3-gatsu no Lion 81

Ok, after a long break here's the next one! I'm almost done with V8 now. I'm really gonna try to keep up at least one a week on this series until it's caught up with the volumes in Japan. It's taken a reaaaalllly long time at this point.

[3-Gatsu no Lion 81 Translation by Kewl0210]
Page 125:
Title: Chapter 81
Burnt Field (3)

Page 126:
SFX: KAH
Shima: 1-2 Gin...?!
Ni: Huh?
What about the kaku?
He's not withdrawing the kaku?
Rei: .........
I get it.
We were wrong...
what Yanagihara-san is looking at is past that...

Page 127:
Rei: 2-5 Kou!!
Shima: If he drops there,
there's just
no way to defend!!
He's good...
This guy's the oldest active player?
You're kidding, right?
How the hell is he this damn good?
What do I do here?

Page 128:
Shima: ----What...?
SFX: TANN
SFX: SU...
SFX: PASHIIH
Rei: There it is!
2-5 Kou!!
Ni: A 2-5 Kou!!
What's anijya gonna do?!
Shima: Amen...
SFX: KAHH

Page 129:
Guys: 1-4 Kaku!!
He defended with the kaku he just captured?!
But now...
No, actually
that move...
SFX: ZAWA ZAWA (Chatter)
Rei: really was good?
----No, actually
the only thing he had to defgend the 2-3 point
was this kaku exchange!!
Yana: He dropped the kaku without hesitation...
However
it was a good decision.

Page 130:
Gotou: You can just leave Shimada alone. He'll start winning again on his own.
Yana: ----That's right, Gotou.
It's just like you said.
He dully,
soberly,
unflaggingly built himself up.
and came back one layer thicker.
---That's how he is.
He's a zelkova tree.
He can only grow larger at a slow rate, and in exchange
he endures wind and rain
to grow into a hard, huge, tree.

Page 131:
Yana: Then what am I?
What do I resemble?
----Yeah.
I dunno.
There are no predecessors left
to compare me to anyone.

Page 132:
Yana: ----Huh?
Goddamit.
Oh no, my mind is drifting off in the middle of a game...
..My hips hurt.
And my eyes are going hazy.
----Wait, no
I'm feeling much better than usual.
----That first game, now that was awful.
'Senile pneumonia'...
I thought I was gonna die.
That was pretty good, winning with that.
Handwritten: PUH...
Yana: Oh, uh-oh, he's glaring at me.
Handwritten: Now that's scary...
Yana: You don't need to make that face,
you're still ahead.
You're...

Page 133:
Yana: -----That's right. I'm
losing, aren't I?
SFX: BUWAH
Bars: ----I've been thinking about it forever.
If I had shogi taken from me,
what do I have left......?

Page 134:
Announcer: From that 2-5 Kou, Yanagihara Kishou's attack
has been overturned by Shimada Kai 8-dan's defense
who has now taken the advantage.
Will he finally get his long sought-after first title?!
Board: Kishou Champtionship
Game 5
Announcer: ---With all the pressure SHimada 8-dan has put on him,
is Yanagihara Kishou showing greater signs of strain?
It feels as though he is fighting a tough battle and is unable to concentrate.
Yanagihara Kishou
With the title of 'Eternal Kishou', requiring a total of 10 wins,
just one step away...
will his hand...
just not reach?
Guys: Saku-chan.
...Is this the end?
He...
He just needs one more win...
......No.
Saku-chan did well.
Actually
he did great to make it this far.
Guys: '---I'm retiring.'
'Saku-chan, they've decided I'm going down in rank.'
'It's hard to accept, but I'm going to look for another path.'
'Saku-chan, I just... I can't do it anymore...'
'I felt this was the best time to do it.'
'Saku-chan, I decided I'm going back to the country.'

Page 135:
Gan: It's scary.
It's scary, Saku-chan.
-----It's like
I'm standing in the middle of a burnt field...
Yana: -----No!!

Page 136:
Yana: I don't know,
but
this is one thing
I'm not
letting go of!!
I'm going to carry this
to the end!!
The final destination
of these people
that put everything they had into what they did

Page 137:
Yana: is not some
goddamn burnt field!!
SFX: KANNN
Shima: 1-7 Gyoku?!
He's raising his gyoku?!

Page 138:
SFX: KAHH
Guys: 1-6 Gyoku?!
HandwritteN: HUUUH?!!
Guys: I've never heard of that! 1-6 Gyoku, here?!!
In Bubble: Climbing Gyoku?!
Rei: What's going on?!
Yana: Given enough time
Guys: H... He-
had that move?!
Aaah!! But!!
Yana:a burnt field
Guys: ......Saku-chan...
Saku-chan.
Yana: will grow grass again, whether you want it to or not.
Guys: Saku-chan,
hang in there!

Page 139:
Shima: ----Yup!!
I have no move... to punish that with!!
Gramps,
that move
was way too young for you.
Yana: It will become
a field of greem.
And we'll look at it
together!!
Bottom: Chapter.81 E N D

Page 140:
Top Right Small: An article by Senzaki Manabu
Top Right Big: Senzaki Manabu's Lion Shogi Column
Big Right: Breathtaking Super-Heated Battles... What's Going on There?!
Article: Shogi is a living thing. You never know what'll happen if you don't try. And very frequently, a game where both players start off full of fighting spirit can end quickly with one side overwhelming the other.
Of course, the opposite also happens. When both sides use every trick at their disposal to turn it into a a super-heated battle. Those moments when either side could gain victory if the other leaves an opening, those super-heated battles when they both keep their balance and the battle rages on long-term are one of the big thrills of shogi and can be emotionally moving even for other pros. And fans are well aware that there's nothing as entertaining as endgames going on endlessly with time countdowns being read.
However, and I hate to put a damper on things like this, but super-heated battles do not necessarily make for great matches. Sometimes both sides being balanced means both sides are making bad moves. And these cases are overwhelmingly more common. That's just how it is.
But even knowing this, super-heated battles really make some sort of impression, don't they? Even including the mistakes, it's in the raw clash of two human beings. It's because you can feel the souls of the players in each and every move.
The 5th and final mtch of the Kishou Championship in Lion, the match between Yanagihara Kishou and Shimada 8-dan, was truly one of those matches where you could really see two souls clashing right on top of the board.
Such a match was the finals of the JT Cup Japan Series of Satou Yasumitsu-san and Gouda Masataka-san. This match played in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was open to the public and, this may not be the right word for it, but it was a heated match akin to slinging mud at one another. So much so that I forgot the work I was doing and went to watch it.
The Japan Series is a series of speed matches, but if this match was a rank-deciding match with 6 hours of available time, it would probably have gone to 2 in the morning. Because this one game of shogi ended up being a full 16 hours in length.
While 2 AM is rare, matches that go past 1AM happen year round. And in shogi, there is the special situation where the game is declared a tie due to repetition. And this results in the dreaded restart from the first move. Consequently, these matches always go late. Previously, the longest game was between Nakagawa Daisuke-san and Namekata Hisashi-san where they tied twice and the game ended at 9AM the next morning. I've fought all the way to 6AM myself. After the game, my mind was alert and I wasn't able to get to sleep for nearly an entire day.
The record for the longest match in moves used to be 390, but it has now grown to an astounding 560. It's not only mental strength, but physical stamina one needs to play shogi.