Mahjong set + table

[hirohurl]

Thanks, Barticle, for the detailed account of your new mj set. I assumed the score sticks would be in one of the lower layers of the box. I guess omitting the score sticks is one way to keep the price down!

As for books about the Japanese game, Eleanor Noss Whitney\'s \"A Mahjong Handbook\" is the best; it is the most comprehensive and also well written, with an interesting part dedicated to luck, skill, offensive and defensive strategy.

In the introduction she states that:

\"It is the true Mah Jong game, as codified by the Japan Mah Jong Association, that is described here...\"

[OldSchoolRPGs]

As for books about the Japanese game, Eleanor Noss Whitney\'s "A Mahjong Handbook" is the best; it is the most comprehensive and also well written, with an interesting part dedicated to luck, skill, offensive and defensive strategy.

In the introduction she states that:

"It is the true Mah Jong game, as codified by the Japan Mah Jong Association, that is described here..."

I bought that book from Amazon based on your sites recommendation. Should be here any day, hopefully its as helpful as you say. :)

[Pekepan]

As for books about the Japanese game, Eleanor Noss Whitney\'s "A Mahjong Handbook" is the best; it is the most comprehensive and also well written, with an interesting part dedicated to luck, skill, offensive and defensive strategy.

This book is VERY nice. Although, be sure to order a newer edition of the book. I have an old edition (from the 70\'s) and a new one, and the old one only covers classical Japanese rules (riichi is modern Japanese rules). As long as you get the newer one, you\'ll be alright. It even has a few "What would you discard?" problems and "What shouldn\'t you discard?" ones, the latter being practice for defensive play.

[hirohurl]

Yes, it\'s been around for a while. I\'m looking forward to getting a copy of Jenn\'s book and adding it to my list of recommended mj reading...

[Barticle]

The strategy section in Whitney´s book is very helpful.

I also have a book called Mah Jong Handbook for Beginners by Futami Kogeisha which exclusively covers the Japanese rules, including riichi, dora, furiten, abortive draws and Japanese terms. It´s in English - although it is absolutely riddled with typos!

There are black & white photos throughout too, although do you really need illustrated examples of Menzen Tsumo and Tenhou hands?! heh! :laugh:

I picked it up used off eBay for a pound but I get the impression is was intended to be bundled with a MJ set. Perhaps it´s more of a booklet than a proper book but it´s a hundred pages long.

I assume you meant English books.

Yeah, the books I found on Go and Shogi were all in English. I would´ve been happy to buy a book in Japanese about Mahjong or Hanafuda if it had nice pictures though. :) I even looked (well, asked) in the second-hand Japanese book store in Soho (Brewer St) but no luck there either.

[Tom Sloper]

Re Whitney\'s book:
The 24th printing (1994) was horribly outdated, and what I found particularly confusing about the book is how it describes several different rule sets, not separately but interspersed. You\'d practically have to go through 3 different copies of the books with colored hiliters in order to sort out the different variants. Not only that, but in the main body of the Japanese rules, she didn\'t give Japanese terms for anything. To find out the Japanese names for anything you have to look in the glossary in the back.

About 5 years ago Tuttle sent me a copy of the 29th printing (2001) and asked me to review it for them. I didn\'t see anything different about this edition from the older one. I said it had a spectacular section on strategy, though.

Re Hanafuda books in English: I\'ve only ever seen two. One is a large-format (7.5x10\") colorful book by Japan Publications, Nichibo Shuppan-sha, possibly still in print. I got mine at Kinokuniya bookstore.
The other is Hachi Hachi by \"Stray Sheep,\" pub. Kotsu Nipponsha in the 23rd year of some emperor\'s reign. If Hirohito (very likely), that\'d be 1948. Definitely hard to find; I got mine on eBay.

Re Futami Kogeisha, that\'d definitely be a set pack-in booklet. I\'d love to get my hands on one of those!

In conclusion: Because of the flaws in Whitney, I don\'t regard her book as a useful resource for anyone trying to learn Japanese Modern. Jenn\'s book will surely be a damn sight better than Whitney\'s.

[Osamu]

Not only that, but in the main body of the Japanese rules, she didn\'t give Japanese terms for anything. To find out the Japanese names for anything you have to look in the glossary in the back.

Looks like Jenn\'s book also suffers from this. In the sample (http://www.shoplva.com/productimages/1556Sample.pdf)she uses pon, chow and quad. Maybe she actually uses Japanese terms throughout the book though?

[Tom Sloper]

IMO, the best way to handle terminology is to give the commonly accepted term (and/or the term used in the native language of a regional variant) upon first defining the term. Then thereafter use whatever term the author is using, then use that term consistently for the remainder of the work.

[Barticle]

If I´m writing only a few sentences for a lay audience I´ll just use the terms sequence, triple and quad; otherwise I´m with Tom.

Thanks muchly for the Hanafuda book info, Tom. I´m following up a couple of leads on the more recent one. :)

I´ll keep an eye out for another copy of the Futami book for you.

[Tom Sloper]

be sure to order a newer edition of the book. I have an old edition (from the 70\'s) and a new one, and the old one only covers classical Japanese rules (riichi is modern Japanese rules). As long as you get the newer one, you\'ll be alright. It even has a few "What would you discard?" problems and "What shouldn\'t you discard?" ones, the latter being practice for defensive play.

What printing is your newer edition? Are those wwyd\'s in the 2001 edition? Or maybe I should ask, what printing is your 1970\'s edition?

[Pekepan]

What printing is your newer edition? Are those wwyd\'s in the 2001 edition? Or maybe I should ask, what printing is your 1970\'s edition?

The newer edition is published by Tuttle Publishing. It has the WWYD\'s in color! The 1977 edition is published by Pan Macmillan.

And upon reading the very short part on "riichi" over, I realized that it only covers the Japanese classical rules as they were evolving into the modern rules. The strategy helps, nonetheless, but probably not a good idea to learn riichi from this book.

Sorry if I caused any confusion!

[Tom Sloper]

What printing is your newer edition? Are those wwyd\'s in the 2001 edition? Or maybe I should ask, what printing is your 1970\'s edition?

The newer edition is published by Tuttle Publishing. It has the WWYD\'s in color! The 1977 edition is published by Pan Macmillan.

Thanks for the info on the older edition. I take it your newer one must be dated later than 2001? My 2001 has no color in it.

[Pekepan]

I take it your newer one must be dated later than 2001?

Yes, my version is dated 2007. It\'s strange though; I couldn\'t find the publishing date for the life of me in the book, so I had to look up the ISBN number and find it...

[aotomo]

<moderaor>
Post deleted: duplicate of the "Looking for automatic mahjong table sale agent" thread.
</moderator>

[Barticle]

Oooh nice. B)

I know of at least one mahjong book in english, covering japanese mahjong as well as riichi mahjong.

I´m guessing ´The Great Mahjong Book´ by Jelte Rep. The English version has 30 pages on Japanese Mahjong, old and new. The coverage is pretty good, although he describes things like Uma, Oka, Chombo, No-Ten Bappu, Yakitori and the limits without actually naming them. Also a couple of columns on one of the score tables are wrong.

BTW I´ve ordered the Hanafuda book now (´Hanafuda: The Flower Card Game´). Amazon US had a few new copies in stock. :)