The Fourteen-Year-Old Prodigy and the "Hifumin" Smile: The Life of Hifumi Katō
Even his name seems made for the game. Hifumi Katō—the characters read "one-two-three"—is almost too perfectly named for a man clearly born to push wooden pieces around a board.
Born on New Year's Day, 1940, he became a professional shogi player at just fourteen. At an age when most people are merely trying to survive the daily grind of middle school, he was already sitting across a board, locked in serious combat with grown men. For decades after, he kept fighting at the very highest level.
But in telling the story of Hifumi Katō, one must never forget the gap between the face of that ferocious competitor and the beaming "Hifumin" smile that appears the instant a game ends.
A Professional at Fourteen
Hifumi Katō turned professional at fourteen. That single fact alone tells you he was no ordinary person. While children his own age were still immersed in play and school life, he was at the board, holding his own against adults who staked everything on reading move after move.
The word "prodigy" gets thrown around too easily, but in the face of this record even that word feels light. It was not merely his early bloom, but his endurance—staying on the front line for decades afterward—that revealed his true greatness.
The Demon of Deep Thought
At the board, Hifumi Katō looked like a different man. Groaning low, taking long stretches of time to read out the moves, he carried an almost frightening intensity. Long, deep contemplation—that bottomless focus before the board—became one of his trademarks.
In a world of true competition, he searched relentlessly, without compromise, for the best move. It was that very stance that pushed him to the summit and led to his many honors. Before the board, he was a severe competitor, a stranger to smiles.
"Hifumin" Away From the Board
And yet, the moment a game ended and he stepped away from the board, Katō's expression transformed completely. That broad, beaming grin. He loved to talk, to laugh, to eat—beloved on television, he came to be widely known by the affectionate nickname "Hifumin."
The taut demon at the board and the warm, friendly grandpa away from it. This enormous swing is what keeps drawing people to him. After retiring he flourished as a television personality, radiating a carefree brightness that seems impossible for a man who fought decades of brutal battles.
A Wealth of Honors
The honors Hifumi Katō received speak to the weight of his life. The Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2000, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, in 2018. Alongside shogi-world recognitions such as the Shogi Honor Award (1977) and the Shogi Honor Fighting Spirit Award (1982), he was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2022.
These decorations are public proof of the magnitude of what he gave to the culture of shogi. And yet, even lining them all up, his true value seems to lie somewhere else entirely.
The Medal with Purple Ribbon, the title of Person of Cultural Merit—splendid, of course. But that a man who waged uncompromising, all-out battles for decades could remain, to the very end, a warm and approachable presence—that way of living may be worth more than any decoration.
The fourteen-year-old prodigy has, with the years, become the most charming grandpa of all. The appeal of Hifumi Katō lives in that unwavering smile.