Background for this Special series on ladies professional Shogi players.

We, i-tsu-tsu, work on disseminating Japanese traditional culture, mostly Shogi.

As part of our efforts, we are going to post a series of articles written by five ladies professional Shogi players in a relay system. All of them started to learn Shogi from their childhood. From their own experiences, they talk to you about the charm and fun of Shogi, or memories with their mothers. Hopefully, the stories will help more children and mothers to start or to become interested in Shogi.

Today, we are going to present the third article by Ms. Tamao Kano who has a Second Dan.

We would like to express our appreciation to Ms. Kano for making time in her busy schedule to write this article.

Parents just watch over their children.

When I was a child, I had several classes outside school. Most of them were my choices. Only calligraphy class was set by my mother. Those days my dominant hand was a left hand and I was able to write with either hand. She was concerned about that and arranged it for me. As for Shogi, knowing its rule, I just saw it as a game. I never had an idea of attending a Shogi class.

When I entered university and started to live alone, I got an opportunity to play Shogi again.

When I played Shogi with my brother in our childhood, I couldn’t win any game against him. So, I decided to join Shogi club with an intention of surprising him as well as learning Shogi secretly. After I joined the club, I told my mother that. She seemed to be very surprised to know what was going on in my life. When I was a junior high, and high school student, I enjoyed mainly sports including gymnastics and Japanese art of fencing (Kendo). Since my parents always worried that I would get injured, Shogi might ease their nerves.

Nobody supposed that my mischievous intention would bring me a lifetime career. Knowing fun and profoundness of Shogi through the Shogi club activities, I was totally absorbed in Shogi. I was always in the Shogi club-room at school when I was not taking classes. At the very beginning, I was totally beginner, but within one year I acquired Shogi skills equivalent to the first dan level. Even though my mother didn’t live with me, she must have grasped my situation. She was strict about manners and academic achievement, but in other respects she let me do what I wanted to do.

After I graduated from university, I asked my parents’ permission to go to Osaka. I was in hopes of becoming a professional Shogi player. They didn’t give their approval easily and set a condition: if I wouldn’t be able to become a professional Shogi player within three years, I have to return to parents’ home and prepare for getting married.

In addition, I insisted that I wouldn’t receive parents’ financial assistance. In terms of this decision, I might be a bit harsh on myself, but such limitations led me to devote myself to Shogi. I lived by my motto that the maximum efficiency was in any aspect of my life. I spent almost all three years and finally became a professional player.

“We can be patient and feel motivated, when we do what we love”. This is very important lesson I learned through my own experience.

Now I am a mother of a boy who is 18 years old and a university student. I always watch over him and try not to make unnecessary remarks, keeping the above lesson. My son also has found his own dream and made efforts to achieve his goal.

I would like to believe that he can be patient and feel motivated, because he does what he loves. I suppose that things parents should and can do are just warmly watching over the growth of their children.

Who is the next?

In this special series, “Ladies Professional Shogi Player and Her Mother”, at the end of each article, the writer will give you a clue for the next writer.

The following is the clue from Ms. Kano:
She became a title holder and carries out her duty as an ambassador of Makinohara, Shizuoka prefecture.

Guess who?