Shogi Board Sizes, and How They Differ From a Go Board

日本語版：将棋盤のサイズはどう見るのか →

Shogi and go boards are made by the same craftsmen, from the same woods, using the same lacquer techniques — and they are not interchangeable. They are different sizes, and the thickness is described in two different unit systems that appear side by side in the same catalogue.

The two boards, measured

	Length	Width	Grid
Shogi board	1 shaku 2 sun — about 36 cm	1 shaku 1 sun — about 33 cm	9×9 = 81 squares
Go board	1 shaku 5 sun — about 45.5 cm	1 shaku 4 sun — about 42.5 cm	19×19 lines

Neither board is square. Both are longer than they are wide, because the players sit on opposite sides — the board is shaped for the viewing angle, not for geometry.

Thickness: sun and go, in the same listing

Board thickness is written in sun (寸) or in go (号), and sellers switch between them freely:

5 sun = 50 go ≈ 15 cm

If a listing says “50” without a unit, it is not a model number. It is the thickness.

For legged shogi boards the range runs from 2 sun to 9 sun, and boards used for title matches are typically 6–7 sun — around 20 cm of solid wood.

Tabletop shogi boards are numbered differently again

Tabletop boards use their own size numbers:

Size	Top surface
4-go	30 cm × 26 cm
5-go and above	33 cm × 30 cm, with thickness increasing by number

So from 5-go upward the playing surface stops growing and only the thickness changes. If you are buying for a small table, the jump from 5-go to 7-go costs you height and weight, not playing area — worth knowing before paying for the larger number.

What carries over from go boards

The wood and the line-making are shared. Hon-kaya versus shin-kaya applies identically, and the grid on a serious shogi board is raised lacquer laid by the same methods — see how the lines are made. Thickness affects resonance and stability the same way on both — see board thickness.

What does not carry over is size. A go board will not serve as a shogi board, and the reverse is worse.

Sources. Shogi board dimensions, the 9×9 grid, legged thickness range 2–9 sun, title-match boards at 6–7 sun, and the tabletop 4-go / 5-go sizes: Japanese Wikipedia, 将棋盤. Go board dimensions and the sun/go thickness equivalence (5 sun = 50 go ≈ 15 cm): Kyoto Tengudo. Checked 2026-08-18. We do not stock boards, but we can order them from Japan for you (see Ordering from overseas); confirm dimensions with the seller.