Jörg Knappen wrote on Mon, Jan 2, 2012 10:35 AM EST:
I have an answer to your 2nd question:
The R3 is named Kongo (Guardian of Gods) in Taikyoku Shogi.
There's also a B3, named Rikishi (Wrestler) in Taikyoku Shogi.
Note that the Taikyoku Shogi pieces move differently then pieces with the
same name in other larger Shogi variants.
