Double Taisei: Tucker Report

Tucker's episode notes (including name pronunciation/meaning) for our Double Taisei episode

NOTES

Author: 福田健太郎 ----- Fukude Kentarou

~Shares the 太 kanji with Tai (it’s pronounced “ta” in the author’s name)

~Pretty easy pronunciation wise, but the “rou” at the end is the long version of “ro” (common at the end of men’s given names….it’s exactly the same as Joutarou (Jotaro)’s name, except that it has “ken” (health) instead of “jou” (hear/receive/inherit))

Title: Futari no Taisei,ふたりの太星

• Taisei pronounced “Thai-Say”
• Taisei written with the characters for fat/plump (actually very common kanji in male names...it’s the “ta” in Joutarou in Jojo, for example) and the character for star/planet
• 太 also in the Japanese word for sun, 太陽 “taiyou”
• However, “Taisei” is also a homonym (pronounced the same) with several Japanese words….体制 meaning structure/order/system….態勢 meaning attitude/preparedness……….大成 meaning accomplishment/attainment of greatness or success (and more, but these seem the most relevant)
• Title literally means “The Two Taisei(s)”...
• Actually, you could also interpret it as “The Sun and Stars Duo”
  • (Tai-sei could be a stylized way of referring to the two personalities as a duo, and it’s also a reference to “sun” and “star”)
  • “Futari” just means “two people”

Characters:

• Tendou Taisei 天童太星
  • Family name “Tendou” .means “the movement of heaven”.....pronounced the same as the ten-dou in ‘Nintendou”/Nintendo, but spelt with a different .......probably emphasizes the sun/stars imagery in his given name(s) (“heaven” also referring to the sky and heavenly bodies)
  • Actually, seems that family name is also  reference to the city Tendō, which is most famous for producing traditional wooden shogi pieces
• Tai Tendo
  • Written with the first character for “sun” (see title notes)
• Sei Tendo
  • Written with character for “star” (see title notes
• Kanade Harukawa 春川 奏
  • Name doesn’t appear to have any special significance
  • 
    

Other things:

• About Shogi/shougi
  • Written as 将棋, the characters for “commander/general” and “chess/game piece”
  • A distant cousin of our Western game of chess...all comes from the same ancient Persian strategy game (The English word “checkmate” comes from the Persian phrase “shah mot,” meaning “the king is dead”)
  • The game spread across the world and changed form as it spread over time and to different areas. Spread to the north into Russia, becoming Western chess. However, it also spread eastward into India, then further east into China, and then into Japan, eventually becoming modern shogi.
• Rules and Features:
• Objective the same as chess: checkmate the king piece so it cannot move without getting killed the next turn.

Pieces:

• King, knight, rook, bishop, and pawn can move exactly like their chess counterparts. (Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces)
• Lance can only move forward, but can do so any number of squares until they hit an obstacle
• Gold generals can move one square in any direction except to the  squares to the back-left and back-right (can move directly backwards, though)
• Silver generals can move one square in any direction except directly to the left, right, or directly behind.
• Pieces set up differently at beginning of game than in chess (two lines with a row between them consisting only of one bishop and rook)
• Other rules/features:
  • Promotion: pieces can be promoted if reaching the other side of the board (the three rows closest the opponent). Pieces become upgraded versions…
    • Silver gen., knight, lance, and pawn gain movement of gold general
    • Rooks and bishops can move like normal, but they can also choose to move one square in any direction, like a king.
    • Kings, gold generals, and already-promoted pieces cannot be promoted
  • Drops: If you capture an enemy’s piece, you can use it as your own! You can decide to not move your pieces during your turn and instead drop a captured piece anywhere on the board. This piece is unpromoted, faces the opponent, and does not get promoted by being dropped in the promotion zone (can be promoted on a later turn, though).
    • Drop restrictions: A few pieces cannot be dropped into some squares because they would have no more legal moves they could make the next turn; a pawn can’t be placed into the same column as another one of your unpromoted pawns; pawns cannot be dropped on a square that would result in an immediate checkmate (but other types of pieces can!)
  • Resignation: most games end with a player resigning before a checkmate happens. High-level players can tell numerous turns beforehand that the current situation will definitely result in their defeat, so they announce that they resign and the match ends