is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 9-dan. He is the current holder of the Kiō, Kisei, Meijin, Ōi, Ōshō and Ryūō titles, and a former holder of the Eiō and Ōza titles. He is the youngest person to be awarded professional status by the Japan Shogi Association and one of only five players to become professional while still a junior high school student.
Since becoming a professional, Fujii has broken a number of professional shogi records including being the youngest player to win a professional shogi tournament, the youngest player to challenge for a major title, the youngest player to win a major title, the youngest player to be a 2-crown title holder, the youngest player to defend a major title, the youngest player to be awarded the rank of 9-dan, the youngest to be a 3-crown title holder, the youngest to be a 4-crown title holder, the youngest to be a 5-crown title holder, the youngest to be a 6-crown title holder, the youngest to be a 7-crown title holder, the youngest to win the Meijin title, the youngest to win the Ōza title and becoming the first 8-crown title holder in professional shogi history. He also won his first 29 games as a professional to set a new record for most consecutive games won, and is also the first player to win all current non-title tournaments open to all professional shogi players in a single shogi year.
In July 2024, Fujii at age 21 years and 11 months became the youngest player to satisfy the criteria for becoming a "Lifetime Title Holder" when he qualified for the Lifetime Kisei title. The following month, he also qualified for the Lifetime Ōi title. In November 2025, he qualified for the Lifetime Ryūō title.
In 2025, Fujii became the first player to earn more than JPY 200 million in a single year.
Early life and amateur shogi Fujii was born in Seto, Aichi on July 19, 2002. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a company employee. He learned shogi at age five after being given a shogi set by his grandmother and started out playing games with his grandfather. Eventually he became too strong for his grandfather, so he started taking formal lessons at a neighborhood shogi school. As an elementary school student first-grade student, he began playing games against junior high school and senior high school students to test his skill.
Fujii's intense focus surprised his mother and his competitive spirit often led to crying outbursts when he lost. As a second-grade student, he got the opportunity to play a game against shogi professional Kōji Tanigawa as part of a simultaneous exhibition at a shogi event in Nagoya. Due to time limitations, Tanigawa offered Fujii a draw even though Fujii had a losing position. Upset by the offer, Fujii flipped the board and pieces, and then began crying until his mother came to take him away from the board.
Fujii was seven years old when he met his future professional shogi mentor Masataka Sugimoto for the first time. Sugimoto was amazed by the "marvelous perspective" and "insight" Fujii showed at such a young age and says that he is "the personification of fighting spirit" who "takes the frustration of defeat and directs it at the next match".
Shogi apprentice professional Fujii officially entered the shogi professional apprentice school as a 10-year-old under the sponsorship of Sugimoto with the rank of 6-kyū in September 2012. He became the youngest person ever to be promoted to 3-dan in October 2015 at the age of 13 years 2 months. Fujii competed in the "59th 3-dan league" with other 3-dan ranked apprentices from April to September 2017 and finished in first place with a 13–5 record to win promotion to the rank of professional 4-dan. He was only the eighth 3-dan player since 1987 to be promoted to professional status after only one season in the "3-dan league". Fujii's promotion to full professional status by the became official on October 1, 2017.
Shogi professional Notable results 20162017: Record breaking debut and early success Fujii's debut game as a professional was on December 24, 2016, and he defeated 76-year-old Hifumi Katō. Katō was at the time the oldest active shogi professional, and the age gap of 62 years and 6 months between the two players broke the previous record of 58 years and 7 months set in 1986 when 15-year-old Yoshiharu Habu played 74-year-old .
On April 4, 2017, Fujii defeated Hiroshi Kobayashi to win his 11th straight game since turning professional and break the previous record of 10 jointly held by Yoshiyuki Matsumoto and Masakazu Kondō.
Fujii won his 13th game in a row when he defeated Shōta Chida in the round one of the 67th NHK TV Shogi Tournament on April 17, 2017. The game result was posted the same day on the Japan Shogi Association's official website, even though the game was not broadcast on NHK-E until May 14, 2017. This is something which was highly unusual because NHK tournament games are pre-recorded, and game results are not made public until the game is actually broadcast.
Fujii became the fastest professional to reach 50 wins in official games on November 21, 2017, when he defeated Shingo Hirafuji. Fujii achieved his 50th win in his 56th official game in just ten months and twenty-nine days since his professional debut, surpassing the previous record held by Habu, who won his 50th game in his 66th game and took one year and two months.
29-game winning streak After defeating Katō to win his debut game, Fujii proceeded to win his next 28 official games before losing to Yūki Sasaki on July 2, 2017. His 29 consecutive wins broke the previous record of 28 set by Hiroshi Kamiya in 1987.
Opponents Game Date Opponent Note1 December 24, 2016 Hifumi Katō 9d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6). Defeats 76-year-old Katō in his debut game as a professional. 2 January 26, 2017 Takahiro Toyokawa 7d Kiō tournament (preliminary round) 3 February 9, 2017 Masahiko Urano 8d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6)4 February 23, 2017 Masahiko Urano 8d 67th NHK TV Shogi Tournament (preliminary round) 5 February 23, 2017 Kensuke Kitahama 8d 67th NHK TV Shogi Tournament (preliminary round)6 February 23, 2017 Yūgo Takeuchi 4d 67th NHK TV Shogi Tournament (preliminary round) 7 March 1, 2017 Kōzō Arimori 7d Ōshō tournament (preliminary round) 8 March 10, 2017 Takahiro Ōhashi 4d 48th Shinjin-Ō tournament 9 March 16, 2017 Kazuharu Shoshi 7d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6) 10 March 23, 2017 Takahiro Ōhashi 4d Kiō tournament (preliminary round) 11 April 4, 2017 Hiroshi Kobayashi 7d Ōshō tournament (preliminary round). Wins 11th straight game to set a new record for most consecutive wins since turning professional. 12 April 13, 2017 Yoshitaka Hoshino 4d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6) 13 April 17, 2017 Shōta Chida 6d 67th NHK TV Shogi Tournament (round 1) 14 April 26, 2017 Shingo Hirafuji 7d Kiō tournament (preliminary round) 15 May 1, 2017 Kōta Kanai 6d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6) 16 May 4, 2017 Daiki Yokoyama (amateur) 48th Shinjin-Ō tournament 17 May 12, 2017 Kazuhiro Nishikawa 6d Ōshō tournament (preliminary round) 18 May 18, 2017 Yugo Takeuchi 4d 19 May 25, 2017 Seiya Kondō 5d 30th Ryūō tournament (group 6: championship game) 20 June 2, 2017 Shingo Sawada 6d Kiō tournament (preliminary round: championship game) 21 June 7, 2017 Ryuuma Tonari 4d 22 June 7, 2017 Satoru Sakaguchi 5d Jōshū Yamada Cup 23 June 7, 2017 Hiroshi Miyamoto 5d Jōshū Yamada Cup. Wins 23rd consecutive game to move into third-place for most consecutive victories in a row. 24 June 10, 2017 Hirotaka Kajiura 4d Eiō (preliminary round) 25 June 10, 2017 Ryuuma Tonari 4d Eiō tournament (preliminary round). Defeats Tonari for the second time in three days to move into sole second place for most consecutive wins in a row. 26 June 15, 2017 Shōji Segawa 5d Meijin tournament (class C2) 27 June 17, 2017 Hayata Fujioka (amateur) 28 June 21, 2017 Shingo Sawada 6d Ōshō tournament (preliminary round). Defeats Sawada to tie Kamiya's record. 29 June 26, 2017 Yasuhiro Masuda 4d Defeats Masuda to set new record.
Impact Fujii's winning streak was widely covered by Japanese and overseas media outlets. His promotion to professional status and his subsequent success was viewed as helping the Japan Shogi Association recover from the scandal of the 29th Ryūō challenger controversy; a scandal which had ultimately led to the resignation of the 's president in January 2017, the removal of several directors in February 2017, and a general loss of public confidence.
Fujii's streak not only helped the recover from the aforementioned scandal, but also provided an economic boost as well. The streak led to increased sales of shogi books, and other merchandise, etc. as well as a general increase in shogi's popularity nationwide, particularly among young children. Local merchants in Fujii's hometown of Seto held commemorative sales to honor him for the streak and for his 15th birthday, and it was estimated almost 7.4 million people watched the live webcast of Fujii's record-setting victory. Sensu (folding hand fans) signed by Fujii were sold by the in both Tokyo and Osaka in an unusual move since such a thing is typically only reserved for major title holders; the fans, however, quickly sold out at both locations in less than an hour despite there being a limit set at one fan per person, with people lining up in advance to receive a numbered ticket to purchase a fan. Some of the fans sold subsequently showed up on online auction websites where bids up to JPY 15,600 were observed despite the original sale price of about JPY 2,300.
In December 2017, the estimated that the over all impact of Fujii's streak on its advertizing revenue had been roughly 18.5 billion yen. Fujii's first official game against a reigning major title holder came on January 14, 2018, when he defeated Meijin Amahiko Satō in the quarterfinals of the .
20182019: Meijin ranking league success and multiple tournament victories On February 1, 2018, Fujii defeated Hirotaka Kajiura in a Meijin Class C2 game to improve his league record to 9 wins and 0 losses and ensure his promotion to Meijin Class C1 in April 2018. Fujii's promotion to Class C1 also meant his promotion to the rank of 5-dan, thus making him the first junior high school student to ever be awarded the rank.
Fujii became the youngest player to win a professional shogi tournament on February 17, 2018, when he defeated Akihito Hirose in the final of the 11th Asahi Cup Open. Fujii advanced to the final by defeating the reigning Ryūō and Kisei title holder Yoshiharu Habu in the semi-finals held earlier that same day. Fujii's victory at age 15 years and 6 months broke the previous record of 15 years and 10 months set by Hifumi Katō in 1955. Fujii's victory also meant automatic promotion to the rank of 6-dan, thus making him the youngest player to ever be awarded such a rank by breaking the previous record (also held by Katō) of 16 years and 3 months.
On March 15, 2018, Fujii defeated Tatsuya Sanmaidō to finish Class 2 play undefeated at 10 wins and 0 losses. Fujii became the first player in six years to finish Class 2 play undefeated. The victory was Fujii's 15th in a row, which made him the holder of the two longest consecutive winning streaks for the 2017 shogi season. Fujii's victory was also his 60th victory overall in a single year which made him not only the 4th player ever to reach 60 wins, but also the youngest player ever to do so.