Yellow Mountain Imports Wooden Shogi Japanese Chess Game Traditional Koma Playing Pieces with Paper Shogiban

I had previously bought a shogi board that was magnetic for easy play. But I was slight disappointed that the pieces were not traditionally wooden and the board was smaller than expected. Since the game set was met for travelling use, it makes sense, but I prefer the regular size. This shogi set made up for it. The pieces were made of wood and the perfect size for me so I can read the characters better, and I can play the boardgame mat on top of my Go boardgame. Makes everything better.

I just started getting into the game of Shogi and with the lack of quality online interfaces for studying/playing, I opted to get my own set. Even though I'm new to the game, I really wanted to avoid the cheap, low quality magnetic and plastic sets while also not breaking the bank.I bought this wooden folding board (see my review for that board as well) which didn't come with pieces thus necessitating the need for a piece set. Shogi pieces (known as "Koma" in Japan) like Shogi boards are hard to find outside of Japan due to the level of craftsmanship required to make them combined with the relative obscurity of Shogi in the western world. Most good, wooden piece sets are available only through importing from Japan which can be costly and time-consuming (delivery times are usually weeks if you don't want to pay 2-3 times the set price in shipping costs).Due to these factors, my initial plan was to get this cheap, $12 set of wooden pieces while I wait for a nicer set to be imported from Japan. Upon getting this delivered, however, I canceled my other order because these pieces are actually a decent quality for the price. Given that I'm relatively new to studying this game, it wouldn't make sense to really go all-in on a nicer set anyways.The wooden pieces are a good weight with a solid, authentic feel to them. The calligraphy is decent, however, I'm not a huge fan of how the characters extend all the way to sides of the piece. Generally, the characters are supposed to be fully contained within the piece and have some padding from the edges. The King piece featured in the product picture is a good example of what I'm referring too.The pieces utilize the 2-character format for their names. These Chinese characters (not Japanse) are heavily stylized and written in cursive. This gives the set a very authentic feel but can be hard to decipher for newer players. Even so, most casual players tend to prefer the simpler 1-character variations that use only the top half character and aren't as stylized. So if you're buying this as a beginner or for someone else who is a beginner, do be aware of this prior to making this purchase as it may take some getting used too.TL;DRPros:- Cheapest wooden pieces that are widely available- Solid wood feel- Decent caligraphy for the priceCons:- Some characters are too big for the piece and extend to the sides- Slight ink bleed on some characters which makes them look sort of "fuzzy"- Uses a complicated character set which isn't beginner/westerner friendly

I've been wanting a shogi set for a while so when I saw these, I snapped them up.I don't know enough about the traditional sets to know if they're regulation or not but they're light and they feel nice.It comes in a really sturdy box for storage and a zip top bag for the pieces. The included pamphlet has some general information like the rules for how each piece moves and general game play.The paper gameboard to get started is even a nice touch.I'm pretty happy with it.

The Shogi pieces were perfect but the board itself was just a piece of paper. I had to buy a separate set that came with a proper board.

The board is a piece of paper. I get that that's is probably my fault and I should have read deeper, but damn that's cheap. I got this beautiful magnetic go board for travel that is all in one perfect it's really not that hard or unexpected to believe there was some sort of sturdy solid object to affix the wood pieces too? I mean id accept plastic pieces if it meant I got a game board lets to be real. Theres a picture of the board i want on the box and in the picture....i mean million dollar idea make the game box the packaging if your so cheep your gonna fold up a printed piece of paper and pretend thats a game board. Look its just a suggestion is all. The wood pieces are quite beautiful

I bought these pieces so i could teach my brother how to play shogi, and i was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the pieces. For the price these can't be beaten for a beginner set, the only problem i had was the paper board. The pieces all look great and feel sturdy, and they have red writing for the promoted side, so its very easy to tell which pieces are promoted with just a glance, and it also speeds up the process of setting the game up.Overall it's a great set of pieces, the only problem is the paper board, but for the price this set can't be beat.

It looks like wood but too light and smell like MDF. The ink was smudge on the other side and had a dent.I paied $23 with tax, 30% less now in the day I received the delivery.I will refund this right away.very disappointed.made in china by the way...

I grew up playing shogi and wanted to get decent koma (or shogi pieces) that's not plastic. The material is light and durable, easy to handle. It feels a little rough on some surface, but I imagine it'll get more smooth as we use it more. Good for the price.The writing on the pieces are cheap print. It's good for casual playing with friends and family. Nice ones have words carved and ink filled in the groove. My grandfather's kind, maybe i can have them when I reach his level.You know how pros and advanced players hold them between index finger and middle finger and slams on the board. I love the sound of koma slamming on the board. This one makes pretty good sound. I never had real expensive koma so I'm happy with this overall.It comes with the whole set of 40 pieces + 2 extra fuhyo (or pawn), nice addition. we always end up losing fuhyo.It also comes with paper shogi board and instruction sheet which shows how to play and move the pieces.