Here is the rule that makes shogi different from every other chess game: a piece you capture becomes yours. It goes into your hand — your komadai 駒台, the stand beside the board — and on any later turn you may put it back on the board as one of your own pieces.
Pieces in hand are called mochigoma 持ち駒.
Two details:
- A captured piece always goes into your hand unpromoted. Capture a dragon and you get a rook; capture a tokin and you get a pawn.
- Captures happen exactly like moves: the capturing piece moves onto the square and the captured piece is lifted off. There are no special capturing moves.
This is why material in shogi never runs out. Trading pieces doesn't simplify the game the way it does in chess — every trade hands both players new pieces to drop.
Try it
Try it: Capture one of Gote's pieces with your bishop. Watch where it goes.