Friday 7th May: Nobu Pricks David's Revival With 2 x Kokushimusou

This evening at Kodama will be remembered for two things, namely:

1. That after two games Jaime found himself +75 ahead and scuttled off sheepishly muttering something about needing to get home before the puppy piddled on the carpet.

2. That Nobu clobbered David with Kokushimusou on not one but TWO occasions after Jaime's departure.

Nobu had been Tempai on Kokushimusou in the second game as well, and Noda was looking, rather obviously, for Kokushimusou in the fourth.

Nobu's first Kokushimusou victory came about when David was Oya and went Riichi. Nobu asked David to clarify whether or not he needed to go Riichi on his hand and when David had a look he was a ready Kokushi hand needing a 9-Bamboo to finish and said, "No, you don't need to go Riichi." Since three of 9-Bamboo were already out, David was not too concerned, but the very next tile he pulled from the wall and had to discard was... the last remaining 9-Bamboo. So 32,000 points were promptly transferred from David's tray to Nobu's.

Nobu's first ever Kokushimusou.

Then, in the South round of the fourth and final game, Noda declared Riichi with a hand that was showing dollar strength. David and Nobu were playing out the hand, or so it seemed. David, who was Oya, ran out of safe tiles and put out a Dora tile (North tile in 3-Player MJ) in the hope of finding a safe tile on the back. (Actually, he probably should have simply discarded the North tile but was still hoping to get a ready hand as Oya.) He drew a Red Dragon from the back of the wall, and as both Noda and he had discarded one he chucked it. There was a sudden motion and cry from Nobu, who had been very quiet up until then...

"Ron!"

And the second Kokushimusou was revealed. So David handed over another 32,000 points to Nobu and had to give up any hopes of a revival of fortunes.

Noda took over the Oya and during a Ryanshi hand Nobu got a bit carried away and went out on a 1-Yaku open hand with South Wind his only Yaku and fell to a Chombo penalty.

In spite of all that, Nobu still came in bottom of the pile.

Jaime +40, +35, --, -- = +75
===

Noda -38, +11, -18, +27 = -18

David -3, -11, -14,* +9* = -19
Nobu +1, -35, +32, -36** = -31

* David gives Nobu Kokushimusou.
** Chombo

DH
Japanese-Mahjong.com

The Fiery Flying Dragon's Ode To The West Wind

Hiryu no Kane
There was an excellent programme about the temple bells of Japan on the BBC radio Heart and Soul series the other day. Part of the programme was about the biggest bronze temple bell in the world, Rengein Tanjyoji Temple’s Flying Dragon bell (Hiryu no Kane) on the south coast of Kyushu, the boom of which dominates the airwaves and can be heard up to 30 miles away on a fine day.

The greatness of that bell reminded me of another Great Booming Dominator, Noda the Flying Dragon Mahjong Tensai of Kodama Jansou in Hiroshima..

The great flying dragon has scored a total of over 200 points in the last two sessions.

Three weeks ago Hide and David got somewhat singed in the fiery heat of the dragon's breath...

26th Feb 2010

Noda +33, -27, -3, +30, -2, -32 = +53
===

Hide -46, +11, -20, -16, +17, +40 = -14

David +13, -38,* +23, -14, -15, -8 = -39

* Yakitori

Last Friday Noda and David were joined by Nobu and his duck.

Anyone For Dorian?
Noda had been entertaining some Malayan clients and had been presented with a processed dorian sausage which he had had Mama-san serve in a couple of dishes for Nobu and I to sample. Noda seemed to be hoping that one of us would be so enamoured of it that we would want to unburden him of the rest of the sausage but was disappointed.


Double Chombo
It was an interesting opening game. David was making all the running, but twice Nobu claimed "Ron" off David's discard and on both occasions was penalized for Chombo! In each case his hand was indeed Tempai but on an illegal wait. The second Chombo was due to his not spotting all his finishing options on a 3 tile wait, and the option he had not spotted was for a tile he had already discarded.

Harsh, but perfectly fair!

In the same game, David declared Riichi again and Nobu asked the beginner's question about Chiitoi - i.e. "can you have a double pair" - to which the answer is now, has always been and ever shall be "NO!"

That left Nobu in a bit of a pickle. David, having gone Riichi, had a peep at his hand and pulled a face. Nobu then threw one of the four identical tiles in his hand, a 3-Coins, and David declared "RON!"

After two games David was soaring on waxen wings and thought he might overreach the great flying dragon himself... He had survived giving up 16,000 points to Noda by promptly reclaiming them from him in the next hand...


Ode to the West Wind
The third game commenced with Noda moving from the North to the West seat. North had indeed been a bit chilly for Old Noda and the Great Bronze Bell was silent, but, as one of our lyrical poets put it in a poem so aptly titled that he must have been thinking about mahjong at the moment of inspiration,

When winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Noda's ode to the West Wind was full of fire and smoke, such that the Poor Little Cypriot's waxen wings did melt as Noda conspired his overthrow and served it up with a cindered Yakitori, the second in two weeks. Thank you very much.


Kokushimusou
In the final game of the evening was more evenly balanced until one hand towards the end of the session when Noda was conspicuously throwing out middle tiles. David risked a few early terminal discards and wondered as terminals gradually emerged from Noda's hand whether he had given up. Meanwhile, Nobu played on oblivious to everything except his own hand to which a South tile plucked from the wall made no contribution and out it went.

The Great Flying Dragon bell boomed out a resonant "RON!" and Noda and turned over his tiles to reveal Kokushimusou and claim 36,000 points off a shaken Nobu.

12th March 2010

Noda -6, -9, +86, +42 = +113
David +42, +19, -59,* +12 = +14
===
Nobu -36,** -10, -27, -54 = -127

* Yakitori
** Double Chombo

3PMJ League Table
 
Noda +321
David +116
Aimi +63
Ray -1
Neil -9
Jaime -65
Hide -68
Hatsue -82
Nobu -275

So is it all over bar the shouting already for the 3PMJ league in 2010, with both top and bottom places already decided and only the black and the red to play for for everybody else?

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Two Ladies Join The Lists

On Friday afternoons I play mahjong with two Japanese ladies, one of whom was a complete beginner a few months ago. Mahjong has replaced English conversation, except inasmuch as I offer advice and game analysis in English.

We play 4-player Riichi-style, but with elements of 3-player Mahjong thrown in. For example, the North tile is used as a "Dora" bonus tile, and we use the convenient scoring method of 3-player mahjong.

Last Friday, with Jaime back in Blighty whacking balls around St Andrews, and with Nobu's nose firmly attached to the grindstone, it didn't look as if Noda and I would be able to play mahjong that evening until I hit upon the idea of inviting the ladies, Hatsue-san and Aimi-san, to join us.

Happily, they agreed.

So, Aimi, Hatsue and I spent the afternoon on an intensive 3-Player MJ training session. Our party broke up around 5pm and we arranged to meet in town at 8pm.

It was a beautiful day, so I hopped off the train at Yokogawa and strolled along the river bank into town, negotiating my way across three branches of the delta until it brought me close to the entrance of Kemby's bar.

It was too early for a quick snifter so I headed past and went for a good old soak in the middle of town. There is nothing quite like relaxing in a hot spa in the middle of a city teeming with sweating multitudes. The closest anybody has come to it was that chap who took pleasure in observing from his casement window a storm-tossed barque toiling upon a stormy sea while he was sat warm and snug in front of a cosy fire in the upper room of a secure stone tower.

I recovered from the heat of the bath and sauna by ordering okonomiyaki and beer from a decent little teppanyaki restaurant called Hana-chan, located between Chuden-Mae and the river.

While I was there, Hide-san called up to ask if there was a game...

I arrived at Kodama Jansou via a quick snifter at Kemby's and told Mama there would be five of us. She said something or other and I popped out to meet Aimi and Hatsue.

When I returned with my charges, Noda had arrived, and so had a steaming dish of yaki-meshi and a cleansing beer to wash it down with. It seems that Mama had thought I'd ordered dinner as usual. Well, it would have been rude to have left it, so down the hatch it went while Noda, Hide and the ladies played the first two games.

Aimi-san is an experienced player of "standard" 4-player Riichi mahjong and I think she had a fine time of it at the table because whenever she needed a tile the wall seemed only too pleased to oblige.

Hatsue-san coped well but was especially impressed by the pace of the game and the speed with which hands were made during the third game when all three regular players were involved.

The funniest moment of the evening was when Hide-san was exchanging pleasant chat with Hatsue across the mahjong table about playing golf and it was quickly established that they both were familiar with a certain golf course in the area.

Hide: "Do you work there."

Hatsue: "I am the owner."

At this point Hide's eyes turned into saucers and there was a loud "CLANG" as his jaw dropped onto the table.

Hide represented himself as a "tada no sarariman" - just an ordinary employee - though I can't say that I've ever thought of him in those terms. However, I hear that his charm had a positive effect upon the evening.

There was quite a scrap in the third game with all three regular players looking for a big win. In the end David came top after winning a couple of "okake-riichi" competitions (as Oya) with Hide. Noda finished in a strong second place.

The ladies left after that game. Aimi-san finished on +63 and so enters the lists in third place. Hatsue-san finished on -82, sandwiched somewhere between Nobu and Jaime.

No sooner had the door shut than Hide claimed "Ron" off David's North Dora tile and revealed Kokushimusou (as a "ko" player, for 32,000 points). Funnily enough, David finished the fourth game on exactly -32,000 points and Hide was not able to build on the result even though he came top because David fought a rearguard action and Noda only shed 5 points.

However, the result was enough for Noda to extend his lead by a few points over David at the top of the table.

The final results of an entertaining evening were:

Noda -30, +36, +41, -5 = +42
Aimi +49, +14, --, -- = +63
David --, --, +63, -32 = +31
==
Hide -2, -34, -55, +37 = -54
Hatsue -17, -16, -49, --, = -82

David H
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Thursday 20th March: The Doc Gets Clobbered But Comes Through

There has been nothing to report of late at the Cockseye Club as spring holidays, the travels and the preoccupations of the various members have lengthened out the spring holiday recess. I had thought that April would bring in both a return of a relatively busy teaching schedule and Friday evening mahjong. Well, up to a point, but what April also brought in was news that Mrs H has been promoted and is now a Great Professor of Sickness and Health or something. 

Now, as I was accustomed to understand it, promotion = do less and get paid more. Apparently not. It seems that I was misinformed. Promotion to the lofty post of GP of SH seems to involve little in the way of extra lolly but a lot more of boning up on the mysteries of disease.

This has brought with it two unfortunate consequences. The first of these is that the house is filling up with a library  of books full of ghastly photos of diseased bits that The Mrs pores over with the rapt attention of one of the Desert Fathers. 

The second unfortunate consequence is that The Mrs has to disappear on study courses or lectures or something a couple of weekends this month, and that means that The PLC will be responsible for providing vittals for the Little "Uchi Benkei," and that, in short, means no mahjong for me for a couple of Fridays this month. Old Eliot knew what he was talking about when he observed that "April is the cruellest month."

Anyway, the PLC did manage to squeeze in one game of mahjong at the Docs' during March. Happily, Dr M sr was back in good form and eager to play. As we had scheduled our game for the Spring Equinox holiday we agreed to start at 2 p.m. and played a solid eight hour session, during which the PLC gradually sank under the weight of Kirin beer and provender. 

However, he did enjoy one bright moment, which sustained him for the rest of the afternoon, when in the first game his hand started with nine end tiles, winds and dragons. Now the PLC is not one of the chief pursuers of Kokushimusou, but on drawing a tenth tile for the hand, he decided to stick with it and ended up Tempai waiting for East, and with two already thrown it was reasonable to hope that anybody who picked up the third would promptly discard it. That honour fell to Dr M jr, who looked up in shock - and then dismay - when the PLC went out and revealed his hand. Sadly, the PLC was not the Oya and so had to make do with a 32,000 point pay-out, which greatly augmented his coffers while the hand burnished his rather tarnished image as a mahjong player!

It was the first Kokushimusou we've seen at the Docs' - but it was also the last hand of any great moment for the PLC, who finished a little below the bar, largely due to Mrs M's mid-game recovery; it had nothing to do with sinking under the weight of the Kirin.

Friday 1st June: Noda Commits a Chombo & Charges On (Assisted By David)

Having gone without lunch, David was perfectly happy to receive a message from Kenyon that he was stuck on a bus in a traffic jam caused by the Toukasan festival as that gave him time to chomp his way through Kodama Mama-san's ample serving of yakimeshi without having to concentrate on the flow of the game and keep his hand in order at the same time.

There were three players for the early part of the evening, Noda, David and Kenyon, while Hide came along with his missus a bit later on.

I don't have the score sheet to hand as I write this but I can remember all too well how the evening panned out...

Noda won a lot. Hide ended up on zero. Kenyon lost quite a little. David lost quite a lot.

There was one moment of fumble-bumble on Kenyon's part which led to a unique form of Chombo by a somewhat aggrieved Noda. Kenyon reached over to take a tile from the wall on the other side of the table and dropped it as he brought it towards his wall. It crashed the end of his discard pile and propelled the 9-Bamboo into the tiles in his hand. When Kenyon had sorted everything out he replaced the 9-Bamboo at the beginning of his discard pile. The whole episode had been observed by both David and Hide with some mild amusement, which turned to bemusement and then hilarity when Noda looked up from a deep contemplation of his hand. Seeing the 9-Bamboo appear on the table, and oblivious to what had been going on, he declared a rather reluctant "Ron!"and showed his hand!

Poor old Noda's nose was put out of joint by the universal declaration of "Chombo!" He argued for a while that it was really Kenyon's fault and that that sort of thing would be construed as tricky play in less salubrious company. But there was little choice but to pay up. It put paid to whatever hand it was that Noda had and also had the effect of subduing the Noda charge for a while - it was the only game he finished in negative territory for the evening.

However, that was not the most foolish action of the evening because David had yet to make his contribution. With Noda showing two sets of open Dragons within the first five discards of the hand, David rather blithely decided to chuck out a Chun (Red Dragon) to achieve Tenpai. He was aware of Noda's Dragons but claims that his inhibitions had been removed by the intake of booze and the fact that he was the Oya and - what the heck - it was only the fifth discard into the hand, dammit. He had overlooked the fact that while it was indeed "only" the fifth discard into a hand in which Noda was showing two sets of Dragons while enjoying a spring roll - I mean a springtime recovery of form.

Ron! - Daisangen! Yakuman, 32,000 points please!

It was a foolish throw anyway, since if Noda had claimed the Chun by going Pon David would have been liable to pay the whole fine to Noda no matter how and off whom he had gone out.

At some stage in the evening Kenyon completed Kokushimusou on Tsumo.

David got stuck with his Yakitori in the fourth game and only managed to finish ahead in the sixth and ninth games.

Noda wandered off home at about 1am and the other three played on until about 3am, some considerable time after Hide's missus had fallen asleep on Mama's sofa.

By the end of the evening Noda and David had changed places on the Grand Accumulated Points Chart and it is only Tsuyoshi-san's victory on the one evening he played that stands between Noda and the top-spot...

===
Saturday 9th June

Here is the score sheet:

Noda +29, +18, +2, +55, -6, +18, --, --, -- = +116
Hide --, --, +38. -39, 0, -26, -10, +47, -10 = 0
===
Kenyon -12, -6, -1, +26, +23, -40, +31, -20, -19 = -18,
David -17, -12, -39, -42,* -17, +48, -21, -27, +29 = -98

David Hurley
japanese-mahjong.com
japanese-games-shop.com