Shogi opening

Double Static Rook opening
☖ pieces in hand: 角
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香  金   桂香1
 飛   王金  2
歩 桂銀歩歩銀歩歩3
  歩歩  歩  4
 歩     歩 5
  歩  歩歩  6
歩歩銀歩歩銀桂 歩7
  金玉 金 飛 8
香桂      香9
☗ pieces in hand: 角
Both players are using a Static Rook opening against each other in which the rook (飛) attacks along its starting files (file 2 and file 8). This particular popular opening is known as Bishop Exchange since the bishops have been exchanged off the board so that both players have their bishop in hand for dropping at strategic places later in the game. This board position is after 26 moves (or 13 move pairs).

A shogi opening (戦法 senpō) is the sequence of initial moves of a shogi game before the middle game. The more general Japanese term for the beginning of the game is joban (序盤).

A jōseki (定跡) is the especially recommended sequence of moves for a given opening that was considered balanced play at one point in time for both sides by professional players. (However, some jōsekis have become outdated when they are reevaluated to no longer give balanced play.) Jōsekis also typically include commentary about the possible reasons to deviate from the jōseki especially regarding blunders.

Note that not all openings have jōsekis. For example, trap openings like Demon Slayer, while they may have standard moves, are considered to favor one player and are not balanced play. Thus, the Demon Slayer opening is not a jōseki.