Shin’s Eye #4: Manners (part 3)
I’m Shintaro Kamimura from the Japan Professional Mahjong League.
Last week we started a discussion about manners. Next I want to talk about the idea of bluffing.
In games other than Mahjong, bluffs that use words or mannerisms are considered to be part of the game. The idea is to get in your opponents’ head and mislead them.
But in Japan, mahjong is not considered to be that kind of game.
For example things like saying, “This hand is gonna be so cheap,” and causes their opponent to be careless and then winning with a big hand or thinking for a long time before discarding a bam even though they are Ready with a crak-flush are forbidden.
There may be arguments for both sides in cases like these.
In Japan many people thing that mahjong is a game of reason and logic.
I believe that is why bluffs based on behavior that affect the competition are banned.
Also, Japan has a strong sense of being a “Culture of Shame.” The idea is that going this far to win is pointless and instead is shameful.
Of course when you play with your friends, having a good time and including “behavioral bluffs” is no problem. But, when playing in a parlor with other people it’s bad manners to do those things.
I am not saying that bluffing is forbidden in Japanese Mahjong.
That’s because in Mahjong there are other ways to bluff, such as the order of discards and called tiles. It’s a game with deep bluffs. I believe that using your tiles to create “quite bluffs” and peacefully play with an understanding of each others’ tactics without ruining the balance of the game with “behavioral bluffs,” is the most interesting part of mahjong and that is why it is a gentlemen’s game.
Everyone, when you want to have a loud crazy game, include behavioral bluffs and when you want to play a game of reason and logic, try to leaving them out.
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