Learn Shogi: Japanese Chess

Peach Studio

About this app

Always wanted to learn shogi — Japanese chess — but every app is in Japanese, or assumes you already know the rules? Learn Shogi teaches you the game in English, from your very first move.

No prior knowledge needed. No Japanese. Just tap and learn.

WHY LEARN SHOGI
Shogi is Japan's national chess: a deeper, more dynamic cousin of the game you know, where captured pieces switch sides and drop back onto the board as YOURS. That one twist makes every game a comeback story — and it's the part chess players find most alien. We teach it, step by step.

WHAT YOU GET
• English throughout — every piece, every lesson, every hint. No translation guesswork.
• Interactive board with legal-move highlighting — tap any piece and see exactly where it can go. Learn the rules by touching them, not reading a manual.
• Drops taught explicitly — shogi's signature mechanic (captured pieces become yours to redeploy), broken down with guided, hands-on steps.
• A guided Learn track — a clear path from the board and the goal, through each piece's moves, promotion, drops, and check & checkmate, up to your first simple strategy. Bite-sized lessons, each with a short drill.
• Graded tsume (checkmate) puzzles — start with one-move mates and work up. The fun, addictive way to sharpen your eye and make the rules stick.
• A gentle beginner AI — practice full games against a patient opponent built to be beatable while you learn, not to crush you. Adjustable difficulty.
• Letters first, then real kanji — pieces start as K, R and +P so nothing is unreadable on day one, and one tap in the menu switches the whole board to 王, 飛 and と, the characters on every real shogi set. A final lesson teaches all fourteen and moves you across.
• Works offline. No account, no sign-up, no online play required — just open it and learn, anywhere.

WHO IT'S FOR
• Total beginners who've never touched a shogi board.
• Chess players curious about the "other" chess and its famous drop rule.
• Anime and manga fans (March Comes in Like a Lion, and more) who want to understand the game on screen.
• Anyone who tried a shogi app before, hit a wall of Japanese or unexplained rules, and gave up.

Every rule is taught correctly and shown on the board — because a learning app that gets a rule wrong isn't worth your time. Legal moves are enforced, promotion is prompted, and illegal moves (including the tricky drop rules) are handled for you, so you can focus on understanding, not memorizing edge cases.

Download Learn Shogi and play your first real game today — in English, from zero.

What’s new

Real kanji pieces, when you want them.

• The board can now draw 王, 飛 and と — the characters on every real shogi set — instead of K, R and +P. One tap in the home menu switches it.
• Every lesson names both, so the text is true whichever board you use.
• A new final lesson collects all fourteen characters and moves you across.
• Lesson explanations are no longer cut off mid-sentence; tap "Read more" for the full text.