While Soukan III sat at the top of the shogi world, his youngest brother shone brilliantly like a star rising to meet him. Itou Kanju (伊藤看寿, 1719-1760) can be said to be the best tsumeshogi composer of the Edo period. Raised by his brothers after their father passed in 1724, he displayed tremendous talent for composing at a young age. In 1731 at the young age of 12, he composed the 611-move tsumeshogi Kotobuki, as recorded in the preface to the Shogi Zukou and featured as the 100th and final problem of that collection.
Kanju was also no average player. He made his Castle Shogi game debut in 1736 as a 4-dan player and representative of Soukan III. Over his lifetime he would contest 22 Castle Shogi games, 14 of which were played against his older brother Oohashi Soukei VIII at various handicaps. His game results also showed steady improvement, getting steadily better as he grew older.
In 1745, Soukan III made preparations for his younger brother Itou Kanju to succeed as the next Meijin. Kanju played against the second-strongest player after the Meijin, head of the Oohashi branch family Oohashi Souyo IV (大橋宗与). Kanju accepted a lance handicap and won what came to be known as the famous “fishing game” (魚釣りの局). On the 60th move by Kanju, the sokofu drop P*69, it is said that the spectating Soukan III became so confident of his brother’s win that he then left the room to go fishing. The move became known as the sakanatsuri-no-fu (魚釣りの歩), the “fishing pawn”.
Kanju eventually surpassed Soukei VIII by winning even games against him in the 1753 and 1754 Castle games, getting promoted to 8-dan first and looking set to be the next Meijin.
The best tsumeshogi collection in history
Itou Kanju then made his tsumeshogi gift to the shogunate in 1755, the celebrated Shogi Zukou (将棋図巧). It contains many exquisite works and is widely considered to be the best published tsumeshogi collection. The final three problems in particular are all famous and widely known individually by shogi hobbyists today – and they all come from this one collection.
Number 98 “Hadagyoku” (裸王) is a 31-move problem where the initial position features just the lone enemy king on the board, and nothing else. A similar problem would not be composed until 1942.
Number 99 “Kemurizume” (煙詰) is a 117-move problem as a counterpoint to “Hadagyoku”, where all the pieces begin on the board with nothing in either player’s hand, and the final mating position features just the bare minimum of three pieces on the board. This feat would not be replicated until 1954.
Number 100 “Kotobuki” (寿) is the 611-move problem he composed when he was 12, easily blowing away the record for longest tsumeshogi. This record would stand for 200 years, until beaten in 1955 by the 873-move tsumeshogi “Shin Ougi Zume” (新扇詰) by Okuzono Yukio.
His legacy in tsumeshogi is his creative, unique problems that evaded attempts at imitation and inspired many future generations. Today the prestigious annual Kanju Prize (看寿賞) for tsumeshogi is named after him.