囲碁将棋盤 榧寿堂 ／ Go & Shogi Boards: A Guide from Japan
Go & Shogi Boards: A Guide from Japan
Kayajudo is an independent guide to Japanese go and shogi boards and their equipment. These English pages explain what a traditional board is made of, why kaya wood is prized above all others, and how to choose a board, stones, and bowls — in clear, practical terms for players outside Japan.
Buying from outside Japan? We do not hold stock, but we can order a board, stones, bowls or shogi pieces from makers and shops in Japan for you and ship them to your country. See Ordering go and shogi equipment from overseas.
A full go set is just three things: the board (goban), the stones (goishi), and the bowls that hold them (goke). From an affordable starter set to a heirloom honkaya board, the craft rewards a slow, considered choice.
Kaya wood in brief
Kaya (Japanese torreya) has long been treated as the best wood for go and shogi boards. The Nihon Ki-in (Japan Go Association) points to its moderate elasticity, handsome grain and colour, and fragrance, and notes that with use it settles to a deep amber.
- Hyuga kaya — kaya from the mountains of southern Kyushu around Miyazaki — is treated as the top grade by board makers such as Kuroki Goishi Ten.
- Large, old logs are scarce. Kuroki writes that a legged or one-piece board needs a tree roughly 200 to 800 years old, and that now that felling is prohibited, large-diameter kaya logs hardly reach the market.
- Shinkaya is not kaya. The name means “new kaya”, but both Kuroki and the board maker Maekawa describe it as spruce, mainly from North America — similar in colour and grain, and far cheaper.
- Straight grain (masame) costs more because, as Maekawa explains, it can only be cut from the radius of a large, old log.
For the full comparison, see Honkaya vs Shinkaya and What "Hon-Kaya" Actually Means When You Buy.
Sources. Nihon Ki-in, “Igo zatsugaku”; Kuroki Goishi Ten, on board materials; Maekawa Kaya Goban. Checked 2026-10-06.
Start here
- The Equipment You Need to Start Go: Board, Stones, and Bowls
- Honkaya vs Shinkaya: Why Kaya Is the Finest Wood for Go and Shogi Boards
Choosing a go board
- How to Choose a Go Board: Wood, Form and Thickness
- Go & Shogi Board Thickness: Tabletop 2-Sun vs Legged 5–6 Sun
- The Legs and the ‘Chidamari’ of a Go Board: Meaning and Origins
- 9×9, 13×13 or 19×19? Choosing a Go Board Size, and the Grid Measurement Nobody Mentions
Go stones
- How to Choose Go Stones: Clam-Shell Grades, Thickness and Nachiguro Black Stones
- Go Stone Sizes Explained: Why the Number Is Thickness, and Why Black Is Wider Than White
- Clam-Shell Go Stone Grades (Yuki, Tsuki, Hana): Differences and How to Choose
Go bowls
- How to Choose Go Bowls (Goke): Material, Form, and Matching Stone Size
- Go Bowl Woods and What the Price Ladder Actually Buys
Buying with confidence
- Where to Buy Go Equipment Outside Japan
- Suwabute or Mexican? What "Clamshell" and "Hon-Kaya" Actually Mean When You Buy
- How Go Board Lines Are Made: Tachi-mori, and Why a Sword Is Involved
Shogi boards and pieces
- Shogi Board Sizes, and How They Differ From a Go Board
- Types of Shogi Pieces: Oshi, Kaki, Hori, Horiume and Moriage Explained
- Caring for a Go or Shogi Board: Dry Wiping, a Little Wax, and What Damages Wood
- Caring for Go Stones: Clamshell Yellowing, Nachiguro Black, and Why You Should Not Bleach Them
- Buying a Used Go Board: Damage You Can Undo, Damage You Cannot, and the Photos to Ask For
- Go Board Wood Grain Explained: Masame, Itame, Tenmasa, Tenchimasa and Shihomasa
- The Equipment You Need to Start Shogi: Board, Pieces, Komadai and Komabako
- One-Piece or Joined Go Board (Ichimai-ita vs Hagi-ban): Where the Price Gap Comes From, and What It Changes at the Board
- How to Read a Shogi Board: Files, Ranks, What ▲7六歩 Means, and Setting Up the Pieces
- Go Board Woods Beyond Kaya: Chinese Kaya, Hiba, Katsura, Ginkgo, Shin-kaya and Shin-katsura Explained
- Nachiguro: The Black Stone Behind Japan’s Finest Go Sets
- Go Board vs Shogi Board: Size, Lines and Where the Pieces Go, and What to Buy If You Play Both
- Shogi Piece Calligraphy Styles: Kinki, Minase, Maki Ryoko, Genbei Kiyoyasu and How to Choose by Readability
- Choosing the Wood of a Shogi Board: Why Not the Same Way as a Go Board, and What Affects Sound and Wear
- How Heavy Is a Go Board? Legged Boards Run 10-30 kg, Mostly Set by Thickness
- Covers for Go and Shogi Boards (Ban-ooi): Why Cloth, Why Not Plastic, and How to Measure
- What Is Kaya? The Tree Behind the Finest Go and Shogi Boards, How Old It Must Be, and Why Shin-kaya Is a Different Wood
- What Is Written on the Back of Shogi Pieces? The Six Promoted Names, and Why the King and Gold Are Blank
- Reading Japanese Go Board Dimensions: Shaku and Sun, Why the Board Is Longer Than It Is Wide, and What Older Records Show
- Caring for Shogi Pieces: Dry-Wiping, Oil, the Komabako and Where to Keep Them
- Boxwood Shogi Pieces: Mikurajima vs Satsuma Tsuge, Siam Tsuge, and How to Read the Grain
- Folding, Magnetic or Solid Wood? Choosing a Go or Shogi Board by Where You Will Play
- What Is Hyuga Kaya? How Japanese Shops Grade Kaya Go Boards by Origin
- Can an Old Go Board Be Repaired? Resurfacing (Kezuri-naoshi) and Re-lining (Memori-naoshi) Explained
- Legged or Tabletop Shogi Board? Posture, Sound, Space and Care — Decide by Where It Will Live
- Selling or Valuing an Inherited Japanese Go or Shogi Board: The Four Things an Appraiser Looks At, and What Not to Do First
- A First Shogi Set for a Child: Which Board and Pieces to Start With, and When to Move Up
- Choosing a Tabletop Shogi Board: One-Piece or Joined, How Thick, and Which Komadai Goes With It
- Why Two Hon-kaya Go Boards Can Differ So Much in Price: Grain Cut, Thickness, Origin and Flaws
- Why Shogi Boards Cost So Much More Than Each Other: Wood, Thickness, Cut and Finish
- Giving a Japanese Go or Shogi Board as a Gift: Engraving, the Right Thickness, and the Box It Comes In
- Komadai and Komabako: Choosing a Shogi Piece Stand and Piece Box to Match Your Board
- What the Professionals Play On: Boards, Shogi Pieces and Go Stones in Japanese Title Matches
These are all the English guides published so far. The rest of the library is currently available in Japanese.