Meijin (shogi)

This article is about a title in shogi. For a title in go, see Meijin (go). For a title in renju, see Meijin (renju). For the Yasunari Kawabata novel, see The Master of Go.

Meijin (名人) is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word meijin (名 mei "excellent, artful", 人 jin "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (the various arts found in traditional Japanese culture, such as the Japanese tea ceremony, go, competitive karuta, rakugo, budō).^[1]

Masao Tsukada (right) playing against Yasuharu Ōyama in 1948 for the Meijin title.

History

Sekine's Meijin Resignation Ceremony (将棋名人退就位式) in February 1938. Pictured sitting in the foreground are Sekine (left) and Kimura (right). (The person standing in the foreground is Kenosuke Kosuge.)

The Meijin institution started in the 17th century (Edo period), and for around 300 years (1612–1937) was a hereditary title that was passed from the reigning Meijin upon his retirement or death to another selected from three families (the Ohashi Main family, the Ohashi Branch family, and the Ito family), as deemed to be worthy.^[2][3] This is known as the Lifetime Meijin system (終生名人制). In 1935, however, the Japan Shogi Association, or JSA, announced that it was abolishing the existing system of succession in favor of something more short-term and reflective of actual playing strength, known as the Real Strength Meijin system (実力名人制). In 1937, the reigning 13th Meijin Kinjirō Sekine ^[ja], who had received his title under the old system and was 70 years old at the time, voluntarily gave up his title so that a new Meijin could be decided through actual tournament play. Later that year Yoshio Kimura, who was a student of Sekine, became the first Meijin to gain the title based upon actual performance by winning a tournament which included eight other top players. From 1937 to 1947, the challenger for the Meijin title was determined through tournaments involving a select number of players. Finally, in 1947, the JSA officially established the preliminary round of ranking tournaments (順位戦, jun'isen) that it currently uses.^[4]

Qualifying

The Meijin title is only open to professional shogi players that are members of the Meijin tournament system. This means that unlike some other tournaments amateur players, women's professional players, and regular professionals outside of the Meijin tournament system are not allowed to compete in the tournament.^[5]

The Meijin ranking tournaments are divided into five classes (A, B1, B2, C1, C2) and players compete against others within their class in a round-robin tournament throughout the year. Players who perform well during their class tournament may be promoted to the next highest class while those who perform poorly may be relegated to the next lowest one,^[6] except in the case of Class C2 where players are relegated to "Free class" status.^[7] New professionals are placed at the bottom of Class C2, and the top three players of Class C2 are promoted to Class C1 for the next year. Similarly, the top two players of Classes C1, B2, B1 are promoted to the B2, B1, and A, respectively, for the next year.^[6] A new professional, therefore, needs at least five years experience (five successive promotions) after their debut before they can qualify to challenge for the title of Meijin.^[8]

Lifetime Meijin

Kinjirō Sekine 關根金次郞 (1868–1946), the thirteenth Lifetime Meijin and last hereditary Meijin

The first thirteen Lifetime Meijins (終生名人, shūsei meijin) were determined through succession.^[9] The Lifetime Meijin as a competitive title, eisei meijin (永世名人), was established by the JSA in 1952. Players who capture the Meijin title five times (does not have to be consecutive) qualify to receive this title, but are only officially awarded it upon their retirement or death (with exceptions).^[10][11]

• 1st: Sōkei Ōhashi I ^[ja]
• 2nd: Sōko Ōhashi II ^[ja]
• 3rd: Sōkan Itō I ^[ja]
• 4th: Sōkei Ōhashi V ^[ja]
• 5th: Sōin Itō II ^[ja]
• 6th: Sōyo Ōhashi III ^[ja]
• 7th: Sōkan Itō III ^[ja]
• 8th: Sōkei Ōhashi IX ^[ja]
• 9th: Soei Ōhashi VI ^[ja]
• 10th: Sōkan Itō VI ^[ja]
• 11th: Sōin Itō VIII ^[ja]
• 12th: Gohei Ono ^[ja]
• 13th: Kinjirō Sekine ^[ja] (last name spelled: 關根 or 関根)
• 14th Lifetime Meijin: Yoshio Kimura (Qualified for title in 1946 at age 41. Awarded in 1952 upon retirement)
• 15th Lifetime Meijin: Yasuharu Ōyama (Qualified for title at age 33 in 1956. Awarded in 1976^[a])
• 16th Lifetime Meijin: Makoto Nakahara (Qualified for title at age 29 in 1976. Awarded in 2007,^[12] prior to his retirement in 2009^[13] )
• 17th Lifetime Meijin: Kōji Tanigawa (Qualified for title at age 35 in 1997.^[14] Still active)
• 18th Lifetime Meijin: Toshiyuki Moriuchi (Qualified for title in 2007^[15] at age 36. Still active)
• 19th Lifetime Meijin: Yoshiharu Habu (Qualified for title in 2008^[16] at age 37. Still active)

Honorary Meijin

The Honorary Meijin (名誉名人, meiyo meijin) is another Mejin-related title. Only two have received this title, Kensosuke Kosuke in 1936 and Ichitarō Doi in 1954.^[17]

Posthumous Meijin

Sankichi Sakata

A special Posthumous Meijin (追贈名人, Tsuizō Meijin) title was given to Sankichi Sakata in 1955 by the Japan Shogi Association after his death in 1945.^[17] Sakata, a folk hero for the Osaka area, was known during his heyday for his brilliant, inventive playing but was prevented from becoming a normal Meijin by circumstances.^[18] Sakata is the only person to receive this title.

Winners

Below is a list of past Meijin title holders from 1937 when the new tournament method for determining the title holder was established. The number in parentheses represents the cumulative times the player had won the title to date.^[19]

No.	Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Note
1	1937–1938	Yoshio Kimura		league	The first Meijin was decided by tournament of nine players. Kimura placed first in the league. Chōtarō Hanada was second place.[20] The others in the league were Ichitarō Doi, Kumao Ōsaki, Yasujirō Kon, Kinjirō Kimi, Kingorō Kaneko, Tatsunosuke Kanda, Kiyoshi Hagiwara.[21]
2	1940	Yoshio Kimura (2)	4-1	Ichitarō Doi
3	1942	Yoshio Kimura (3)	4-0	Tatsunosuke Kanda
4	1943	Yoshio Kimura (4)			No match held. Kimura retained title by default.[b]
5	1944	Yoshio Kimura (5)			No match held. Kimura retained title by default.[c]
6	1947	Masao Tsukada	4-2	Yoshio Kimura
7	1948	Masao Tsukada (2)	4-2	Yasuharu Ōyama
8	1949	Yoshio Kimura (6)	3-2	Masao Tsukada
9	1950	Yoshio Kimura (7)	4-2	Yasuharu Ōyama
10	1951	Yoshio Kimura (8)	4-2	Kōzō Masuda
11	1952	Yasuharu Ōyama	4-1	Yoshio Kimura
12	1953	Yasuharu Ōyama (2)	4-1	Kōzō Masuda
13	1954	Yasuharu Ōyama (3)	4-1	Kōzō Masuda
14	1955	Yasuharu Ōyama (4)	4-2	Kazukiyo Takashima
15	1956	Yasuharu Ōyama (5)	4-0	Motoji Hanamura
16	1957	Kōzō Masuda	4-2	Yasuharu Ōyama
17	1958	Kōzō Masuda (2)	4-2	Yasuharu Ōyama
18	1959	Yasuharu Ōyama (6)	4-1	Kōzō Masuda
19	1960	Yasuharu Ōyama (7)	4-1	Hifumi Katoh
20	1961	Yasuharu Ōyama (8)	4-1	Yuzoh Maruta
21	1962	Yasuharu Ōyama (9)	4-0	Tatsuya Futakami
22	1963	Yasuharu Ōyama (10)	4-1	Kōzō Masuda
23	1964	Yasuharu Ōyama (11)	4-2	Tatsuya Futakami
24	1965	Yasuharu Ōyama (12)	4-1	Michiyoshi Yamada
25	1966	Yasuharu Ōyama (13)	4-2	Kōzō Masuda
26	1967	Yasuharu Ōyama (14)	4-1	Tatsuya Futakami
27	1968	Yasuharu Ōyama (15)	4-0	Kōzō Masuda
28	1969	Yasuharu Ōyama (16)	4-3	Michio Ariyoshi
29	1970	Yasuharu Ōyama (17)	4-1	Rensho Nada
30	1971	Yasuharu Ōyama (18)	4-3	Kōzō Masuda
31	1972	Makoto Nakahara	4-3	Yasuharu Ōyama
32	1973	Makoto Nakahara (2)	4-0	Hifumi Katoh
33	1974	Makoto Nakahara (3)	4-3	Yasuharu Ōyama
34	1975	Makoto Nakahara (4)	4-3	Nobuyuki Ōuchi
35	1976	Makoto Nakahara (5)	4-3	Kunio Yonenaga
	1977	Makoto Nakahara			No match held. Nakahara retained title by default.[d]
36	1978	Makoto Nakahara (6)	4-2	Keiji Mori
37	1979	Makoto Nakahara (7)	4-2	Kunio Yonenaga
38	1980	Makoto Nakahara (8)	4-1	Kunio Yonenaga
39	1981	Makoto Nakahara (9)	4-1	Kiyozumi Kiriyama
40	1982	Hifumi Katoh	4-3	Makoto Nakahara
41	1983	Koji Tanigawa (1)	4-2	Hifumi Katoh
42	1984	Koji Tanigawa (2)	4-1	Hidemitsu Moriyasu
43	1985	Makoto Nakahara (10)	4-2	Koji Tanigawa
44	1986	Makoto Nakahara (11)	4-1	Yasuharu Ōyama
45	1987	Makoto Nakahara (12)	4-2	Kunio Yonenaga
46	1988	Koji Tanigawa (3)	4-2	Makoto Nakahara
47	1989	Koji Tanigawa (4)	4-0	Kunio Yonenaga
48	1990	Makoto Nakahara (13)	4-2	Koji Tanigawa
49	1991	Makoto Nakahara (14)	4-1	Kunio Yonenaga
50	1992	Makoto Nakahara (15)	4-3	Michio Takahashi
51	1993	Kunio Yonenaga	4-0	Makoto Nakahara
52	1994	Yoshiharu Habu	4-2	Kunio Yonenaga
53	1995	Yoshiharu Habu (2)	4-1	Taku Morishita
54	1996	Yoshiharu Habu (3)	4-1	Toshiyuki Moriuchi
55	1997	Koji Tanigawa (5)	4-2	Yoshiharu Habu
56	1998	Yasumitsu Satō	4-3	Koji Tanigawa
57	1999	Yasumitsu Satō (2)	4-3	Koji Tanigawa
58	2000	Tadahisa Maruyama	4-3	Yasumitsu Satō
59	2001	Tadahisa Maruyama (2)	4-3	Koji Tanigawa
60	2002	Toshiyuki Moriuchi	4-0	Tadahisa Maruyama
61	2003	Yoshiharu Habu (4)	4-0	Toshiyuki Moriuchi
62	2004	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (2)	4-2	Yoshiharu Habu
63	2005	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (3)	4-3	Yoshiharu Habu
64	2006	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (4)	4-2	Koji Tanigawa
65	2007	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (5)	4-3	Masataka Gōda
66	2008	Yoshiharu Habu (5)	4-2	Toshiyuki Moriuchi
67	2009	Yoshiharu Habu (6)	4-3	Masataka Gōda
68	2010	Yoshiharu Habu (7)	4-0	Hiroyuki Miura
69	2011	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (6)	4-3[22]	Yoshiharu Habu
70	2012	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (7)	4-2[23]	Yoshiharu Habu
71	2013	Toshiyuki Moriuchi (8)	4-1[24]	Yoshiharu Habu
72	2014	Yoshiharu Habu (8)	4-0[25]	Toshiyuki Moriuchi
73	2015	Yoshiharu Habu (9)	4-1[26]	Hisashi Namekata
74	2016	Amahiko Satō	4-1[27][28]	Yoshiharu Habu
75	2017	Amahiko Satō (2)	4-2[29]	Akira Inaba
76	2018	Amahiko Satō (3)	4-2[30]	Yoshiharu Habu
77	2019	Masayuki Toyoshima	4-0[31]	Amahiko Satō
78	2020	Akira Watanabe	4-2[32]	Masayuki Toyoshima
79	2021	Akira Watanabe (2)	4-1[33]	Shintarō Saitō
80	2022	Akira Watanabe (3)	4-1[34]	Shintarō Saitō
81	2023	Sōta Fujii	4-1[35]	Akira Watanabe
82	2024	Sōta Fujii (2)	4-1[36]	Masayuki Toyoshima
83	2025	Sōta Fujii (3)	4-1[37]	Takuya Nagase

Records

• Most titles overall: Yasuharu Ōyama, 18^[e]
• Most consecutive titles: Yasuharu Ōyama, 13 in a row (1959-1971).^[f]
• Oldest player to win title: Kunio Yonenaga, 49 years 11 months (1993)^[38]
• Youngest player to win title: Sōta Fujii, 20 years old (2023)
• Oldest player to challenge for title: Yasuharu Ōyama, 63 years old (1986)
• Youngest player to challenge for title: Hifumi Katō (1960) and Sōta Fujii (2023) at 20 years old
• Most times recapturing title: Yoshiharu Habu, 3^[g]
• Longest period between titles: Yoshiharu Habu, 6 years (1997-2002)

Players by Meijin class

Below is a list of professional players grouped by their class for the 84th Meijin league (April 2025 – March 2026) including their dan ranking as of 13 July 2025^[update].^[40] The 83rd Meijin title holder is Sōta Fujii.

Other professional players not listed here do not participate in the Meijin league and are known as Free Class (フリークラス furī kurasu) players. There are 36 such players as of 1 April 2025^[update].^[41]

83rd Meijin

Name	Dan	Other titles
Sōta Fujii	9	Kiō, Kisei, Ōi, Ōshō, Ōza, Ryūō

Class A

84th Meijin League Class A^[42]

Seed	Name	Dan
1	Takuya Nagase[h]	9
2	Amahiko Satō	9
3	Akira Watanabe	9
4	Yūki Sasaki	8
5	Yasuhiro Masuda	8
6	Masayuki Toyoshima	9
7	Taichi Nakamura	8
8	Shōta Chida	8
9	Seiya Kondō	8
10	Tetsurō Itodani	8

Class B1

84th Meijin League Class B1^[43]

Seed	Name	Dan	Current titles
1	Tatsuya Sugai	8
2	Akira Inaba	8
3	Shingo Sawada	7
4	Takahiro Ōhashi	7
5	Akihito Hirose	9
6	Shintarō Saitō	8
7	Yasumitsu Satō	9
8	Tadashi Ōishi	7
9	Kentarō Ishii	7
10	Taichi Takami	7
11	Shin'ichirō Hattori	7
12	Mirai Aoshima	7
13	Takumi Itō	8	Eiō

Class B2

84th Meijin League Class B2^[44]

Seed	Name	Dan	Current titles
1	Yoshiharu Habu	9
2	Hiroyuki Miura	9
3	Takayuki Yamasaki	9
4	Chikara Akutsu	8
5	Makoto Tobe	7
6	Takuma Oikawa	7
7	Tadahisa Maruyama	9
8	Yūsei Koga	6
9	Nobuyuki Yashiki	9
10	Kazuki Kimura	9
11	Hiroaki Yokoyama	7
12	Kōji Tanigawa	9	17th Lifetime Meijin
13	Kōichi Fukaura	9
14	Kensuke Kitahama	8
15	Masataka Gōda	9
16	Makoto Sasaki	7
17	Hisashi Namekata	9
18	Toshiaki Kubo	9
19	Takeshi Fujii	9
20	Daisuke Suzuki	9
21	Asuto Saitō	6
22	Nagisa Fujimoto	6
23	Kazutoshi Satō	7
24	Kazushi Watanabe	7
25	Yasuaki Murayama	8
26	Ayumu Matsuo	8

Class C1

84th Meijin League Class C1^[45]

Seed	Name	Dan
1	Masataka Sugimoto	8
2	Daisuke Nakagawa	8
3	Issei Takazaki	7
4	Eiji Iijima	8
5	Keita Inoue	9
6	Takayuki Kuroda	5
7	Daisuke Katagami	7
8	Keita Kadokura	6
9	Seiya Tomita	5
10	Ryūma Tonari	7
11	Wakamu Deguchi	6
12	Tatsuya Sanmaidō	7
13	Takuya Nishida	6
14	Hirotaka Nozuki	8
15	Mamoru Hatakeyama	8
16	Manabu Senzaki	9
17	Atsushi Miyata	7
18	Naruyuki Hatakeyama	8
19	Akihiro Takada	5
20	Takashi Abe	9
21	Yūta Komori	5
22	Hiroshi Miyamoto	6
23	Hiroki Iizuka	8
24	Kenjirō Abe	7
25	Akira Nishio	7
26	Akihiro Murata	6
27	Kōhei Funae	7
28	Hirotoshi Ueno	5
29	Reo Okabe	5
30	Takashi Ikenaga	6
31	Osamu Nakamura	9

Class C2

84th Meijin League Class C2^[46]

Seed	Name	Dan
1	Keiichi Sanada	8
2	Satoru Sakaguchi	6
3	Yoshiyuki Kubota	7
4	Tadao Kitajima	7
5	Sakio Chiba	7
6	Kōta Kanai	6
7	Satoshi Takano	6
8	Daichi Sasaki	7
9	Mikio Kariyama	5
10	Reo Kurosawa	6
11	Hiroshi Yamamoto	5
12	Shūji Muranaka	7
13	Akihiro Ida	5
14	Kazuo Sugimoto	6
15	Kenji Imaizumi	5
16	Kenta Miyajima [ja]	4
17	Hirotaka Kajiura	7
18	Wataru Yashiro	8
19	Naohiro Ishida	6
20	Hiroki Taniai	5
21	Shin'ya Satō	7
22	Kōru Abe	7
23	Kōhei Hasebe	5
24	Shōji Segawa	6
25	Yūta Ishikawa	5
26	Kenshi Tokuda	4
27	Kei Honda	6
28	Shingo Itō	6
29	Kazuhiro Nishikawa	6
30	Naoki Koyama [ja]	4
31	Saito Morimoto [ja]	4
32	Shūji Satō	8
33	Wataru Kamimura	6
34	Yūichi Tanaka	6
35	Yūjirō Takahashi [ja]	4
36	Yoshitaka Hoshino	5
37	Ryōsuke Nakamura	6
38	Shin'ichi Satō	6
39	Taku Morishita	9
40	Kōsuke Tamura	7
41	Tetsuya Fujimori	5
42	Hiromu Watanabe	6
43	Mitsunori Makino	6
44	Tomoki Yokoyama	4
45	Shōgo Orita	5
46	Taiki Yamakawa [ja]	4
47	Michio Takahashi	9
48	Ichirō Hiura	8
49	Junpei Ide	5
50	Yūsuke Tōyama	6
51	Yūya Saitō	4
52	Reo Koyama	4
53	Ehoto Osogaguchi [ja]	4
54	Ryūma Yoshiike [ja]	4
55	Yūki Saitō [ja]	4
56	Toshiki Sumisaki [ja]	4

See also

• Meijin (Go)

Notes

1. Although typically awarded upon retirement or death, a special exception was made for Ōyama and he was officially awarded the title while still active in special recognition of his excellent results in professional play, including being the Meijin for 13 years in a row from 1959 to 1971.
2. 12-player preliminary tournament held and top four finishers awarded "reserve qualifier" status. Each reserve qualifier then played a 3-game half-handicap non-title match against Kimura: Kimura alternated between giving a lance handicap and no handicap. Reserve qualifiers had to win their respective 3-game match to gain the right to challenge Kimura in a 7-game match for the title. (A playoff was to be held if multiple reserve qualifiers won their respective matches.) Since Kimura won all of the half-handicap matches, no reserve qualifier was able qualify as his challenger.
3. A tournament to determine a challenger for Kimura did start, but was cancelled while in progress due to the Second World War.
4. The JSA unable to come to terms with Asahi Shimbun, the match's sponsor, over the prize fund. The JSA requested that the total prize fund be increased from 11,000,000 yen to 30,000,000 yen, but Asahi Shimbun refused. Negotiations were held in attempt to find a compromise, but were unsuccessful and the Asahi Shimbun's sponsorship of the match was ended.
5. Nakahara is next with 15, followed by Kimura, Moriuchi, and Habu with eight apiece, and Tanigawa with five. Only Tanigawa, Habu and Moriuchi are still active.
6. Nakahara is next with nine in a row (1972-1981)
7. Habu lost the title for first time in 1997, but won it back in 2003. He lost the title again in 2004, only to recapture it for the second time in 2008. He lost title for the third time in 2011, but recaptured it again three years later in 2014.^[39]
8. The loser of the previous season's Meijin title match is seeded first in the following season's Class A League play