Tori shōgi (禽将棋 or 鳥将棋, 'bird chess') is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess), which was invented by Toyota Genryu in 1799 despite being traditionally attributed to his master Ōhashi Sōei. It was first published in 1828 and again in 1833. The game is played on a 7×7 board and uses the drop rule; it is the only traditional shogi variant, possibly besides wa shogi, to do so. This is one of the more popular shogi variants. There were tournaments in London and Royston in the 1990s and early 2000s. Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's phoenix. Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 7 ranks (rows) by 7 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 16 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are: 1 phoenix 1 falcon 2 cranes 2 pheasants 2 quails (a left and a right) 8 swallows In line with the bird theme, each piece is named after a different kind of bird. Each piece has its name in the form of a kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces is another character, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black) and are usually cursive; this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. (The quail are different: on one side is the character for "quail", while on the other is the character for left or right; some people will play with the "left"/"right" side up instead of the "quail" side up.) The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game in English and Japanese: The first pronunciation of each piece is the Japanese pronunciation, while the second is the Sino-Japanese pronunciation. The promoted pieces (*) are usually called eagle and goose in English. Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of the pieces. Black pieces are in bold face in the first diagram, and bigger in the second, and move