

In Naruto, Sarutobi Asuma gave Shikamaru a puzzle that his father Hiruzen had
previously given him. While playing Shogi with Shikamaru, He asked if
Shikamaru could figure out what piece represents the Hokage. Which of the
chess pieces do?

Do all the other chess pieces have similar representations? Because Asuma
mentioned that Shikamaru seemed more like a Knight and himself like a Pawn.
Whats the reasoning behind this match up?


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naruto
What is the logic for the representation of the various chess pieces?


I think Shikamaru would be more of a knight because its move pattern is
different than other figures, he can jump over them - sort of similar to the
way Shikamaru thinks.

Asuma is a pawn, a simple guy/soldier who jumps in to help and sacrifices if
necessary.


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Most likely, the metaphor is not so well thought out that every shogi piece
actually represents something.

I looked through some clips to get the following info.

  * Most of this, if not all, comes from episode 77: _Climbing Silver_ , which I skimmed after writing this answer. The official subtitles differs from what I've quoted, but not so much that I felt inclined to fix them.

As Asuma says, he himself is a sacrificial pawn. True to this, he sacrifices
himself in battle in order to give Shikamaru a chance to formulate a strategy
to defeat their foes.

Asuma says Shikamaru is the knight. Of Shikamaru, he says:

> This game is a must for people like you who are good at coming up with
> strategies.

In episode 71: _My Friend_ , Asuma explains:

> Although weak in strength, a knight can advance by jumping over pieces. The
> unique movement represents your flexible thinking.

Asuma likens the Climbing Silver, a strategy where pieces are deliberately
sacrificed, to a sacrificial assault to break through enemy lines.

Shikamaru likens Hidan and Kakuzu to a rook and bishop (or simply _great
pieces_ in official translation), and says that to capture those pieces, bait
is needed.

The king is, of course

> The children of the village, who must be protected at all costs to ensure
> the future.

Asuma states the following:

> Shogi allows you to work through various situations by utilizing each of the
> piece's individual attributes.

As far as I'm aware, there isn't much more information than this regarding
which piece is what. The last quote is important though. We can guess that the
other pieces, with their differing movements, simply represent in general that
there are different types of shinobi with differing abilities and strength.
This is a game to represent combat, so we can guess that non-combatants are
not represented and all shogi pieces represent shinobi (excepting the king).
Extrapolating from that, we can guess supply lines and other support positions
are not directly represented in the game (If there is a way to regain captured
pieces, that could be a way to indirectly represent medical ninjas). We can
guess that the Hokage is represented by the strongest piece.


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