Shogi King

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Castles

Step through how each castle is built, one move at a time. Only the builder's moves are shown — the opponent stands still — so you can see the shape form. In a real game you play these between your opponent's moves, and the order bends to what they do.

High Mino castle

High Mino 高美濃

taka mino · Mino, raised

The Mino castle with a gold lifted to d3 — the next stage when there is time.

Strong
Covers the fourth and third files higher up, so edge and head attacks are harder.
Weak
Two more moves than Mino, and the lower rank is thinner.

Builds on the Mino — its first moves are the same.

Move order

  1. Open the bishop's diagonal.
  2. Space for the rook.
  3. Rook to f2.
  4. King walks right…
  5. …
  6. …to b2.
  7. Silver up.
  8. Gold to e2 — a complete Mino.
  9. Edge pawn.
  10. Now raise it: push the fourth-file pawn…
  11. …and lift the gold to d3. High Mino.

Why castles matter and how to choose one: the castles lesson · see which castles players here actually reach in the opening explorer.