Ryuo-sen
The Ryuo-sen is an annual title tournament hosted by Yomiuri Shimbun in cooperation with the Japan Shogi Association. It is the successor to the Judan title tournament and began in 1988. The current Ryuo title holder is Sota Fujii.
The qualifiers consist of six class bracket tournaments and one challenger-deciding bracket tournament. In each class bracket a number of players qualify for the challenger-deciding bracket based on who wins the main elimination bracket: one for each of classes 4 to 6, two in class 2 (the winner and runner-up) and five in class 1, the three remaining spots decided by placement brackets. The placement of each qualifier determines their place on the challenger-deciding bracket.
Remaining players then compete in promotion brackets to determine who will promote along with the main winner and runner-up. For class 1 those who lose first at the selection bracket for fifth place(and the last finalist spot) demote while in class 2 and 3 the first losers of their promotion brackets demote, for class 4 and 5 the first loser of their promotion brackets compete in a demotion bracket consisting of individual head-to-heads and whoever loses gets demoted.
The challenger deciding tournament ends in a best-of-three match against the two remaining finalists.
| Class | Capacity | Number of qualifying finalists | Promotions | Demotions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 5 (winner, 2nd-5th placers) | 4 (two losses, 5th place bracket first losers) | ||
| 2 | 16 | 2 (winner, runner-up) | 4 (finalists and two promotion bracket winners) | 4 (promotion bracket first losers) | |
| 3 | 16 | 1 (winner) | 4 (finalist, runner-up and two promotion bracket winners) | 4 (promotion bracket first losers) | |
| 4 | 32 | 1 (winner) | 4 (finalist, runner-up and two promotion bracket winners) | 4 (residual player demotion bracket losers) | |
| 5 | 32 | 1 (winner) | 4 (finalist, runner-up and two promotion bracket winners) | 4 (residual player demotion bracket losers) | |
| 6 | Everyone not in classes 1-5 | 1 (winner) | 4 (finalist, runner-up and two promotion bracket winners) | Includes up to 4 female professionals, 1 Shorekai 3-dan and 4 amateurs. |