Annual Shogi Awards

The Annual Shogi Awards are a number of prizes awarded yearly by the Japan Shogi Association to professional and amateur shogi players who have achieved particular success. The first Annual Shogi Awards were presented in 1974.

WWW shogi.or.jp/player/winner...

Winners

Below is a table of the awards given and the award winners for each year.

No.	Shogi Year	Player of the Year	Special Award	Excellent Player	Fighting Spirit	Game of the Year	Special Game of the Year	Best Winning Percentage	Most Games Won
52	April 2024March 2025	Sōta Fujii		Takumi Itō	Takuya Nagase	Sōta Fujii vs. Takumi Itō	Sōta Fujii vs. Yasuhiro Masuda	Shin'ichirō Hattori	Reo Okabe
51	April 2023March 2024	Sōta Fujii		Takumi Itō	Tadahisa Maruyama	Sōta Fujii vs. Masayuki Toyoshima	Takuya Nagase vs. Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii
50	April 2022March 2023	Sōta Fujii		Akira Watanabe	Yoshiharu Habu	Sōta Fujii vs. Yoshiharu Habu	Sōta Fujii vs. Yasuhiro Masuda	Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii
49	April 2021March 2022	Sōta Fujii		Akira Watanabe	Tatsuya Sugai	Masayuki Toyoshima vs. Sōta Fujii		Takumi Itō	Sōta Fujii
48	April 2020March 2021	Sōta Fujii		Akira Watanabe	Masayuki Toyoshima	Akira Watanabe vs. Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii vs. Ayumu Matsuo	Sōta Fujii
47	April 2019March 2020	Akira Watanabe	Kazuki Kimura	Masayuki Toyoshima	Takuya Nagase	Masayuki Toyoshima vs. Kazuki Kimura	Akihito Hirose vs. Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii
46	April 2018March 2019	Masayuki Toyoshima		Akira Watanabe	Akihito Hirose	Amahiko Satō vs. Yoshiharu Habu	Mana Watanabe vs. Hatsumi Ueda	Sōta Fujii	Daichi Sasaki
45	April 2017March 2018	Yoshiharu Habu	Sōta Fujii	Tatsuya Sugai	Masayuki Toyoshima	Akira Watanabe vs. Yoshiharu Habu		Sōta Fujii	Sōta Fujii
44	April 2016March 2017	Amahiko Satō	Hifumi Katō	Yoshiharu Habu	Toshiaki Kubo	Yasumitsu Satō vs. Kōichi Fukaura	Kana Satomi vs. Hatsumi Ueda		Shōta Chida
43	April 2015March 2016	Yoshiharu Habu		Akira Watanabe	Amahiko Satō	Akira Watanabe vs. Amahiko Satō	Kenjirō Abe vs. Yoshiharu Habu	Shintarō Saitō	Amahiko Satō
42	April 2014March 2015	Yoshiharu Habu		Tetsurō Itodani	Masataka Gōda	Yoshiharu Habu vs Masayuki Toyoshima	Mitsunori Makino vs Ryuuma Tonari	Tatsuya Sugai	Tatsuya Sugai
41	April 2013March 2014	Toshiyuki Moriuchi		Yoshiharu Habu	Masataka Gōda	Yoshiharu Habu vs. Taichi Nakamura	Hiroyuki Miura vs Toshiaki Kubo	Yasuaki Murayama	Yoshiharu Habu
40	April 2012March 2013	Akira Watanabe	Yoshiharu Habu	Yoshiharu Habu	Taichi Nakamura	Yoshiharu Habu vs. Akira Watanabe	Kana Satomi vs. Hatsumi Ueda	Takuya Nagase	Habu
39	April 2011March 2012	Yoshiharu Habu		Akira Watanabe	Masataka Gōda	Akira Watanabe vs. Tadahisa Maruyama		Taichi Nakamura
38	April 2010March 2011	Yoshiharu Habu			Akihito Hirose	Akihito Hirose vs. Kōichi Fukaura	Toshiyuki Moriuchi vs. Takeshi Fujii	Amahiko Satō	Yoshiharu Habu
37	April 2009March 2010	Yoshiharu Habu		Toshiaki Kubo	Kazuki Kimura	Toshiaki Kubo vs. Yasumitsu Satō	Kōichi Kodama vs. Kōta Kanai	Masayuki Toyoshima	Masayuki Toyoshima
36	April 2008March 2009	Yoshiharu Habu	Makoto Nakahara	Akira Watanabe	Toshiaki Kubo	Akira Watanabe vs. Yoshiharu Habu		Atsushi Miyata	Toshiaki Kubo
37	April 2007March 2008	Yoshiharu Habu		Yasumitsu Satō	Kōichi Fukaura	Kōichi Fukaura vs. Yoshiharu Habu		Yasuaki Murayama	Yoshiharu Habu
36	April 2006March 2007	Yasumitsu Satō		Yoshiharu Habu	Akira Watanabe	Kōji Tanigawa vs. Yoshiharu Habu		Chikara Akutsu	Yasumitsu Satō
35	April 2005March 2006	Yoshiharu Habu			Yasumitsu Satō			Shin'ya Satō	Akira Watanabe

Kōzō Masuda Awards

The Kōzō Masuda Award and the Kōzō Masuda Special Prize are two prizes awarded to professional or amateur players who have made an outstanding contribution to the development and evolution of shogi openings by way of innovation or excellence in shogi theory or tactics. The awards are named after the innovative player, Kōzō Masuda. The Masuda Award is given out yearly since 1995 while the Masuda Special Prize is awarded infrequently.

Winners

Masuda Award

1994 : Kunio Naitō for the Side Pawn Capture, Bishop-33 variations.
1995 : Makoto Nakahara for the Nakahara variation of Side Pawn Capture and the Nakahara castle.
1996 : Takeshi Fujii for the Fujii System.
1997 : Teruichi Aono for the Saginomiya joseki.
1998 : Makoto Chūza for the Side Pawn Capture, Chūza's Rook.
1999 : Kunio Yonenaga for the Yonenaga King.
2000 : Hiroyuki Miura for the Millennium castle.
2001 : Masakazu Kondō for the Cheerful Central Rook.
2002 : Kōichi Kodama for the Crab Silvers.
2003 : Kōji Tanigawa for his...S-77+ move in his A-class Ranking Match against Akira Shima.
2004 : Daisuke Suzuki for the New Quick Ishida.
2005 : Hitoshige Awaji for the Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange.
2006 : Yasumitsu Satō for the ambition and variety of moves in Direct Opposing Rook.
2007 : Kenji Imaizumi for the 1... R-32 opening.
2008 : Toshiaki Kubo for his 6. R-7e move in the 2nd. match against Yasumitsu Satō for the 34th Kiō title.
2009 : Eiji Iijima for the Iijima Bishop Pullback.
2010 : Yoshitaka Hoshino for the Super High Speed Silver-37 strategy.
2011 : Yasumitsu Satō for the move 13. K-57 in his first game against Toshiaki Kubo for the Ōshō title.
2012 : Takeshi Fujii for the Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook.
2013 : Ayumu Matsuo for the...K-52 variation of Side Pawn Capture.
2014 : Tatsuya Sugai for his many tactical variations against Central Rook Anaguma, Cheerful Central Rook, Quick Ishida and others.
2015 : Eisaku Tomioka for the Tomioka variation of Bishop Exchange, Reclining Silver.
2016 : Shōta Chida for the Bishop Exchange, Reclining Silver variations K-42/G-62/R-81.
2017 : Teruichi Aono for the Aono Side Pawn Capture, and Yūki Sasaki for the Yūki Side Pawn Capture.
2018 : Sōta Fujii for the move 38.... Rx7g+ in the final match of the 5th class of the 31st Ryūō Ranking tournament against Naohiro Ishida on June 5, 2018.
2019 : The shogi engine elmo for developing the "elmo castle".
2020 : Takahiro Ōhashi for the Yōryū Fourth File Rook
2021 : Shōta Chida for the Bishop Exchange Gold-33 Rushing Silver Attack
2022 : Hiroaki Ureshino for Ureshino opening
2023 : Takumi Itō for the
2024 : Amahiko Satō for the Opposing Rook Bishop-66 strategy.

Masuda Special Prize

2002 Katsumi Tateishi for the Tateishi Fourth File Rook.
2004 Taku Morishita for the Morishita System.
2008 Kazuo Manabe for his splendid, phantom...*B-42 move in his match against Masayuki Toyoshima.
2010 Takayuki Yamasaki for the New Yamasaki variation of Side Pawn Capture.
2014 Yasuaki Tsukada for the Tsukada Special developed in the mid-1980s.
2015 Hifumi Katō for his developments and many novel contributions for Climbing Silver over his 62-year career.
2016 Nobuyuki Ōuchi for his many developments in the strategy for Bear-in-the-hole Ranging Rook.
2017 Tadahisa Maruyama for his research on Bishop Exchange opening including Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange.
2018 Kenji Waki for the Waki System.
2019 Sōta Fujii for the move 58...S*31 in Game 2 of the 91st Kisei title match.
2021 Torahiko Tanaka for his developments in opening strategy for Static Rook Anaguma and Yagura Without Pushing the Rook Pawn among others.
2023 Akihiro Murata