact that he turns to expectation of hometown for inspiration, I thought Fukaura has surely sociality.

 

When I see the group of professional players, I sometimes feel that they are similar to engineers in Silicon Valley. About one in tenth of engineers in Silicon Valley has great sociality, and this kind of engineers tend to tern themselves into top executives. On the other hand, those who has sociality with too young age, they tend to lose their concentration on one thing, and they are likely to lose technological competition so that they could not become top engineers. People who are silent but have an inner fortitude with hidden sociality tend to sacrifice themselves improving their skills will become top executives in their 40’s with their total human skills. That is a typical pattern in Silicon Valley, but Fukaura is just like that.

 

His brother player, 9-dan Morishita, said in The Shogi world (Feburay, 09 issue)

When you are in Shoreikai, or you are young, many work hard like Fukaura. However, only a few players who exceeds mid-thrties keep working hard just like him.

The key factor of fine line in genius of geniuses is to keep improving yourself everyday, but Fukaura has exceeded it with his sociality. He continues to work hard in order to meet social responsibility, and that stance has brought him to the top position in Shogi industry.

 Fukaura once said that when he was a low ranker, he envied everything of the same age including Habu and Sato playing title match where Fukaura joined as a staff. What he meant by "everything" probably includes social responsibility that a title holder has. If you are satisfied with being called "you are strong," if you are happy with the challenger’s table, or if you are not capable of the social responsibility, you could to go to the top with your young luck, but you could not keep your energy trying to reach the title again and again. If you are in thirties, you skill might be slowing down, being passed by younger players, your gut to improve might fade away. I was thinking about things like that with remembering Fukaura’s word and comparing two tables.

 

人生の大きな大きな勝負／A huge match in life

 

Oui title match, game one, took a whole summer in 2008. Fukaura won the third game followed by the second, and he made a triumphant return with 2-1 lead to his hometown, Sasebo. After he won the fourth match in Sasebo, had a happiest night in his life, he managed to win the seventh match after 3-3 tie. He secured the title against Habu, and stopped him to acquire grand slam at the same time. When the match is scheduled, Fukaura said "If I don’t win against Habu two years in a low, I wouldn’t receive a real king, right?" with fighting spirit, but after he won the title, he said "I think I should be recognized in king a little bit because I secured the title against Habu" with a proud look.

 

There is sometimes a huge match in your life, but the seventh game of 49^th Oui title match was the one for Fukaura. The competitor was tremendously strong, there was no title left unless winning. There are many players who lost the title match against great contemporary kings like Kimura, Oyama, Nakahara, Tanigawa, and Habu and never came back to the title match again. Fukaura made himself overcome to the situation, and winning the title put his level one stage up.

 

In the meantime, even though Habu lost the Oui title with full-set, he tosses his hat into the ring with the 21^st Ryuoh title match. The expectation of "Habu’s grand slam again" is after 2010, but one great record of "permanent seven-crowns (grand slam)" came under close scrutiny. The seven round match starting October. will create "permanent ryuo no matter which wins," and Habu who has already been entitled for the six permanent titles will be entitled for permanent Ryuoh which is truly-unexplored region.

 

The baton of stopping Habu was passed from Fukaura to Watanabe, and this time Watanabe would face an "huge match in life" against Habu. The first round will be held in Paris and the place is tremendous.

 

Fukaura was asked about development of the best of seven match for Ryuoh title, and he forecasted 4-3 Watanabe win.

 

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