Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 4 - Chapter Aft

FOR THE AFTERWORD: LAYING OUT A WHITE CLOTH

The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done has won the Shogi Pen Club’s 28th Literary Award.

It may not be the most well-known award for literature, but Shogi Pen Club has a long and prestigious history with yearly winners since the organization was founded in 1987.

Every work they’ve selected in the past is outstanding. But this is the first time a light novel has won …… It’s such an illustrious award that part of me wonders if light novels should be considered in the first place.

When the finalists were announced, I distinctly remember shouting, “What?! Is this okay?!” in surprise at seeing my own work on the list.

Since the main criteria for consideration is that the content must be related to Shogi, The Ryuo … qualifies. However, light novels depend a great deal on illustrations so the fact that manga isn’t considered for the award made me nervous about how my work would be received by the selection committee …… They would need to get past the fact that elementary school girls play a big part in the story as well …… Ryuo was selected in the end, but the announcement hadn’t been made when I was writing this afterword. I was looking forward to it, but also anxious ……

I’d like to take a moment to go into more detail about the Shogi Pen Club. First, there’s the Literary Award that I won, but they also give out awards for Technical and Journalism categories as well.

The Technical Award is given to books called Kisho, basically Shogi textbooks. Therefore, most of the winners were written by professional Shogi players. On a side note, I bought quite a few of them for my own research …… But I’m ashamed to admit I couldn’t make heads or tails of them.

The reason someone with zero Shogi skill like me was able to write a story revolving around the sport is thanks entirely to Shogi journalists.

Just like how the Shogi Pen Club has a category specifically for them, articles form the core of Shogi journalism. The club itself was created with the intent of improving the quality of Shogi articles, so it’s safe to say that Shogi journalists are the real stars in the Shogi Pen Club Awards.

So, what are these articles?

Please take a moment to flip through a Japanese newspaper if you have one handy. The Shogi section should be in the middle somewhere. It’s common for there to be pieces set out on a Shogi board with an explanation of why a player decided to make a certain move next to a Go diagram in a set. These explanations, which carefully dissect a match over several days, are Shogi articles.

Oniroku Dan-sensei described it this way: “If match records left behind by Shogi players are the script, it’s the Shogi journalist’s job as a writer to make it into a movie.”

Average people can’t watch a professional Shogi match and understand what’s going on.

An even bigger problem is that average people don’t have an opportunity to watch a professional match with their own eyes.

It’s Shogi journalists who make professional Shogi easy to understand and use their literary talents to recreate the tension in the arena with words.

Shogi journalists do many jobs these days such as updating live blogs during title matches and writing about match records. Others have branched out even further to covering interviews with professional Shogi players and immortalizing Shogi history in books ……

A Shogi journalist named Mato made her full debut in Volume 4, but real journalists write using pen names rather than their actual names. They’re much more mysterious than the Shogi players in the spotlight, but it’s through their work that fans like me get their first taste of the Shogi world.

The first time I got to see them in action was when I attended the Mynavi Women’s Open Preliminary Matches to do research.

It came up in this book, but the presence of a live audience makes these matches unique.

Since everyday Shogi fans can watch the matches unfold up close and personal, I joined them with my memo pad in hand and heart beating a mile a minute waiting for the matches to get underway …… But when I happened to spot someone holding a laptop next to the match recorder who was busily wiping down the board and polishing each piece, and recognized him as a journalist, I got so excited that I shouted, “That’s Mr. OOOO!!” In my head, of course.

About my age, what was particularly great about this journalist, other than his superb writing ability, was his vast Shogi knowledge and his willingness to use it. His work inspired so many scenes in my head that I (one-sidedly) consider him to be a contributor to the story.

From that point on, my focus was squarely on him.

I wasn’t about to let this golden opportunity to see what Shogi journalists do behind-the-scenes go to waste and became the only fan in attendance looking in that direction.

Thanks to that, I gained something extremely valuable.

The Shogi journalist sat next to the match recorder close to the board and opened the laptop to start blogging the match in real time …… Then he did something strange.

He laid a white cloth over the keyboard.

I knew what it was for immediately. Typing would make clicking noises during the match. This white cloth was meant to muffle the sound so the players could concentrate.

When I saw that, all of the blogs I’d read through up to that point … all the paragraphs I’d thought of as just robotic drawl about the matches suddenly had a heartbeat.

It was just a piece of cloth, but all of the emotion it represented brought a new layer of intensity to everything I’d read.

The Shogi world I write about is fictional with its characters inspired by various players and my own imagination. What I’m trying to say is that my characters aren’t modeled from real people.

That being said, it wouldn’t be right for me to write whatever I want about the Shogi world.

I’ve learned so much about the game and episodes involving individual players from Shogi journalists.

Using that information, I have to figure out how to strike a chord with readers using Shogi and the players. That’s how I work.

What I have in common with people who read Shogi articles is a love for the game.

Everyone wants others to treat what they love with care and respect. However, that doesn’t mean I can just paint players in a beautiful light and be done with it. Playing a match will always produce one winner and one loser. I shouldn’t hide the agony of defeat, nor how the defeated feels about the victor and I should clearly show the reader if there was any foul play.

I can’t afford to forget a certain feeling when writing these scenes. Seeing that white cloth laying across the keyboard gave me a small sense of it.

Should I ever get so caught up in my own literary skills that I forget to be grateful to Shogi and everyone involved in the game, I will have forgotten the most important thing Shogi journalists have taught me. Anything I write would be worthless and wouldn’t strike a chord with anyone.

So, that’s why–––

Whenever I sit down to type at my work computer, I visualize laying out a white cloth over my keyboard.

I plan on continuing the story with my love of Shogi and a strong respect for its players close to my heart.

…… In any case, I won an award from the Shogi Pen Club!

Unlike many of my contemporaries, I didn’t win any Up-and-Coming Author type awards when I first started out and I might’ve had of a bit of an inferiority complex. I just sort of kept going and wound up a professional writer. So I’m overjoyed.

But what makes me even more happy is that a surprisingly large number of people have enjoyed reading The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done.

Back when I was younger, my awardless inferiority complex was contorting my mind and making me say things like, “I didn’t get into this business to win awards. I’d quit if someone gave me one!” …… But having my work recognized like this and seeing people who’ve supported me along the way be happy for me makes me glad I decided to write it.

Hirotaka Nozuki, who has appeared in all of my afterword segments so far, said he “couldn’t be happier if he’d won the award himself.” …… Thank you so much. I’ll keep working hard to make you proud.

I have met so many people through this series since Volume 1 hit shelves.

Shogi fans will stop me at events and say, “I read your book.” I was so surprised when I went to watch a soccer game, and someone came up to me and said, “Actually, I like Shogi too.”

Shogi has a strange power, and I’ve been reminded of that almost every day.

The reason I’ve been able to write a story so many people have enjoyed is all thanks to my supervisors at Saiyuki. I couldn’t do it without you!

They’ve also been supervising the manga version along with my light novels, so I believe it’s an accurate, high-quality representation of Shogi as well.

With Kogeta-sensei’s artwork and all of Kazuki-sensei’s youthful energy going into its design, I’m sure they’ll build on the novel’s good parts and take out the bad (haha). Professional player Koru Abe may have said something along the lines of “it’s interesting” during an appearance on Nico Live ……?

The world of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done just keeps getting bigger. I hope you stick around and enjoy!