Kana Fukuma


Kana Fukuma is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 6-dan. She is the current holder of the Women's Meijin,,,, and titles. She is also the career leader in women's professional shogi major titles.
Satomi is also the first female to have been promoted to Japan Shogi Association's rank of apprentice professional of 3-dan and is also the first women's professional to apply for and be allowed to take the Japan Shogi Association's Professional Admission Test.

Early life, amateur shogi, apprentice women's shogi professional

Satomi was born in Izumo, Shimane on March 2, 1992. In 2003, she represented Shimane Prefecture in the 28th as a
fifth-grade elementary school student, and advanced to the semifinals before losing to future shogi professional Takuya Nishida.
Later in 2003, Satomi entered the Japan Shogi Association's Women's Professional Apprentice League under the guidance of shogi professional. She was awarded the rank of women's professional 2-kyū in October 2004.

Women's shogi professional

In September 2008, Satomi defeated Tomomi Kai to in the final of the challenger tournament to advance to the best-of-three title match against Ichiyo Shimizu. Satomi's victory over Kai also meant that she satisfied the criteria for promotion to women's professional 2-dan. Satomi went on to defeat Shimizu 2 games to none to win her first major title. Satomi successfully defended her title from 2009 until 2012. Satomi's victory in 2012 qualified her for the lifetime title of "Queen Kurashiki Toka", thus making her at 20 years old the youngest women's professional to ever qualify for a lifetime title. Satomi lost to Kai 2 games to 1 in the final of the 21st Kurashiki Tōka Cup in November 2013, but recaptured the title from Kai in November 2015 by the score of 2 games to none in the 23rd Kurashiki Tōka Cup. She successfully defended her title in both 2016 and 2017.　
In June 2018, Satomi lost her title to challenger Mana Watanabe 3 games to 1 in the 29th Women's Ōi title match. The two met again the following year in the 30th Women's Ōi title match, and Satomi regained her title 3 games to 1. The victory was Satomi's fifth Women's Ōi title overall, which not only returned her to 5-crown title holder status, but also earned her the lifetime title "Queen Ōi".
In February 2019, Satomi defended her Women's Meijin title against Sae Itō, winning the 45th Women's Meijin match 3 games to 1. Satomi's win was the tenth consecutive time she's won the Meijin title, which tied the record for consecutive wins of a women's title set by Naoko Hayashiba in 1991.
Satomi earned the right to challenge Tomoka Nishiyama for the 12th Women's title in AprilMay 2019, but Nishiyama defended her title 3 games to 1.
In September 2019, Satomi defeated Kai 3 games to none to win the inaugural. The win made Satomi the first 6-crown title holder in women's professional shogi. Satomi, however, was only able to retain her 6-crown status for about two months and dropped back down to 5-crown status after losing the 41st Women's Ōshō title to Nishiyama 2 games to 1.
In November 2019, Satomi defended her Kurashiki Tōka title by defeating Itō 2 games to 1 in the 27th Kurashiki Tōka title match.
In OctoberDecember 2019, Satomi defended her Women's Ōza title against Nishiyama, the third time in six months the two met in a major title match. Satomi lost the 9th Women's Ōza match 3 games to 1 to drop back to a 4-crown title holder status.
Satomi won the Women's Meijin title for the eleventh consecutive time when she defeated Yuki Taniguchi 3 games to none to win the 46th Women's Meijin match. The victory also gave Satomi sole possession of the record for the most consecutive wins of a women's major title.
In June 2020, Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōi crown by defeating Momoko Katō 3 games to none.
In JulyAugust 2020, Satomi defeated Hatsumi Ueda 3 games to 2 to win the 2nd Seirei title match. Satomi won the first two games, lost the next two, but came back to win the final game of the match and defend her title.
In November 2020, Satomi successfully defended her Kurashiki Tōka title by defeating Hiroe Nakai 2 games to none to win the 28th Kurashiki Tōka title.
Satomi defended her Women's Meijin title for the twelfth consecutive time when she defeated Momoko Katō 3 games to none to win the 47th Women's Meijin title match in JanuaryFebruary 2021. The victory gave Satomi her 43rd women's major title overall which tied her with Ichiyo Shimizu for the most ever.
Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōi crown in June 2021 by defeating Kotomi Yamane 3 games to none to win the 32nd Women's Ōi title match. The victory was Satomi's 44th major title and made her the all-time Women's professional shogi major title leader. She returned to 5-crown status in November 2021 after defeating 2 games to 1 to win the 43rd Women's Ōshō title. Later that same month, however, she was unable to defend her Seirei title against and lost the 3rd Seirei title match 3 games to 2. Satomi and Katō also faced each other in the best-of-three 29th Kurashiki Tōka Cup title match with Satomi winning 2 games to 1 for her twelfth Kurashiki Tōka Cup title overall. A few weeks later, Satomi returned to 5-crown status after defeating Nishiyama in the 11th Ōza title match 3 games to none. The win was Satomi's fifth Ōza title overall which qualified her for the "Queen Ōza" title.
In February 2022, Satomi lost the 47th Women's Meijin title to 3 games to 1. It was the first time since 2009 that she was unable to successfully defend her Women's Meiiin title.
Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōi title in June 2022 by defeating 3 games to 1 to win the 33rd Women's Ōi title match. In AprilJune 2022, she also challenged Nishiyama for the latter's Jo-Ō in the 15th Mynavi Women's Open title match, but Nishiyama won the match 3 games to 2 to defend her title. Satomi, however, did recapture the Seirei title by defeating in the 4th Seirei Title Match 3 games to none to return to 5-crown status.
On October 21, 2022, Satomi returned to 6-crown status after defeating in the best-of-seven 2nd title match 4 games to 3. The win was Satomi's 50th major title overall. Satomi's return to 6-crown status, however, was short-lived after she lost the 34th Women's Ōshō title match a week later to Nishiyama 3 games to 2. Satomi and Nishiyama faced each other yet again in a major title match a few days later with Nishiyama challenging Satomi for her Kurashiki Tōka Cup title. This time, Satomi was able to successfully defend her title by winning the 30th Kurashiki Tōka Cup title match 2 games to none. A few weeks later on December 23, 2022, Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōza title by defeating 3 games to 2 in the 12th Women's Ōza title match.
In June 2023, Satomi defended her Women's Ōi when she defeated 3 games to 1 in the 34th Women's Ōi title match. Satomi then successfully defended her Seirei title by defeating in the 5th Seirei title match 3 games to 1. Satomi, however, was unable to defend her Hakurei title and dropped back down to 4-crown status after losing the 3rd Hakurei title match to 4 games to 3. Satomi faced in a major title match for the third time in 2023 and defended her Kurashiki Tōka Cup title by winning the 31st Kurashiki Tōka Cup title match 2 games to none. The following month, Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōza title by defeating 3 games to 1 in the 13th Women's Ōza title match. The victory gave Satomi her third consecutive and seventh overall Women's Ōza title.
In February 2024, Fukuma recaptured the Women's Meijin title by defeating reigning title holder 3 games to 1 to win the 50th Women's Meijin match. The victory gave Fukuma her 13th Women's Meijin title overall, and her first since playing under her married name.
In May 2024, Fukuma successfully defended her Women's Ōi title by defeating challenger 3 games to 0 in the 35th Women's Ōi Title Match ; it was Fukuma's sixth consecutive Women's Ōi title. Fukuma and Katō met again a few months later in the 6th Seirei title match, but Fukuma won the match 3 games to 1. The victory was Fukuma's 5th Seirei title overall which qualified her for the "Queen Seirei" title.
In SeptemberOctober 2024, Fukuyama challenged for the Hakurei and Women's Ōshō titles, but poor heath caused her to forfeit several games in each match. She was tied with Nishiyama at two wins apiece in the 4th Hakurei title match but forfeited Games 5 and 6 to lose the match 4 games to 2. In the 46th Women's Ōshō title match, she won Game 1 but forfeited Games 2 and 3 to lose the match 2 games to 1.
Fukuma faced again in the 14th Women's Ōza title match. Game 1 of the match was played in October 2024, and was won by Fukuma. Games 2 and 3, however, were postponed because Fukuma was scheduled to take an official leave of absence due to being pregnant, and the match was scheduled to restart in February 2025. Fukuma won Games 2 and 3 to win the match 3 games to none, defend her Women's Ōza title and retain her 5-crown status. Fukuma continued her good form after returning from her leave of absence by defeating 2 games to 0 to win the 32nd Kurashiki Tōka Cup title match to defend her title and maintain her 5-crown status, and then defeating 3 games to 2 to win the 51st Women's Meijin title match to defend her Meijin title.
Fukuma captured the Women's Mynabi Open Jo-Ō title and returned to 6-crown status after defeating 3 games to 2 to win the 18th Women's Mynavi Open. She successfully defended her Women's Ōi title by defeating 3 games to 2 in the 36th Women's Ōi title match. Fukuma was originally scheduled to defend her title against, but Nishiyama withdrew due to illness on the advice of her doctor the day before the match was scheduled to begin and was replaced by Itō, who lost to Nishiyama in the finals of the challenger determination tournament the previous March. Fukuma's string of successful title defenses in 2025 continued when she defeated 3 games to none to win the 7th Seirei Title Match and maintain her 6-crown status.
Fukuma's string of success in major title matches since returning from her leave of absence ended in October 2025 when she lost the 5th Hakurei title match to 4 games to 2. Fukuma was leading the match 2 games to 1 but lost the next three games to not only fail to recapture the Hakurei title but also fail to become the first ever women's professional 7-crown title holder. She regained her winning form, however, in her next two major title defenses. First she defeated 2 games to 1 to win the 33rd Kurashiki Tōka Title Match and defend her Kurashiki Tōka title, and she then defeated 3 games to none to win the 15th Women's Ōza Title Match and defend her Women's Ōza title.

Promotion history

Satomi has been promoted as follows.
  • 2-kyū: October 1, 2004
  • 1-kyū: April 1, 2006
  • 1-dan: February 22, 2007
  • 2-dan: September 29, 2008
  • 3-dan: April 1, 2009
  • 4-dan: February 10, 2010
  • 5-dan: October 18, 2011
  • 6-dan: April 1, 2020
Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Major titles

Satomi has appeared in major title matches 84 times and has won a total of 67 titles. She has won the Women's Meijin fourteen times, the title sixteen times, the title eight times, the title eleven times, the title nine times, the title six times, the title twice and the title once. She has been awarded the lifetime titles of Queen Meijin,,, and. In September 2019, she became the first 6-crown title holder in women's professional shogi.
TitleYearsNumber of times overall
Women's Meijin20092020 and 20232024 14
20082012 and 20152025 16
20102012, 20152018 and 20218
2012, 20152017 and 20192025 11
2013, 20162018 and 20212025 9
2013, 2025 2
20192020 and 20222025 6
20221

Awards and honors

Fukuma has received a number of Japan Shogi Association Annual Shogi Awards and other awards in recognition of her accomplishments in shogi and contributions made to Japanese society.

Annual Shogi Awards

  • 34th Annual Awards : Women's Professional Award
  • 36th Annual Awards : Women's Professional Award
  • 37th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 38th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 39th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 40th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Game of the Year Special Prize
  • 41st Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 43rd Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 44th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Game of the Year Special Prize
  • 45th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year
  • 46th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year
  • 47th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Game of the Year
  • 48th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year
  • 49th Annual Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year
  • 50th Annual Shogi Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year
  • 51st Annual Shogi Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year
  • 52nd Annual Shogi Awards : Women's Professional of the Year and Women's Professional Game of the Year

Other awards

Notable results against regular professionals

On June 28, 2019, Satomi defeated shogi professional Ryūma Tonari in the preliminary round of the 91st Kisei tournament to become the first women's professional to win four consecutive official games against regular professionals. She was, however, unable to extend winning streak to five games when she lost to Takahiro Ōhashi in her next game against a regular professional. On July 21, 2019, Satomi became just the third women's professional to win a NHK Cup TV Tournament game against a male professional when she defeated Issei Takazaki in Round 1 of the tournament.
On May 27, 2022, Satomi defeated Yūta Komori in the preliminary round of the 48th Kiō tournament to become the first women's professional to qualify for the main challenger tournament of a major title. Her record against regular professionals after this win improved to 10 wins and 4 losses over the last 14 games, satisfying the criteria to qualify for the Professional Admission Test. In addition to Komori, the regular professionals Satomi defeated during this period included former Kiō challenger Kei Honda, B1 class professional Shingo Sawada, and 2022 Ōi league winner Takashi Ikenaga. Satomi is the first women's professional to qualify for the Professional Admission Test.
On October 6, 2025, Fukuma defeated Masahiko Urano in a preliminary round game of the 67th Ōi tournament to improve her record against regular professionals in recent official games to 10 wins and 5 losses for a winning percentage of 0.666. The win meant Fukuma satisfied the criteria for the Professional Admission Test for a second time. After the game, Fukuma stated she was "very happy just be able to play an official game against a regular professional and was not thinking about the test very much". She also stated she wanted to "let the accomplishment sink in a bit before deciding what to do next".
Fukuma's record in official regular professional tournaments is 64 wins and 75 losses for a winning percentage of 0.460.

Apprentice professional

In April 2011, Satomi, who was already quite successful as a women's shogi professional, informed the Japan Shogi Association of her desire to enter its apprentice school at the rank of apprentice professional 1-kyū in an attempt to obtain full professional status. A series of three official games against existing shogi apprentices were arranged as her entrance exam. She split the first two games held on May 3, 2011, but then won the third game on May 21, 2011, to pass the exam. She was awarded the rank of apprentice 1-kyū that same day.
In January 2012, Satomi became the first female under the current apprentice system to be promoted to the rank of apprentice 1-dan after she achieved the threshold of 12 wins and 4 losses in apprentice school play. In July 2013, Satomi then became the first female to be promoted to apprentice 2-dan after once again reaching 12 wins and 4 losses. In December of that same year, she became the first female to be promoted to apprentice 3-dan, thus earning her the right to be the first female to participate in the 3-Dan League: the final stage for those aspiring to be awarded regular professional status.
Satomi's first season of 3-dan league play was supposed to be the 55th 3-dan League, but health issues forced her to take a leave of absence from all professional games from April 1, 2014, until August 31, 2014. Satomi's health problems did not improve, so her leave of absence was subsequently extended to December 31, 2014; this meant she would miss the 56th 3-dan League as well. On November 10, 2014, the JSA announced that Satomi would be returning to official women's professional shogi play as of January 1, 2015, but that she was being allowed to withdraw from the 57th 3-dan league.
Satomi's returned from her leave of absence for the 58th 3-dan League, and finished with a losing record of 5 wins and 13 losses. Her records in the 59th, 60th and 61st 3-dan Leagues were 711, 810 and 711 respectively.
Satomi was already 25 years old when she started 62nd 3-dan league play which meant she needed to either win the league outright and obtain full professional status, or finish with a winning record to avoid losing her qualifications for the apprentice school due to the 26-year-old age limit set in place by the JSA. Satomi's record after twelve games was 7 wins and 5 losses, so it seemed like she might be able to qualify for a one-season extension to continue her attempt for full professional status. However, she proceeded to lose her next four games which meant the best she could finish was 9 wins and 9 losses, which confirmed that she would have to leave the apprentice school. The option of becoming a "regular" professional via the Professional Admission Test remains open to her, and her leaving the apprentice school does not affect her status as a women's professional player.

Professional Admission Test

First attempt (AugustOctober 2022)

On June 28, 2022, the JSA announced that it had accepted Satomi's application for the Professional Admission Test. Satomi was the first woman to be accepted for the test. She satisfied the criteria for the test the previous month when she defeated a regular professional in the official tournament play. Satomi's test consisted of a best-of-five test match against the five most recently promoted regular professionals with Satomi needing to win three of the five games to be awarded regular professional status as a "Free Class" professional. The schedule was for one game to be played a month starting in August 2022, under official game conditions.
The five professionals Satomi was scheduled to play were Kenshi Tokuda, Reo Okabe, Mikio Kariyama, Tomoki Yokoyama and Akihiro Takada. The time control for each game was three hours per player which was then followed a byoyomi time control of thirty seconds per move. A furigoma was held prior to Game 1 to determine who moved first, and then the first move alternated between players for the remaining games so that Satomi would never move first or second for two consecutive games. The games were scheduled to take place at the JSA headquarters in Tokyo and its Kansai Branch in Osaka. Game 1 took place on August 18 in Osaka with Tokuda moving first and ultimately winning in 127 moves. Game 2 took place in Tokyo on September 22, with Satomi moving first. Despite having the advantage of the first move, Satomi lost the game in 132 moves. Game 3 took place in Osaka on October 13 with Satomi needing to win to have any chance of being promoted; Satomi lost the game in 103 moves which meant she had failed the test, thus making Games 4 and 5 unnecessary.

Second attempt

On November 4, 2025, the posted on its official website that it had received and approved Fukuma's application to take the test a second time. The JSA posted that the best-of-five test would start two months after receiving Fukuma's application, with one game being played per month at either the JSA headquarters in Tokyo or its Kansai Branch office until the final result has been decided. Fukuma's five opponents during the test would be the five most recent shogi professionals:,,, and .

Personal life

Satomi's younger sister Saki is also a women's professional shogi player. The two are the third pair of sisters to be awarded women's professional status by the JSA.
On January 1, 2024, the posted on its official website that Satomi had gotten married during 2023 and would now be competing under her married name. In a Chūnichi Shimbun article published later that same day, it was further revealed that she had married former apprentice professional 3-dan Kenta Fukuma.
On August 29, 2024, the JSA posted on its official website that Fukuma's upcoming challenge to in the 4th Hakurei title match would be played using a tablechairs set-up instead of seiza-style, and without either player wearing traditional Japanese clothing, such as kimonos, out of concern for Fukuma's health due to her pregnancy. Fukuma had requested such a special allowance be made after consulting with her doctor.
On October 4, 2024, the JSA announced on its official website that Fukuma would be on an official leave of absence from November 17, 2024, until February 12, 2025. The JSA also announced on the same day that Game 1 of Fukuma's 14th Women's Ōza title match against would be played as scheduled on October 23, but Game 2 and Game 3 would be postponed until after Fukuma returned from her leave of absence. The subsequently announced on November 1, 2024, Fukuma's defense her Kurashiki Tōka title against in the 32nd Kurashiki Tōka title match scheduled to begin on November 7 had also been postponed to the end of February 2025. The best-of-three match's schedule had already been shortened to last only six days, and all the games were scheduled to take place in Osaka in consideration of Fukuma's health and ensure it was completed before her scheduled leave of absence began on November 17.
On January 1, 2025, Fukuma announced on X as part of New Year's greeting she had safely given birth to her first child in the middle of December. She stated she was sorry for any inconvenience her leave of absence might have caused but was grateful for all of the understanding and support she received, and she also hoped that systematic changes would be made in the future to make things more accommodating for women's professionals trying to balance their playing careers with starting a family.