Pawn - Almost worthless
The pawn is the weakest piece in Shogi. It moves only a single square forward and can only attack the square directly in front of it. Unlike in Chess the pawn cannot capture on diagonals nor can it move two squares on the first move.
Upon reaching the promotion zone, the pawn promotes to a "tokin" and gains the powers of a gold general.
Pawns also have restrictions on drops. First, a pawn cannot be dropped onto a column that contains another unpromoted pawn owned by the same player. Second, a checkmate must not result from a pawn drop, it may result from dropping any other piece just not pawns. You can drop a pawn then move it into checkmate on the next turn.
The pawn and promoted pawn.
Upon reaching the promotion zone, the pawn promotes to a "tokin" and gains the powers of a gold general.
Pawns also have restrictions on drops. First, a pawn cannot be dropped onto a column that contains another unpromoted pawn owned by the same player. Second, a checkmate must not result from a pawn drop, it may result from dropping any other piece just not pawns. You can drop a pawn then move it into checkmate on the next turn.