Kana Satomi who has three titles in Ladies Shogi, was just promoted to the First Dan at Shogi pre-professional group. In Shogi, Japanese chess, ladies have followed a different system than men so far. Satomi who is 19 years old is the first that was promoted to the First Dan of the regular “men’s system.
Professional Shogi has very strict rule in that those who were promoted to the First Dan of the group compete among themselves. If they do not make the Fourth Dan before the age of 26, they are asked to leave the group. They will not be able to become Shogi professional unless they pass this test. (Few years ago, the system was modified a bit.)
This system so far has worked for men only and ladies have different system. In fact, men have seven major title match, and ladies have fewer title match.
There had been no ladies who were promoted to the First Dan of the “men’s” (or regular) group and Satomi is the first. Momoko Kato who just won the Ladies Ouza title (16 years old) is likely to follow the same approach with that of Satomi. It will be very interesting to have many more young ladies challenge to be qualified as “regular” Shogi professionals and compete against men. With more young lady professionals, the Shogi which has seen the popularity surge will have more fans, I hope.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
