Yes, the romanization and even pronunciations of some of the lyrics are wildly non-standard, but who cares? That reflects actual usage, and besides, it's a joke song of a joke song ...
I will, though, make some notes here as a basic introduction to the mahjong terms used in the lyrics. All pronunciations and romanization follow common Japanese mahjong usage, and are sometimes non-standard Japanese pronunciations that are more in line with the contemporary Mandarin pronunciation of the characters involved than with the usual Sino-Japanese on reading.
The basic flow of mahjong (breezing over a lot of details) is thus. The tiles are shuffled, and 14 are distributed to the dealer (13 to the other players). Beginning with the dealer and going counterclockwise, each player discards a tile, then the player to the right of them draws a tile. That player then discards a tile, and the player to their right draws, and so on. Players can also immediately take a tile discarded by another player if it completes an arrangement they're building. They must then display the arrangement they built, and play starts up again to their right. Arrangements from stolen tiles must be displayed, and any kantsu must be displayed, but the player's other tiles are not.
Vocabulary in lyrics or video[]
- 対子 (toitsu) - a group of two tiles of the same sort. Must be all of one kind and not part of a koutsu to be a winning play - this is specifically called 雀頭 (shantou). See also kokushimusou.
- 槓 (kan) - short for 槓子 (kantsu), "kong" in IMJ; an arrangement of four identical tiles. One of the perfect melds.
- 役 (yaku) - lit. "assistance"; a special bonus that applies in case of certain winning hands (e.g. if it's daisangen or chuuren poutou)
- 刻子 (ko-tsu) - "pong" in IMJ; a group of three identical tiles. A koutsu completed with a tile from one's own hand is called 暗刻子 (anko-tsu) or 暗刻 (anko), "dark koutsu". One made through pon is called 明刻子 (minko-tsu) or 明刻 (minko), "bright koutsu". (Similarly, if all arrangements in a hand that don't contain the winning tile were completed from one's own hand the hand is "closed"/dark. Otherwise, it is "open"/bright.) One of the perfect melds.
- 搭子 (ta-tsu) - a shuntsu where one tile is missing.
- 順子 (shuntsu) - "chow" in IMJ; a group of three tiles of the same suit in numeric order (e.g. 2-3-4, 6-7-8) One of the perfect melds.
- 安牌 (anpai) - short for 安全牌 (anzenpai) "safe tile"; a tile that is certain not to allow a player in tenpai to finish their hand.
- 七対子 - lit. "seven toitsu", "seven pairs" in IMJ; an ending hand consisting of seven distinct pairs.
- 混一色 (hon'iiso) - a winning hand where two of the suits are completely absent.
- 清一色 (chin'iiso) - like hon'iiso, except the winning hand is all one suit.
- 地和 (chihou) - lit. "earthly peace" (see houra), "the Earth" in IMJ; the case where a non-dealer player completes a winning hand on their first draw, if no other players have yet completed an arrangement on draw.
- 天和 (tenhou) - lit. "divine peace" (see houra), "the Heavens" in IMJ; the case where the dealer is dealt a winning hand.
- 九蓮宝灯 (chuuren poutou) - lit. "nine jeweled lanterns", "nine gates" in IMJ; a winning hand that consists of all one suit with all 1112345678999 and one other tile from the suit
- 大三元 (daisangen) - lit. "great three elements", "big three dragons" in IMJ; a winning hand containing koutsu of all the three dragon tiles.
- 自摸 (tsumo) - short for 自摸和 (tsumo agari); this refers to the act of playing a winning hand with tiles drawn by the player. When mahjong is played for money, the winnings are paid jointly by all players.
- ロン (ron) - from 栄和 (ron agari); this refers to the act of playing a winning hand with tiles discarded by other players. When played for money, the player who discarded the winning tile must pay the entire prize.
- 割れ目 (ware me) - lit. "the point of separation"; a local mahjong rule where the wins or losses of the opener (see kaimen below) are doubled.
- 和了 (ho-ra) - lit. "completed peace"; the act of showing a winning hand. The mahjonng specific version of "agari". Commonly seen in verb form as "houraru".
- ハコ (hako) - lit. "box"; the case in which a player's score becomes negative. Probably came about because players scores are often kept using rods kept in the boxes the mahjongg tiles come in, and when the player's score goes to zero only the box is left.
- 親番 (oyaban) - lit. "parent turn"; the turn during which a player is the dealer. Deals begin at the East and proceed counterclockwise to North.
- 聴牌 (tenpai) - the state in which one is waiting to draw a winning tile
- 洗牌 (shiipai) - lit. "washed tiles"; the shuffling of the tiles face down before a hand
- 砌牌 (chiipai) - lit. "moment tiles"; the act of constructing the wall. Each player gets 34 tiles in standard Japanese mahjongg. These are typically arranged by stacking them 2 tiles high in a row of 17.
- 壁牌 (piipai) - lit. "wall tiles"; the tiles that are in the initial 17-wide, 2-high wall before play begins.
- 王牌 (wanpai) - lit. "king tiles". Once piipai is complete, the dealer rolls dice. Count left the number rolled (N). Break off the right-most N tile positions from that player's wall. Count right 7 positions and make another break, moving on to the next wall if necessary. A total of 14 tiles have now been broken from some players' walls. These 14 tiles are the wanpai. The remaining tiles in the walls are known alternately as the wall or the mountain.
- 風牌 (fonpai) - lit. "wind tiles"; the wind tile.
- 白板 (paipan) - lit. "white board"; the white element tile, the white block. (The elements are often referred to as "dragon tiles" in English.)
- 緑發 (ryuufa) - lit. "green prosperity"; the green element tile.
- 紅中 (honchun) - lit. "red middle"; the red element tile, a red 中.
- 嶺上開花 (rinjan kaihou) - lit. "a flower on top of the mountain"; the hand where the winning tile is drawn as a result of completing a kantsu.
- 国士無双 (kokushi musou) - lit. "peerless throughout the kingdom"; the winning hand consisting of one each of the end tiles (1 and 9 of the three suits, each of the winds, and each of the elements) and an extra end tile.
- 燕返し (tsubame kaeshi) - a local rule that applies if the tile that a player discards when declaring reach allows another player to ron. However, in this case it refers to a cheating technique where a player hides a tile that will allow them to win and switches out it into their hand during gameplay (e.g. while pretending to draw).
Useful vocabulary[]
- 上がり (agari) - one term for playing a winning hand. (Not strictly a mahjong term.)
- 面子 (mentsu) - "meld" (lit. "arrangement"); a general term describing the different possible arrangements of tiles. Specific mentsu include shuntsu, etc.
- 完成面子 (kanzen mentsu) - "perfect meld"; koutsu, shuntsu, or kantsu. To win, a player's hand must consist of toitsu and all perfect arrangements (not necessarily one of each, though). Alternatively, a player can form chiitoitsu (seven pairs) or kokushi musou (also referred to in English as "thirteen ends"). There are additional possible winning hands in international Mahjong.
- pon - completing a toitsu with a discarded tile
- chi - completing koutsu with a discarded tile
- 飜 (fan) - the value of any yaku that apply to a player's score. Under most rules, a player cannot actually win if they don't have at least one fan applying to their score when they go out. If a round ends with no winners, this requirement typically increases - e.g., the next round a player must fulfill the mentsu requirements and have 2 fan, etc.
Sources[]
(Or, where to go to get a slightly less basic grasp of mahjong ... )
- 麻雀, 麻雀牌, 壁牌, 海底 (麻雀), 立直, 箱 (麻雀), 安全牌・危険牌, 割れ目, 麻雀のルール, 麻雀の不正行為 Japanese Wikipedia articles
- Japanese Mahjong Scoring
- Mahjong Made Simple
my view about last version[]
In the last version, there were some of Mahjong words, 一索 (i-so), 立直 (ri-chi) and 河底 (haitei). But they don't appear. What actually appears is 你好 (Ni Hao), 谢谢 (Xie Xie), 再见 (Zai Jian). And there is a non-sensical phrase, "eins, zwei, Guten Morgen". Although this sentence is written on the back of the flash, it is read as "ain, tsubain" like this CD's title name. I don't understand why.
- I wouldn't call "eins, zwei, Guten Morgen" nonsensical, it is simply German for "one, two, good morning". As for the "ain, tsubain" it is what becomes of the German pronunciation when it is turned into katakana. TOUHOU-Tyle 07:48, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
- Sorry, it was better to say like this; there is a phrase, "eins, zwei, Guten Morgen", the existance of which is nonsense on the line. And when we romanize as Japanese romanization style, "eins, zwei" is "ainsu, tsubai". I don't know whether "ain, tsubain" is a received pronunciation of ordinal number for German people, but it sounds strange for me. --Masuo64 14:00, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
Revelations[]
The mahjong tiles in fact are all Chinese game types. The above stated translations and such are indeed correct.
One thing, though I understand a little Japanese, what is the title: 魔理沙に大変な役でハコにされました pronounced?
- As "Marisa ni taihen na yaku de hako ni saremashita". --Masuo64 14:45, 29 June 2009 (UTC)