The board used in shogi is a grid of nine squares by nine squares. Each player starts with 20 wedge-shaped pieces, called koma, on which the name of the piece is inscribed in kanji (Chinese characters).

The names and number of the pieces, in ascending order of importance, are: fu (pawn; 9), kyosha (lance; 2), keima (knight; 2), gin (silver general; 2), kin (gold general; 2), kaku (bishop; 1), hisha (rook; 1) and gyoku (king; 1).

In play, though both sides' pieces look identical, each player's pieces are always aligned with their wedge-end forward.