Teppōya Kisai
Meiji era (19th century)
Tangible Cultural Property, designated by Sakata city
The Homma Museum of Art Collection
Crafted by Teppōya Kisai (born Asakichi Suzuki, 1863-1927), Sakata’s representative wood-joiner, this is a shōgi piece in which the character on the piece was written by calligrapher and shōgi eighth rank-holder Kishū Takenouchi. The piece makes use of Chōkai boxwood, which grows at the foot of Mount Chōkai, and in addition to the shōgi piece set, there’s also a shōgi board, a shōgi piece stand, a shōgi piece bag and a paulownia wood box for the shōgi pieces.
In April 1918 (Taishō 7), Kishū Takenouchi won a string of victories against the eighth rank holder Inoue Yoshio, and was promoted to the eighth level himself. This piece was used during that most prestigious of shogi matches, and this set was produced based upon the prototype of the “Golden Brocade Pieces”, shogi pieces always used with great affection by Sekine Kinjirō.