Chu shogi

Chu shogi, meaning middle shogi, is a large-board variant of Japanese shogi played on a 12 by 12 grid with 46 pieces per side, making it one of the historically most significant larger shogi variants and the only one to have been played continuously, in a small dedicated community, into the present day. It emerged by the fourteenth century as an intermediate step between the modern nine by nine shogi and far larger courtly variants such as dai shogi, and it introduced or popularized several piece types not found in standard shogi, including the lion, a uniquely powerful piece capable of two-step moves and a form of capture immune to the usual rule against moving into check. Historically chu shogi was patronized by the Japanese imperial court and aristocracy, and it survived long after most other large shogi variants fell out of use, kept alive by a continuous line of specialist players and later by hobbyist societies devoted to historical Japanese board games.