Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Jan 8, 2024 04:11 PM UTC:
174. Yaksha. This is a piece that's fascinated me since I first saw it listed on Wikipedia's List of Fairy Chess Pieces, initially because of the name (it's the only piece I've come across whose name starts with Y) but also because of the concept of what a yaksha actually is: a guardian nature spirit in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
In this site's page on Taikyoku Shogi, the game from that Wikipedia cites as this piece's origin, it's called a Night Sword.
The Yaksha moves one space directly backward or diagonally forward, or slides up to three spaces sideways. (fFbWsW3)
The Yaksha being a guardian spirit is fitting, as it's mainly a lateral mover and so works best as a defensive piece.
The piece's appearance is actually what hung me up for so many months. I finally just took a look at the various yaksha statues I found in an image search on Bing, and did (or, rather, attempted) something similar to those. Also, unintentionally, the figure also works for the Night Sword name.
174. Yaksha. This is a piece that's fascinated me since I first saw it listed on Wikipedia's List of Fairy Chess Pieces, initially because of the name (it's the only piece I've come across whose name starts with Y) but also because of the concept of what a yaksha actually is: a guardian nature spirit in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
In this site's page on Taikyoku Shogi, the game from that Wikipedia cites as this piece's origin, it's called a Night Sword.
The Yaksha moves one space directly backward or diagonally forward, or slides up to three spaces sideways. (fFbWsW3)
The Yaksha being a guardian spirit is fitting, as it's mainly a lateral mover and so works best as a defensive piece.
The piece's appearance is actually what hung me up for so many months. I finally just took a look at the various yaksha statues I found in an image search on Bing, and did (or, rather, attempted) something similar to those. Also, unintentionally, the figure also works for the Night Sword name.