The Way Of Tori Shogi
This comprehensive volume describes the history, strategies, and openings for one of the most exciting and challenging Japanese variants of chess; featuring a unique, parallel analysis for learning the game through the eyes and approach of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary 17th-century Japanese strategist, swordsman, artist, and author of The Book of Five Rings.
This is the first comprehensive description of Tori Shogi published in English, and may well be the first serious book in any language on the subject. Here, in a short and concise book, is a complete description of the game of Tori Shogi; an introduction to the strategy of playing the game, and a selection of complete games for the new player to study. Not only that, but we also gain insights into the history of Chess (Japanese and European), learn about the history of the Silk Road and are enlightened about the philosophy of the way of life of the Samurai warrior via the text of The Book of Five Rings. Wonderful read!
– Roger Hare
Shogi.Net
Situating Tori Shogi within Japan’s world of the samurai provides the book Tori Shogi with a virtual theme. It anchors Tori Shogi to an era of legends, stories, and philosophies that have great emotive power. This is a great way to attract new players. The authors have done an excellent job of bringing together available information on Tori Shogi, and they have highlighted the history and significance of Tori Shogi. Anyone with an interest in the Shogi variants should take a good look at this book. It is unique!
– Dr. Kerry Handscomb
Editor, AbstractGames.org
Dave Brandl began playing chess at the age of 8. World travels brought opportunities to learn much more about his passion for the game, and to collect chess sets from all over the globe. Dave became especially interested in Asian chess games such as Xiang Qi, Makruk, Jongki, and particularly with the many variants of Shogi. Unable to find any publication on Tori Shogi, Dave enlisted fellow chess enthusiast Bill Croke as his writing partner to write this book. Dave also writes plays and musicals, and he plays banjo, ukulele, and guitar. Dave lives happily with his wife 42 years, Terry, in Denver, Colorado.
Bill Croke was introduced to Tori Shogi by co-author Dave Brandi. That introduction rekindled Bill’s prior studies of the Momoyama period where many classical Japanese art forms developed—Ink painting, flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, Raku bonsai, and Noh theater were all familiar to the great samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi, the creative inspiration for this book. The opportunity to work on this book with a seasoned writer like Dave on a book that explores chess strategy in art & nature rather than only military strategy has been very gratifying. The reader need only to start playing this fascinating game to gain the same experiences of insights and awareness that anyone achieves through Tori Shogi. Bill continues to co-author publications with Dave on teaching music that have been equally rewarding as working on this book.
The Way Of Tori Shogi
Miyamoto Musashi's Approach
