Toyoshima was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi on April 30, 1990. He entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū under the guidance of shogi professional Kiyozumi Kiriyama in 1999. He obtained professional status and the rank of 4-dan on April 1, 2007, after finishing tied for first with Kōta Kanai in the 40th 3-dan League with a record of 14 wins and 4 losses.
Shogi professional
Toyoshima's first appearance in a major title match came in 2010 when he defeated Yasumitsu Satō to win the 60th Ōshō league with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss, Although Toyoshima lost his first game in league play, he proceeded to win his next five to earn the right to challenge defending Ōshō Toshiaki Kubo for his title. The match against Kubo was tied at one win apiece after two games, but Kubo won three out of the next four games to defend his title 42. Toyoshima was 20-years-old at the time which made him the youngest challenger in the tournament's history, breaking the record set by Hifumi Katō who was 22-years-old when he challenged for the title in 1961. In July 2014, Toyoshima defeated Tadahisa Maruyama to win the right to challenge Yoshiharu Habu for the 62nd Ōza title. Although Toyoshima lost the first two games of his match against Habu, he won the next two to tie the match before losing the deciding Game 5. In April 2015, Toyoshima defeated Meijin title holder Amahiko Satō to advance to the 86th Kisei title match, but lost to Habu 3 games to 1. Toyoshima defeated Amahiko Satō to win the on October 23, 2016, for his first tournament victory as a professional. He reached the finals of the tournament once again in 2017, but lost to Takayuki Yamasaki. Two days after his loss to Yamazaki, Toyoshima defeated Kōichi Fukaura on November 21, 2017, to win the 67th Ōshō league with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss and earn the right to challenge Kubo once again for the Ōshō title. Like their first meeting back in 2010, the players were tied at one win each after two games, but Kubo went on to win the match once again 4 games to 2. On July 17, 2018, Toyoshima defeated Habu in Game 5 of the 89th Kisei match to capture his first major title. His victory meant that for the first time since 1987 no player held more than one major title. The period of "no multiple titleholders", however, was ended by Toyoshima himself in September 2018 when he defeated Tatsuya Sugai 4 games to 3 to capture the 59th Ōi title and become a 2-crown title holder. In March 2019, Toyoshima won the 77th Meijin Class A ranking league with a record of 8 wins and 1 loss to earn the right to challenge reigning Meijin Amahiko Satō for the 77th Meijin title. It was the first time Toyoshima earned the right to challenge for the Meijin title. In the AprilMay title match, Toyoshima defeated Satō 4 games to none. Toyoshima's victory made him a 3-crown title holder, and also made him the first shogi professional born in the :Heisei Era to win the Meijin title. Capturing the Meijin title also meant the Toyoshima met the :Professional shogi player#Promotion|criteria for promotion to the rank of 9-dan and he was awarded the rank by the JSA later the same day. Toyoshima's first title defense came in JuneJuly 2019 when he faced challenger Akira Watanabe in the 90th Kisei title match. Toyoshima won the first game of the match, but Watanabe won the next three games to capture the title. With the loss, Toyoshima returned to being a 2-crown title holder. Toyoshima defended his Ōi title against Kazuki Kimura in the 60th Ōi title match. Toyoshima won the first two games, but proceeded to lose the next two. Toyoshima won Game 5 and needed just one more win to defend his title, but Kimura won the last two games to win the match 4 games to 3. In September 2019, Toyoshima and Kimura met again the 32nd Ryūō Challenger Playoff Match to earn the right to challenge defending Ryūō Akihito Hirose for the 32nd Ryūō title. Toyoshima won the match 2 games to 1 and became a challenger for the Ryūō title for the first time. In the OctoberDecember title match against Hirose, Toyoshima won the first three games and ended up winning the match 4 games to 1. The victory not only returned Toyoshima to 2-crown title holder status and gave him his first Ryūō title, but it also made him only the fourth professional shogi player to hold the Ryūō and Meijin titles at the same time. Toyoshima defeated Watanabe in the championship game of the 27th on September 24, 2019, to win the tournament for the first time.
Promotion history
Toyoshima's promotion history is as follows:
1999, September: 6-kyū
2007, April 1: 4-dan
2009, May 8: 5-dan
2010, November 29: 6-dan
2012, April 19: 7-dan
2017, March 9: 8-dan
2019, May 17: 9-dan
Titles and other championships
Toyoshima has been the challenger in a major title match ten times, and has won four major titles. In addition to major titles, he has won two other shogi championship.
Major titles
Other championships
Awards and honors
Toyoshima has received a number awards given out annually by the JSA for performance in official games.
Toyoshima has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's five times since turning professional: fifth in 2014 with JPY 21,600,000 in earnings; eighth in 2015 with JPY 24,590,000 in earnings; seventh in 2016 with JPY 24,920,000 in earnings; fourth in 2018 with JPY 47,220,000 in earnings; and first in 2019 with JPY 71,570,000 in earnings.
