Ten (manga)

Ten: Tenhōdōri No Kaidanji (Japanese: 天 - 天和通りの快男児) is a mahjong centric Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It was first published in 1989 during Japan's economic boom, when gambling manga became popular.^[1] Considered a hit in Japan, it was followed by spin-off Akagi^[2] in 1992. Ten was adapted into a PlayStation 2 game released by D3 Publisher on December 11, 2003.^[3]

Plot

Takashi Ten is called to a mahjong club one night to play against Igawa Hiroyuki, a young mahjong player. Having just robbed Ten's friends blind at mahjong, Ten arrives to take back his winnings.. Ten's mahjong style becomes more apparent as the game progresses...amateurish! Ten cheats in the last round, using a move called the Tsubame Gaeshi, and winning with a Tenhou hand. Hiroyuki is angered once Ten admits he cheated after the game. Will he come to understand Ten's "Way of Tenhou", where Ten willingly cheats and gets beat up in response for his friends? Will Ten unlock his true mahjong potential or cheat forever?

Characters

East

Takashi Ten (天 貴史, Ten Takashi)

Ten is an open-hearted guy who is excellent at mahjong. If one of his friends loses during a mahjong game, he is sure to jump in for them and win back their lost money, mostly through cheating. Afterward he allows his opponents to beat him up because he knows how frustrating it is to lose. It is revealed in the final chapters he has a polygamous marriage, with two wives.

Hiroyuki Igawa (井川 ひろゆき, Igawa Hiroyuki)

Hiroyuki is a normal student who is taking a break from studying during which he is trying his luck at the mahjong table. Though he is good at mahjong and confident in his playing, he knows that he will never reach the level of Ten or Akagi, making him feel third-rate.

Shigeru Akagi (赤木 しげる, Akagi Shigeru)

An undefeated mahjong legend, who also appears as the titular character in Fukumoto's later work Akagi, and a good friend of Ten.

Hitoshi Washio (鷲尾 仁, Washio Hitoshi)

Reputed to be the best player in Hokkaido.

Shuuzou Kanamitsu (金光 修蔵, Kanamitsu Shuuzou)

Head Priest of the "temple of mahjong" in Tohoku.

Asai Ginji (浅井 銀次, Ginji Asai)

A Shinjuku player talented at "ganpai" the cheating method of marking certain tiles. His signature method of winning is to San-Shoku on a closed wait instead of an open wait. In particular Ten recalls being defeated by Ginji with a closed 4-5-6 San-Shoku wait. When Ten attempts to recruit Ginji for the East-West showdown, Ginji initially refuses explaining risking having his method exposed on such a large scale event was too much since it was how he made his living. Akagi manages to convince Ginji to join the East-West game off panel however.

Ken (健, Ken)

Actually a western rep player, Ken decides to take a large risk for a large reward by joining the East team. Ken is intuitive and insightful but ultimately fails at an attempt to pull off an upset win by cheating against Harada and is eliminated in the first round of the showdown.

West

Katsumi Harada (原田 克美, Harada Katsumi)

The leader of the west camp and the main opponent of Ten and his friends during most of the story.

Soga Mitsui (僧我 三威, Mitsui Soga)

An equally legendary underworld mahjong player to Akagi, though they never actually played each other due to Soga's ten year run to fame in the Kansai area occurring before Akagi's three year run.

References