Tokyo: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday presented Sota Fujii with the prime minister’s award for becoming the first-ever shogi player to hold all eight major titles in the traditional board game.

The accolade was given to Fujii at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. “It’s a great honor,” the 21-year-old shogi star told reporters.

“The whole country is excited by Mr. Fujii’s outstanding performance. I think (Fujii) will continue to rewrite the history of the shogi world,” Kishida told a meeting with Fujii after the awarding ceremony.

During the meeting, the prime minister asked about how to deal with artificial intelligence in the field of shogi. The meeting was attended also by Yoshiharu Habu, who chairs the Japanese Shogi Association.

In return for receiving the award, Fujii presented a shogi board to the prime minister. He had written on the box “ungaisouten.”

Fujii told reporters that he chose the four-character idiom based on his belief that “one can see different scenery by improving an ability through effort.”

Fujii won the Oza title on Oct. 11 to hold all major titles at the same time, the first time the feat had been achieved since Eio was created to increase the number of major shogi titles to eight in 2017.

Established in 1966, the prime minister’s award is given to individuals and organizations with distinguished achievements for and contributions to the nation and society. So far, 35 people and 16 organizations have received it.

Fujii is the second person from the shogi world to receive it after Habu, who was given the award in 1996 for becoming the first-ever player to hold all of the seven major titles available at the time.

JIJI Press