Gary Gifford wrote on Mon, May 8, 2006 11:41 PM UTC:
I thought it possible that the Duke witnessed a game of Shogi at some point
and therefore saw a Dragon King and added it as a Concubine to his game.
But then, why not also add a Dragon Horse?
If the Duke did witness Shogi,and it is purley conjecture, then he still
likely would not think of those other pieces (Marshall, Chancellors,
Amazons etc.)... if he had thought of them, surely he would have added
them? Of course, he might not have wanted to bother with extra piece
styles... but then the question remains, why 2 Concubines instead of 2
more Rooks? Even 2 more Queens would have been an improvement. The
mystery remains.