is a Japanese

professional shogi player A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional playe ...

ranked 9- dan. He is the 17th Lifetime Meijin and also a former president of 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 ...

(JSA).

Early life

Kōji Tanigawa was born in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

on April 6, 1962. He entered the

's apprentice school at the rank of 5-

kyū is a Japanese language, Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony, ikebana, flower arranging, Go (game), Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, leve ...

in 1973 under the tutelage of shogi professional , was promoted to the rank of 1-dan in 1975, and was officially awarded professional status and the rank of 4-dan in 1976 at the age of fourteen, thus becoming the second person to obtain professional status while still a junior high school student.

Shogi professional

In February 1979, Tanigawa won the for his first championship as a professional. Tanigawa's first major title match appearance came in 1983 when he challenged Hifumi Katō for the 41st Meijin title. Tanigawa won the match 4 games to 2 to not only win his first major title, but also to become the youngest player to ever win the Meijin title at the age of 21. The following year, he successfully defended his title by defeating 4 games to 1 in the 42nd Meijin title match; he was however, unable to defend his title once again title in 1985, losing the 43rd Meijin title match to Makoto Nakahara 4 games to 2. On March 10, 2011, Tanigawa became the 4th shogi professional to win 1200 official games when he defeated Daisuke Nakagawa.Tanigawa's age of 48 years and 11 months made him at that time the youngest player to achieve such a result. On October 1, 2018, Tanigawa became the fifth shogi professional to win 1300 official games, and on January 15, 2025, he became the third player to win 1400 official games.

Promotion history

The promotion history of Tanigawa is as follows: * 5-

: 1973 * 1-dan: 1975 * 4-dan: December 20, 1976 * 5-dan: April 1, 1979 * 6-dan: April 1, 1980 * 7-dan: April 1, 1981 * 8-dan: April 1, 1982 * 9-dan: April 1, 1984

Titles and other championships

Tanigawa has appeared in major title matches a total of 57 times and has won 27 major titles. He has won the

Meijin is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi player, professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ( "excellent, artful", "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (the ...

title 5 times, thus qualifying for the Lifetime Meijin title. In addition to major titles, Tanigawa has won 22 other shogi championships during his career.

Major titles

Other championships

Note: Tournaments marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer held.

Awards and honors

Tanigawa has received a number of awards and honors throughout his career for his accomplishments both on an off the shogi board. These include the

Annual Shogi Awards The Annual Shogi Awards (将棋大賞 ''shōgi taishō'') are a number of prizes awarded yearly by the Japan Shogi Association to professional and amateur shogi players who have achieved particular success. The first Annual Shogi Awards were pre ...

given out by the JSA for performance in official games as well as other JSA awards for career accomplishments, and awards received from governmental organizations, etc. for contributions made to Japanese society.

Annual Shogi Awards

*6th Annual Awards (April 1978March 1979): Best New Player *7th Annual Awards (April 1979March 1980): Technique Award *9th Annual Awards (April 1981March 1982): Technique Award *10th Annual Awards (April 1982March 1983): Distinguished Service Award *11th Annual Awards (April 1983March 1984): Special Award *13th Annual Awards (April 1985March 1986): Player of the Year, Most Games Won, Most Games Played *14th Annual Awards (April 1986March 1987): Most Games Won, Most Games Played *15th Annual Awards (April 1987March 1988): Player of the Year *18th Annual Awards (April 1990March 1991): Player of the Year *19th Annual Awards (April 1991March 1992): Player of the Year *22nd Annual Awards (April 1994March 1995): Special Award *24th Annual Awards (April 1996March 1997): Most Games Played *25th Annual Awards (April 1997March 1998): Player of the Year *26th Annual Awards (April 1998March 1999): Most Games Played *27th Annual Awards (April 1999March 2000): Most Games Played *30th Annual Awards (April 2002March 2003): Special Award *31st Annual Awards (April 2003March 2004): Masuda Award *34th Annual Awards (April 2006March 2007): Game of the Year

Other awards

*1983, September: Kobe City Culture Special Award *1988: Kobe City Special Award *1989: Kobe City Government Meritorius Citizen Award *1991: Shogi Honor Fighting-spirit Award (Awarded by JSA in recognition of winning 600 official games as a professional) *1992: Kobe City Special Award *1997, June:

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

Honor Award, Kobe City Culture Honor Award *2001: 25 Years Service Award (Awarded by the JSA in recognition of being an active professional for twenty-five years) *2002: Kobe City Special Award, Special Shogi Honor Award (Awarded by JSA in recognition of winning 1000 official games as a professional) *2007: Hyogo Prefecture Culture Award *2014: Japanese Government's Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbons

Year-end prize money and game fee ranking

Tanigawa has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's each year from 1993 to 2007, and then again in 2013. He also has finished in the "Top 3" eight times, and was the top money winner in 1997. *Note: All amounts are given in

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...

and include prize money and fees earned from official tournaments and games held from January 1 to December 31.

JSA executive

Tanigawa was selected to be a senior managing director of Japan Shogi Association for a two-year term at the association's 62nd General Meeting on May 26, 2011. On December 18, 2012, JSA president Kunio Yonenaga died, and Tanigawa was subsequently selected to be his replacement at a special JSA members meeting held on December 25, 2012. This made him the first JSA president from the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

. Tanigawa was re-elected as president at the 64th (June 7, 2013) and 66th (June 4, 2015) General Meetings; however, he announced on January 18, 2017, that he had decided to resign in order to accept responsibility for the JSA's handling of the 29th Ryūō challenger controversy. Tanigawa continued to serve as president until his successor was chosen at a special meeting of the JSA membership on February 6, 2017.

Video games

In the late 1980s,

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

released a line of Shogi video games for the

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

and

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

featuring Tanigawa. The series was titled .

Notes

References

External links

* ShogiHub
Professional Player Info · Tanigawa, Koji

tanigawa17.life.coocan.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanigawa, Koji 1962 births Japanese shogi players Japan Shogi Association players Living people Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Professional shogi players from Hyōgo Prefecture Meijin (shogi) Ryūō Kisei (shogi) Ōi (shogi) Ōza (shogi) Kiō Ōshō Lifetime titles Recipients of the Kōzō Masuda Award People from Kobe People related to Jōdo Shinshū Ginga Presidents of the Japan Shogi Association NHK Cup (shogi)