White shogi piece

☖ marks the player who moves second in shogi, the Japanese chess game. In a written game record, it identifies that player's moves. The hollow shape represents a shogi piece; the actual pieces are not divided into black and white sets.

Text symbol

What ☖ means

It introduces a move by gote, the second player.

A shogi game record is called a kifu. ☖ identifies gote's moves, while identifies sente's, the player who moves first. These are player labels throughout the game, not instructions to change whose turn it is.

The pointed shape explains how shogi pieces work

Shogi is a Japanese strategy game in which each player aims to checkmate the opponent's king. Its flat, five-sided pieces carry characters identifying their rank. Both players use pieces of the same color: the pointed end faces the opponent, showing which side a piece belongs to.

Captured pieces can return to the board as part of the capturing player's army. Turning a piece around makes its new allegiance visible. ☖ shows the general outline, not a particular rank such as a pawn or king.

Part of the collection

♠️

Card, Chess & Dice Symbols

Don't confuse it with

☗

Black Shogi Piece

The filled shogi piece marks sente, the player who moves first.

⛉

Turned White Shogi Piece

⛉ is the same outline shogi piece turned upside down. ☖ points up and marks gote's moves.

Combination ideas

Gote, the second player, moves a pawn to 3-4.

Classic shogi opening: both sides open their bishop diagonals.

Gote pushes the rook-file pawn to 8-4.

Worth knowing

Five-sided shogi pieces found with a wooden tablet dated 1058 are among Japan's oldest surviving examples. Earlier variants differed in pieces and rules; the smaller modern game became established in the 15th–16th centuries.