Taku Morishita was born in Kokura, Kitakyushu on July 10, 1966. In September 1978, he entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū under guidance of shogi professional. He was promoted to the 1-dan in June 1981, and obtained professional status and the rank of 4-dan in September 1983.
Shogi professional
In 1985, Morishita advanced to the championship match of the 16th tournament, but lost to Keita Inoue 2 games to 1. Five years later in October 1990, Morishita faced in the championship match of 21st Shinjin-Ō tournament, winning 2 games to 1 for his first tournament championship as a professional. The following year, Morishita met Toshiyuki Moriuchi in the championship match of the 22nd Shinjin-Ō tournament, but lost 2 games to none. Morishita made his first appearance in a major title match in 1990 when he challenged Nobuyuki Yashiki for the 57th Kisei title, but lost the match 3 games to 1. In 1991, Morishita earned the right to challenge Koji Tanigawa for the 4th Ryūō title. Game 1 was played in Bangkok and ended in :Shogi#Impasse|impasse. The match was tied at two wins apiece after five games, but Tanigawa won the next two games to defend his title 4 games to 2. In 2007, Morishita defeated Moriuchi to win the 28th tournament. The following year he defeated Kōichi Fukaura to win the 29th Nihon Series tournament and repeat as champion. In August 2010, Morishita defeated Takeshi Kawakami in a preliminary round game of the 4th tournament to become the fourteenth professional shogi player to win 800 official games.
The promotion history for Morishita is as follows:
1978: 6-kyū
1981: 1-dan
1983, September 21: 4-dan
1987, January 14: 5-dan
1989, October 3: 6-dan
1992, July 10: 7-dan
1994, April 1: 8-dan
2003, December 12: 9-dan
Titles and other championships
Morishita has appeared in major title matches a total of six times, but has not won any major titles. He has, however, won eight non-major shogi championships during his career.
Awards and honors
Morishita has received a number of awards and honors throughout his career for his accomplishments both on an off the shogi board. These include the Annual Shogi Awards given out by the JSA for performance in official games as well as other JSA awards for career accomplishments.
Morishita has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's a number of times since 1993.
Year
Amount
Rank
1995
¥34,100,000
4th
1997
¥31,480,000
5th
1999
¥21,440,000
9th
2000
¥18,820,000
10th
2001
¥18,180,000
10th
2002
¥23,710,000
10th
2004
¥17,850,000
9th
2006
¥19,890,000
10th
Note: All amounts are given in Japanese yen and include prize money and fees earned from official tournaments and games held from January 1 to December 31.
