Kifu is a shogi game record. If you want to study shogi seriously, you have to track down decent kifu and study them. This is an open source collection of kifu.
The Gnu Shogi Database (GSDB) is a collection of Japanese chess games and sample openings. Hundreds of shogi kifu (game records) have been documented. The orignal GSDB comes with an applet that allows viewing and manipulating of the collections. Unfortunately, the web browsing industry has discontinued support for Java applets. That makes browsing the collections trickier, without a little help.
For those techies interested in browsing the original GSDB 2.7.4 source code and license, you can download it here.
Just a note on shogi rankings: The lowest ranking is 15-kyu. The rankings go down to 1-kyu as the player improves. After 1-kyu, rankings begin counting up with 1-dan all the way up to 9-dan. Professional shogi players begin around 5-kyu and go up to 9-dan (the champion professional). Ameteurs of the same rank as professionals are typically less skilled than their professional counterparts.
The much respected professional shogi title of Meijin has been around for hundreds of years. It was an inherited title until the 1930's, when the title became one that was won through tournament play. The Meijin kifu collection contains 60 games, mostly from the 1990's. Several title matches are included.
Ryu-O is one of the most prestigious professional shogi title matches, held first in 1988. The Ryo-O shogi tournament is named after the promoted shogi rook. This kifu collection contains shogi matches from the 1990's. Thirty-seven games by Habu, Morishita, Tanigawa, Sanada, Oyama, Sugimoto, Kubo, Sato and others are included in the Ryu-O tournament collection.
The Kisei tournament awards one of the seven professional shogi titles in Japan. Kisei has been held since 1962. This collection contains nearly 100 professional matches.
The Oi professional tournament was held first in 1960. Oi means King's rank. This collection contains over 200 professional shogi games to study. The matches span from the 1970's to the 1990's.
Oza, or the King's Throne, is one of the seven Japanese professional shogi titles. The Oza tournament began in 1953, but did not bestow a title until 1982. This collection contains 69 matches from the 1970's and 1990's.
The Kio (commonly spelled Kioh) title tournament was first held i 1974, though it did not bestow it's first title until the following year. This collection contains nearly 200 shogi kifu.
Jun'isen is the class ranking system for professional shogi players. The ranks include: C2, C1, B2, B1, and A. A is the top class. The winner of the top ranking class (A-jun'isen) plays the Meijin for the title. Jun'sisen is distinct from ranking (dan 4-9). A shogi player that has reached a high ranking may fall into a lower Jun'isen even though he retains his high dan ranking. This is a large collection of 247 kifu.
Zen Nihon Pro is a professional shogi tournament held in Japan. This collection contains seven professional matches.
Contrary to the name of the collection, some of these kifu don't actually have 40 moves in them. However, First 40 moves is a great collection of shogi openings and counter openings. This collection of 72 openings gives a great introduction to defense, quick attacks, and shogi opening strategies
Nakabisha is the Central Rook opening. This is a type of ranging rook opening. Nakabisha Examples collection features thirteen openings from John Fairburn's Nakabisha Series.
Seven amateur shogi games from the 1997 Belgian Championships.
Eight amateur shogi games from the 1996 and 1997 Shogi Open Tournament held in Colmar, France.
Nineteen amateur shogi games from the Hague "Tokin" Shogi tournament in the 1990's held in the Netherlands.
Amateur Dutch Championships collection, containing ten amateur matches from 1997.
This collection contains nearly 100 games from the mid 1990's. Not too surprisingly, many of the comments and game notes are in German.
A collection of 21 amateur shogi matches played in Ghent, Belgium.
Nigjmegen Shogi Tournament is an amateur tournament held in the Netherlands. This is a collection of 106 shogi games played in 1996 and 1997.
Rikai Shogi Tournament held at Sittard, Netherlands in 1996 and 1997. This collection contains 20 amateur shogi matches.