is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 4-

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

. She is a former holder of the , and titles.

Early life and amateur shogi

Katō was born in

Makinohara 270px, Makinohara City Hall is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 45,813 in 16980 households and a population density of 410 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geogra ...

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

on October 6, 1993. She started playing shogi when she was about five years old. She started taking shogi lessons and was traveling outside of Shizuoka Prefecture to play in shogi tournaments by the time she was a third-grade elementary school student, and won a national shogi championship when she was a fifth-grade elementary school student.

Apprentice shogi professional

Katō entered the

Japan Shogi Association The , or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materia ...

's apprentice school at the rank of 6-

kyū is a Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in tea ceremony, flower arranging, Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, levels or degrees of proficiency or experience. In Mandarin Chin ...

as a student of shogi professional in 2006 when she was eleven years old. She was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 1-kyū in 2011 and then apprentice professional 1-dan in May 2014, becoming just the third woman to achieve that rank after

Kana Satomi is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 6-dan. She is the current holder of the Women's and titles as well as the , and titles, thus making her a . She is also the career leader in women's professional shogi major titles. Sat ...

and

Tomoka Nishiyama is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 4-dan. She is the current holder of the and titles as well as a former holder of the and titles. Early life and education Nishiyama was born on June 27, 1995 in Ōsakasayama, Osaka. ...

. In March 2019, Katō decided to leave the apprentice school and petitioned the JSA to become a women's professional shogi player instead. In consideration of her past success in women's professional shogi tournaments, the JSA decided to award Katō the rank of 3-dan instead of her last rank as an apprentice professional which is the common practice for women apprentice professionals ranked 2-kyū or higher.

Women's shogi professional

In November 2021, Katō won the 3rd title (SeptemberNovember 2021) by defeating the defending champion

3 games to 2. Katō, however, was unable to successfully defend her Seirei title the following year, losing a rematch against Satomi 3 games to none in the 4th Seirei Title Match (JulyAugust 2022). The pair faced each other again in major title match later in 2022 when Katō challenged Satomi for the 12th Women's Oza title (October December 2022). Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōza title 3 games to 2.

Promotion history

Katō's promotion history is as follows. * 3-dan: April 1, 2019 * 4-dan: July 3, 2023 Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Major titles

Katō has appeared in women's major title matches twenty times and has won a total of nine titles. She has won the and the titles four times each, and the title once.

References

External links

*ShogiHub
Professional Player Info · Kato, Momoko
*: Official Twitter account
Reiwa Shogi Schoo
Shogi school operated by Katō Japanese shogi players Living people Women's professional shogi players Queen (shogi) Women's Ōza Seirei title holders Professional shogi players from Shizuoka Prefecture 1993 births {{Shogi-stub