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A weekly Pokédex Podcast from Bald Man in Japan Luke Summerhayes. A different Pokémon family every week.
I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Pawniard.
I’m a pacifist and believer in a peaceful, Star Trek-like future. That said, it sometimes feels like war is an inherent part of the human condition. Children have played with toy soldiers made from wood, clay, metal or plastic for millennia. Adults have joined them in games like Shogi, Chess and later elaborate tabletop games like Warhammer or videogames of every kind.
Beyond that, war is not even unique to human beings. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, fight regularly between tribes. The scale is nothing like the horrors humans are capable of, more like gang violence, but the brutality is there. To see warfare on the scale of international human conflict, we have to look to insects. Ants can move incredible numbers of organized lines and swarms, forming bridges, working together and waging what can only be called war.
Chess originated in the Gupta empire in what is now Northern India, more than a thousand years ago. It spread from there to the Arab world and eventually Europe, China, Japan and the world. In every land where it became popular, it developed from a pastime into a metaphor and training tool for warfare, diplomatic relationships and all other clashes of wits. Armies of 16 pieces take turns to move on a black and white grid, taking enemy pieces as they seek to take the king.
Pawniard is a small, humanoid dark and steel type Pokémon with an insect-like exoskeleton that also resembles a suit of armour as worn by an Ashigaru, a non-samurai foot soldier from Japan’s medieval battlefields.
Shield
A pack of these Pokémon forms to serve a Bisharp boss. Each Pawniard trains diligently, dreaming of one day taking the lead.
Blades all over Pawniard’s body make it seem like a human soldier.
Black
Blades comprise this Pokémon's entire body. If battling dulls the blades, it sharpens them on stones by the river.
But their tactics of swarming enemies and pressing with their own bodies is more reminiscent of insects.
Black 2
Ignoring their injuries, groups attack by sinking the blades that cover their bodies into their prey.
White 2
The name Pawniard combines pawn, the lowest ranking piece in Chess and a name often given to one controlled by another, combined with suffix iard, found on weapons and nationalities and all sorts. The Japanese name is Komatama, combining the equivalent piece to a pawn in the Japanese game Shogi, and katana, the on-foot blade of the samurai.
Pawns, koma and ashigaru all have one thing in common; they stand below a leader of some kind. And so, inevitably, Pawniard can be promoted when, at level 52, it evolves into Pawniard.
Shogi is a board game played in Japan, which evolved from the same family as Chess. At first, it seems like a very similar game, with a king that moves one square and other pieces with move sets like chess pieces. The main difference is that rather than pieces of different shapes, there are pieces marked with different kanji characters. Shogi first emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries, a chaotic time of almost constant civil war in Japan. The Sengoku Jidai, or warring states period, was when most of the famous samurai and their stories emerged.
While later periods saw the samurai claim to be champions of honour with strict codes of conduct and loyalty, the reality of the period was that most samurai were mercenaries, willing to work for the lord most likely to win. Thanks to this influence, Shogi has a system of playing the opponents captured pieces on one’s own team, which makes it very difficult to apply chess knowledge to. Whenever I play against students, they absolutely destroy me using this mechanic.
Bisharp is a taller, more realistically human-proportioned warrior, still covered in blades and red armour.
White
Bisharp pursues prey in the company of a large group of Pawniard. Then Bisharp finishes off the prey.
While Bisharp is a leader, its power is not absolute. The Sengoku Jidai was infamous for Gekokujō, or the low toppling the high. Lowly warriors overthrew their lords and took power in many prefectures, with a humble ruler of a small fishing village called Edo eventually becoming the Shogun, that village now being Tokyo.
Black
It leads a group of Pawniard. It battles to become the boss, but will be driven from the group if it loses.
Sword
It's accompanied by a large retinue of Pawniard. Bisharp keeps a keen eye on its minions, ensuring none of them even think of double-crossing it.
Scarlet
This Pokémon commands a group of several Pawniard. Groups that are defeated in territorial disputes are absorbed by the winning side.
The name Bisharp combines Bishop, a more advanced chess piece, with sharp, as it has sharp blades all over its body. The Japanese name is Kirikizan, from the Japanese words for cutting and blades.
Violet
Bisharp mercilessly cuts its opponents to pieces with the sharp blades covering its body. It will do anything to win.
Bisharp’s blades translate to an incredibly high attack stat. It doesn’t have the highest speed ever but it makes do because it has the move Sucker Punch, which lets it strike first, and Knock Off to remove opponents’ items. Those moves, and the dark type generally, became even more effective in the sixth generation, but dropped off a little in the seventh and eighth.
By the ninth generation, Bisharp didn’t seem very strong any more. Luckily, a Bisharp with a Leader’s Crest can, by beating three other Bisharps which also hold that item, evolve into Kingambit.
Takeda Shingen is one of the most famous samurai of all time. Not only was he a big player in the battles which eventually saw the unification of Japan, before that his rivalry with fellow warrior Uesugi Kenshin is the stuff of legends. The two of them fought five battles for Kawanakajima, a fertile plane between two rivers in what is today Nagano City. I’m writing this less than hour’s walk from the memorial dedicated to that sight, where a statue captures the crucial moment when Uesugi, on horseback, broke through to where Takeda was sitting giving orders, striking at him with a sword. Takeda had only a war fan to defend himself with, but blocked the attack and survived.
Perhaps because of this incident, the famous image of Takeda Shingen sees him sat in full red armour on a stall, surveying the field of battle and giving orders. Kingambit closely resembles this figure, with similar red and gold armour, along with blades that form the famous horns of Takeda’s helmet and the moustache on his face.
Scarlet
Only a Bisharp that stands above all others in its vast army can evolve into Kingambit.
ANDY
The real Takeda Shingen was a gifted leader, able to take his clan and succeed in conquering Shinano, the area in which I now live. He was a tactician and a mighty warrior, but also the last of an old kind of honorable fighter. He and his great rival, Uesugi Kenshin, had a kind of mutual respect. In one incident, when the Takeda were besieged by an enemy through means of a salt embargo, Uesugi, arranged to sell Takeda the salt they needed, saying “I win my battles with swords, not salt.”
Kingambit, on the other hand, has no such tact or thoughtfulness.
Violet
Though it commands a massive army in battle, it's not skilled at devising complex strategies. It just uses brute strength to keep pushing.
Brute Strength is something Kingambit has plenty of, to be fair. It trades a little of Bisharp’s speed for an immense boost in attack and also bulk, making it a dangerous presence. If that weren’t enough, it also has the outrageous ability Supreme Overlord, boosting its stats for every ally who has already fainted in battle. It combines this with Kowtow Cleave, a strong move that never misses, to obliterate opponents in the latter stages of a match. Paldea’s Primera, Champion Geeta, has a Kingambit but doesn’t use it effectively by sending it out last. If she had, she’d possibly be up there with some of the all-time Pokémon Champions, just as Kingambit is up there with some of the all-time damaging Pokémon.
King gambit combines king, the highest ranking chess piece, with gambit, as gambits are common in chess. In fact, the king’s gambit is an actual famous chess opening. The Japanese name, Dodogezan, is a kneeling blade.
Having lived in Nagano for six years, most of that time within strolling distance of the very sight where they met blades, I’ve long felt a personal collection to Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. I now live in Matsumoto, where Takeda Shingen personally sat in the city’s castle, and regularly take a train through Yamanashi, where an enormous statue depicts him sat on his commanders’ stall. Kingambit joins the very small number of Pokémon inspired by specific individuals, and what an individual it chose.
Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius. For just a dollar a month, supporters can listen to episodes a week early and also help cover hosting and fees, making it possible for me to keep making episodes every week.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Bouffalant and Rufflet, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Pawniard. And remember, I love you too.