Japanese Mahjong Japanese Mahjong Japanese Mahjong (Japanese: 麻雀, 麻将 or マージャン; "mājan"), also known as Rīchi Mahjong, is a variation of mahjong. While the basic rules to the game are retained, the variation features a unique set of rules such as "rīchi" and the use of "dora". The main mahjong article contains general terms, but only English and Japanese terms are used here. Terms like "chow," "pung," and "kong" are not used in this variation, yet their functions are still used. Instead, they are referred to in Japanese as "chī", "pon", and "kan". In 1924, a soldier named Saburo Hirayama brought the
Wei-Liang Chow Wei-Liang Chow Chow Wei-Liang (; October 1, 1911, Shanghai – August 10, 1995, Baltimore) was a Chinese mathematician born in Shanghai, known for his work in algebraic geometry. Chow was a student in the USA, graduating from the University of Chicago in 1931. In 1932 he attended the University of Göttingen, then transferring to Leipzig where he worked with van der Waerden. They produced a series of joint papers on intersection theory, introducing in particular the use of what are now generally called Chow coordinates (which were in some form familiar to Arthur Cayley). He married Margot Victor in 1936,