The Flowers of Hard Blood

is a Japanese manga series written by Masaru Katori and illustrated by Jiro Ando. It is published by Kodansha in the seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon, and is collected in 8 tankōbon volumes. It has been adapted as a 22 episode anime television series by Studio Deen, which aired in Japan between October 2007 and March 2008. A video game for the Nintendo DS was released on April 10, 2008 by Mainichi Communications.

Plot
A young junior-high-school girl named Shion Yasuoka witnessed the murder of her parents as a child. At the time of the murder, the killer takes the king piece from her father's shogi board which leads her to believe that the murderer may be a shogi player. The shock of the incident renders Shion unable to speak, forcing her to communicate by writing on a pad. After being adopted by her neighbors, the Yasuoka family (where the husband is also a shogi player), Shion takes up the game herself, both for the love of the game and to possibly learn who her parents' murderer.