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The story
On October 10, 2026, women’s shogi professional Tomoka Nishiyama (Hakurei) won the best-of-seven 6th Hakurei title match 4 games to 1, securing her fifth total Hakurei championship. This meant she met the criteria of a newly established Japan Shogi Association rule stating that winning the Hakurei title five times in total qualifies a player to sit the professional promotion exam — making her the first woman ever to earn professional qualification this way. In response, commentator Hiroyuki posted on X questioning the move, calling it “a mysterious system where you can become a professional just by racking up wins against other women,” sparking discussion on 5ch as well. While some defended the system by pointing to Nishiyama’s strong record in the 3-dan league and her wins in the promotion exam itself, many others raised questions about fairness and consistency in how players turn professional.
October 11, 2026
Entrepreneur Hiroyuki Nishimura — known simply as “Hiroyuki” — updated his X (formerly Twitter) account on the 10th, sharing his personal take on a new system that allows women to qualify as professional shogi players.
Women’s shogi professional Tomoka Nishiyama (Hakurei) defended her title on the 10th, winning the best-of-seven 6th Hakurei title match 4 games to 1 and bringing her total Hakurei championships to five. This satisfied the criteria of a rule newly established last year by the Japan Shogi Association stating that winning the Hakurei title five times in total qualifies a player for promotion to professional status, making her the first woman ever to earn professional qualification.
Source: chiba-tv.com / Original article here
What people said
Just making it far enough to pick up a demotion mark would already be a huge success, as always.
More importantly, if there's a 'women's professional' title, isn't it discrimination not to have a 'men's professional' title too?
They should hold a tournament between the women's and men's divisions, and the winner gets to take the promotion exam.
That's how it should be.
Feels a bit late to the party now.
Guess that's the difference between a genius and an eccentric.
And yet Hiroyuki always hides behind the 'it's a private company's decision' shield to win arguments when it comes to railways or other social infrastructure too.
It's not excluding anyone — no woman has met the standard, that's all.
Nobody's being excluded.
It's just that, up until now, not a single woman has made it through.
It's like a system where a female pro boxer who keeps winning gets the right to fight in the men's pro boxing world.
If she can win there, it proves there was nothing wrong with what they did.
If she can't, it means there's a problem with the system.
> If she can win there, it proves there was nothing wrong with what they did.
That's a weird argument.
That would mean she should've become a pro through the normal system in the first place.
If that logic holds, then a man who drops out of the pros should also be able to regain pro status by beating women's professionals — otherwise it doesn't add up.
No, whether Nishiyama personally can do it isn't the point.
Even if she can pull it off, what about everyone else?
Not exactly an advantage, but I believe the gender gap in Go isn't as large as in shogi.
I've heard women tend to be weaker at defense, which is why they're said to struggle more with shogi than Go.
At best, you could say it sharpens the one specific ability related to shogi itself.
But does playing shogi make you better at math? Not at all.
And of course it doesn't improve your ability to memorize English vocabulary either.
There's a whole business built on the illusion that shogi trains the brain, pushing parents to make their kids play it — but that's just people being fooled.
That's true, but I think it does build concentration.
For what it's worth, Nagase is apparently bad at schoolwork.
It's not.
Re: #60
That's the thing, the path was already open from the start…
It's not like the Shoreikai bans women from joining.
isn't the top amateur actually stronger?
So does that mean any pro who's lost to a women's professional is at the very bottom of the ranks?
It was to promote the game among women.
so there's no doubt her playing strength was already pro-level.
Above 3-dan, below 4-dan —
her results in the promotion exam back that up too.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The new rule established by the Japan Shogi Association grants eligibility for the professional promotion exam to any player who has won the women’s “Hakurei” title five times in total — and Nishiyama herself earned a winning record against active male professionals in that very exam. In other words, she didn’t become a professional solely by beating other women; she had to go through matches against male professionals to earn her qualification, which is somewhat at odds with Hiroyuki’s framing of “racking up wins against other women.” Traditionally, the only path to becoming a professional — for men and women alike — was through the apprentice (Shoreikai) 3-dan league, and Nishiyama herself had a 14-win record there. The real debate over the rule boils down to a single question: given that her skill was clearly already sufficient, was a separate route even necessary? It isn’t simply a matter of a male-female divide.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “Hiroyuki questions new system letting women earn “professional shogi player” status: “A mysterious system where you can become a pro just by racking up wins against other women”.”
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