Photo/Illutration Sota Fujii holds up his writing of Meijin, the shogi title he won on June 1 in Takayama, Nagano Prefecture. (Ikuro Aiba)

Generational talent Sota Fujii continued his unstoppable rise to king of the shogi record books by becoming the youngest holder of the oldest and most prestigious title, the Meijin.

Fujii bested Akira Watanabe, the Meijin holder, on June 1 for the fourth and deciding win in the best-of-seven series.

At 20 years and 10 months, Fujii broke the record for youngest Meijin held by Koji Tanigawa for 40 years, who was 21 and two months when he won the title in 1983. 

At a June 2 news conference, Fujii held up the calligraphy he wrote for the first time as the Meijin title holder.

He explained that he chose the four-character phrase “onko chishin,” an old saying about studying the past as a way to discover new knowledge, because, “I want to gradually go over the moves used by shogi masters of the past now that I have reached a position that is so rich in history.”

Fujii also admitted that he selected the phrase because it was Tanigawa's favorite.

The Meijin title has a long history as it was established by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1612. It is also considered the toughest to win because a shogi player has to advance through five classes before even becoming the challenger.

The fastest a rookie shogi pro can become the challenger is five years. It took Fujii six years to reach that position, a sign of how arduous the process is.

In addition to becoming the youngest Meijin, Fujii also became the youngest to hold seven major shogi titles at the same time.

He broke the record set in 1996 by Yoshiharu Habu, the only other shogi pro to hold the seven titles simultaneously.

But there is now an eighth major shogi title and Fujii can set his sights on the unprecedented task of winning all eight if he advances to becoming the challenger to Takuya Nagase, the holder of the Oza title, this autumn.

Now that Fujii is hogging almost all the shogi titles, other accomplished veterans such as Watanabe and Habu are left title-less.

In fact, the last time Watanabe was without a shogi title was 2004, when Fujii was still an infant who likely had no idea what the traditional board game was. He would only take up shogi when he was 5. 

But his ascent up the shogi world was rapid, becoming the youngest to turn pro in 2016 when he was only 14 years and two months and still attending junior high school.

Fujii became a major sensation when he won his first 29 matches as a pro, breaking a record that had stood for 30 years.

He won his first major title, the Kisei, in 2020 when he was 17 years and 11 months.

(This article was compiled from reports by Keiji Sato and Shinya Murase.)

Related News