is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 8-dan.
Urano was born in Osaka Prefecture on March 14, 1964. In October 1977, he was accepted into entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyà « under the tutelage of shogi professional . He was promoted to 1-dan in 1990 and obtained full professional status and the rank of 4-dan in October 1983.
Urano won his 400th game as a professional in February 2005.
In March 2017, Urano voluntarily declared himself as a free class player, thus leaving the Meijin tournament league. During the 75th Meijin Class C2 League season (April 2016March 2017), Urano lost all ten of his games and received a demotion point as a result. This was a continuation of a series of poor results in Meijin Class League play73rd Meijin Class C1 (1 win and 9 losses) and 74th Meijin Class C1 (2 wins and 8 losses)and rather than risk automatic demotion to free class play, Urano decided to do so of his own accord.
The promotion history for Urano is as follows:
In 2008, Urano received the Japan Shogi Association's "25 Years Service Award" for being an active professional for twenty-five years.
Urano has authored several books and DVDs on shogi strategy and tsume shogi; some of these are as follows.