Hifumi Katō


Hifumi Katō was a Japanese professional shogi player who achieved the rank of 9-dan. During his career, he won the Meijin, Tenth Dan, Ōi, Kiō and Ōshō major titles. He also held the record for being the youngest to have been awarded regular professional status at age 14 years and 7 months until Sōta Fujii broke it at age 14 years and 2 months in 2016.
Since his given name is written using the kanji characters for the numbers "one","two" and "three", Katō was known to his fans by the nickname "Hifumin".
𝕏 hifumikato

Shogi professional

Playing style

Katō was known for playing aggressive Climbing Silver strategies. He received a Masuda Special Award in 2017 for his innovations to this strategy over his career.
Additionally, the Katō variation of the Double Fortress opening is named after him.

Promotion history

Katō's promotion history is as follows:

Titles and other championships

Katō appeared in major title matches a total of twenty-four times, and won a total of eight titles. In addition to major titles, Katō won twenty-three other shogi championships during his career.

Major titles

Note: Tournaments marked with an asterisk are no longer held.

Other championships

Note: Tournaments marked with an asterisk are no longer held.

Personal life and death

Katō was baptized as a Catholic in 1970, and his Christian name was Paul. He was made a Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
Katō died on January 22, 2026, at the age of 86.

Awards and honors

Katō received numerous awards and honors throughout his career for his accomplishments both on and off the shogi board. These include the Annual Shogi Awards given out by the JSA for performance in official games and other awards given out by governmental organizations, etc. for contributions made to Japanese society.

Annual shogi awards

Other awards