Professional shogi player

Professional shogi players, Yoshiharu Habu and Akira Watanabe, in 2014 with women's professional player Aya Fujita as timekeeper and (former) apprentice professional Naoto Kawasaki as game recorder
Professional shogi players at a human shogi [ja] exhibition match in Himeji, Japan in 2018. From left to right: Toshiaki Kubo, Keita Inoue, Masakazu Wakamatsu, Tetsurō Itodani, Akira Inaba, Shinobu Iwane, and Rei Takedomi.

A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 shōgi kishi or プロ棋士 puro kishi "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players.

There are two categories of professional players: regular professional and women's professional. All regular professional shogi players are members of the Japan Shogi Association (JSA). However, only regular professional players, who are as of yet all male, are considered to be full-fledged members. Women's professional players belong to groups distinct from regular professional players. In Japanese, the term 棋士 kishi only refers to regular professional players to the exclusion of women's professionals, who are termed 女流棋士 joryū kishi.