Tiny Works of Shogi Art: Tendo Satoh Takashi Shouten

28 Oct 2008 Category: Craftwork, Japan, Tradition

Tiny Works of Shogi Art: Tendo Satoh Takashi Shouten

Tendo City in Yamagata prefecture is known as a production center for shogi pieces (Shogi is Japanese chess. The pieces are known as “koma” in Japanese). Most people probably don’t have a clear image in mind when they think of the art of crafting shogi pieces. It is, in fact, a fascinating world full of characters and stories. This week we visited Tendo Satoh Takashi Shouten where they produce the shogi koma used in the annual NHK Cup televised shogi tournament, and spoke to the shop’s proprietor Minoru Satoh.

Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka

The calligraphy on the koma in the title shot are by calligrapher Shuho. The koma in the photo above are by Mr. Sato

How many generations have there been at this shop?

My father started it, so I’m the second generation. Tendo here has been a shogi koma manufacturing center since the end of the Edo Period. My father lost his own father when he was thirteen years old, so he had to work to support his family. Around here, the fastest way to make a buck in those days was to work drawing characters on shogi pieces. And his shop grew until it was practically a distributorship. The reason I’m a craftsman despite being the heir to a distributorship was because my father figured that just running the books would be boring, and also if I learned a trade then I’d never be out of work, so I learned the tricks of the trade as the proprietor’s son.

I heard that ninety percent of the nation’s shogi koma are produced in Tendo.

Yes. But if you compare how it is now to the way it was at its peak, the level of production has really fallen. Back then, we used to send them out by the crateload. We sold as many as we could make. But once video games came along, people stopped playing shogi so much. I’m able to stay in business is because I’ve done a little trial and error here and there.

The pieces are gradually formed with a small Japanese hatchet called a “nata.”

This is the machine developed by Mr. Sato and his associate which forms wooden shogi pieces.

What do you mean by “trial and error”?

The biggest thing was the machine we made to prepare the wood. The wood is what the shogi koma are made of, and so it’s very important to have it properly prepared. The number of skilled craftsmen who could make the wood pieces really fell sharply in the fifties and sixties. When there are so few you can count them on your fingers, that means the shogi koma business isn’t going to last long. So I thought, “I’ve got to do something.”

Is the wood for the five-sided tiles really all that difficult to make?

Yes. Well, if you want to make a rough, sloppy piece it’s not so hard. But the customers look for quality. The angle on the top, the angle of the faces, and on the sides too, there’s a beauty in that which people look for. The feel in the hand, the weight, the sound when you put it down on the board, it’s all different depending on the quality. But, cutting wood with a little Japanese hatchet, making beautiful shogi tiles one at a time, that’s a job for a craftsman. You’ve got to study for at least three years to learn how to do it, and even if I teach someone how, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to stay and make them for me. My biggest goal was to figure out how to continue my shogi koma business for the rest of my life.

A desk fitted with specialized tools used to assist in carving the shogi koma.

I see. If you don’t have a craftsman to make the wooden koma, even if you’ve got someone to write the characters and someone else to carve them, you can’t make a thing, can you?

no, that’s right. And that is how I came to have the idea of using a machine to make the koma. But at that time, when I talked about it with my father, he said, “There’s no way you’ll be able to do that.” But I had a friend who had been working at a toy factory in Saitama and when I asked him, he said he thought it would be possible to make it work. And when I looked into it further, they told me “It can be done!” So I had them make some tiles, so I could see how they would turn out. And I brought those finished pieces to show my father. Then, he said “If they’re going to turn out this well, then I guess it’s alright.” And he gave his permission. I told the Merchant’s Credit Union, “I’ve got to have this machine if I’m to continue as a shogi koma maker!” so they lent me the money.

Mr. Sato and his wife working together in the workshop

Wow. I had no idea it was so hard to shape the wood for shogi pieces. I always thought the most interesting part of making shogi pieces was the way the characters are drawn…

I have a good story about the characters too. Actually, there was a man named Shuho who was a calligrapher and carver for shogi koma. He was my father’s apprentice. But he was so talented that he must have been number one in Japan. He had a sharp sense about the characters. He was raised in the home of a really strict calligraphy teacher, and that’s where he learned about calligraphy. Ever since he was young, he had very high standards. My father must have felt that about him. My father refused to teach me how to carve (laughs), but he must have had a sense of this guy’s potential, and taught him very carefully.

The workspace. The craftsman uses sheets of sample characters for reference.

So your father’s hunch was right!

Yes. He’d only been in the company a month and he was already an intermediate level carver. And one day my father gave his permission, and he allowed him to work from his home. Shuho took the wooden pieces home and he was supposed to contact us when they were ready. But three months, four months passed with no contact. And so I started to get worried and went to his place, and his room was full of calligraphy. There was a famous calligrapher in the Edo Period called Maki Ryoko, and he’d been scribbling Maki Ryoko’s characters over and over in order to master them. His older brother’s family took care of his basic needs and he just wrote and wrote until he was satisfied. That kind of tenacity, it’s almost creepy.

Characters made with such diligence, they surely must be well-loved by many people.

Once, we got a letter of thanks from Kyushu. It said, “I’ve never seen such beautiful characters. Every day I take each one in my hand and savor them.” But the letter itself was written in a beautiful flowing script, really lovely characters. And when I looked into it further, I found out that the writer was a calligraphy teacher. (laughs) Back then, Shuho was still only 23 years old, but even then he was able to write so beautifully.

The lid of the shogi koma box closes gently under its own weight

The calligraphy on both sets of koma are by calligrapher Shuho. There’s quite a difference between the two styles despite being drawn by the same hand.

He was a naturally gifted craftsman.

There are lots of other interesting characters working as craftsmen. For example with making the shogi piece boxes, some craftsmen refuse to paint them, while others like my father make the box into a perfect square and aren’t satisfied until they can make it so the lid gently slides closed under its own weight. Everyone has their own way of looking at things, and that’s what makes it interesting. The craftsmen who don’t like to paint the boxes say, “The box for the koma is a container, after all. It’s a tool. It should get used and dirty and smooth, and as a result it develops a sheen that gives it its own value. If you start out making it shiny with a coat of paint, it’s not a tool.” That’s their philosophy. Craftsmen are fascinating, aren’t they?

Tendo Satoh Takashi Shoten
Tazuru-cho 1-7-17, Tendo City, Yamagata





Minoru Satoh
Born in Tendo City, Yamagata, in 1944. Proprietor of Tendo Satoh Takashi Shoten. Shogi koma carver.





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