Kentaro Sakaguchi and Ken Watanabe are in the cast of the film “Sunflower on the Shogi Board”. The film is based on the 2017 novel “Banjo no Himawari” by Yuko Yuzuki (“Blood of Wolves”), which was previously adapted into the 2019 NHK drama series “The Sunflower on the Shogi Set.” The film begins with a skeleton and a rare shogi game piece found buried in a mountain. The owner of the rare shogi game is Keisuke Kamijo (Kentaro Sakaguchi), who becomes a suspect. The first trailer of the film has also been added to AsianWiki.

“The Tournesol on the Shogi Board” will be released on October 31, 2025 in Japan.

Plot synopsis by AsianWiki: An unidentified human skeleton is found on a mountain. In addition to the skeleton, a rare shogi game piece is found with the skeleton. The shogi game piece was made by a master craftsman and the owner of the shogi game piece is Keisuke Kamijo (Kentaro Sakaguchi), who is a young shogi player. He appeared like a comet in the field of professional shogi and gained fame all over the world. Due to the discovery of the shoji game piece, Keisuke Kamijo becomes a suspect. During the investigation of Keisuke Kamijo, the emergence of Shigeyoshi Tomyo (Ken Watanabe) becomes a point of interest. Shigeyoshi Tomyo has overwhelming shoji skills and has played for money in the underworld. What is the relationship between Keisuke Kamijo and Shigeyoshi Tomyo?