is a Japanese

professional shogi player 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 playe ...

ranked 8- dan.

Early life and apprenticeship

Urano was born in

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

on March 14, 1964. In October 1977, he was accepted into entered the

Japan Shogi Association The , or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materia ...

's apprentice school at the rank of 6-

kyū is a Japanese language, Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony, ikebana, flower arranging, Go (game), Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, leve ...

under the tutelage of shogi professional . He was promoted to 1-dan in 1990 and obtained full professional status and the rank of 4-dan in October 1983.

Shogi professional

Urano won his 400th game as a professional in February 2005. In March 2017, Urano voluntarily declared himself as a '' free class'' player, thus leaving the Meijin tournament league. During the 75th Meijin Class C2 League season (April 2016March 2017), Urano lost all ten of his games and received a demotion point as a result. This was a continuation of a series of poor results in Meijin Class League play73rd Meijin Class C1 (1 win and 9 losses) and 74th Meijin Class C1 (2 wins and 8 losses)and rather than risk automatic demotion to free class play, Urano decided to do so of his own accord.

Promotion history

The promotion history for Urano is as follows: * 6-

: 1977 * 1-dan: 1980 * 4-dan: October 19, 1983 * 5-dan: April 1, 1987 * 6-dan: April 1, 1989 * 7-dan: April 1, 1996 * 8-dan: September 14, 2012

Awards and honors

In 2008, Urano received the Japan Shogi Association's "25 Years Service Award" for being an active professional for twenty-five years.

Published works

Urano has authored several books and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s on shogi strategy and tsume shogi; some of these are as follows. * * *

References

External links

* Japan Shogi Associatio
official profile page
* ShogiHub
Urano, Masahiko
* * Tiny dictionary of Shogi proverb

* How to study shogi to become a Shoda

Japanese shogi players Japan Shogi Association players Free class shogi players Living people Shogi players from Osaka Prefecture 1964 births {{shogi-stub