Ten (manga)
Encyclopedia
is a mahjong
centric Japan
ese manga
by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
. It was first published in 1989 during Japan's economic boom, when gambling manga became popular.
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
centric Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
Nobuyuki Fukumoto
is a Japanese manga artist well known throughout the Far East for his unique and original gambling ideas, deep psychological analysis of characters and distinct artstyle. Yakuza and gambling are recurring themes in his manga. In English speaking countries, he is known best as the author of Akagi, a...
. It was first published in 1989 during Japan's economic boom, when gambling manga became popular.
East
- Ten is an open-hearted guy who is excellent at mahjong. If one 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.
- 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.
- An undefeated mahjong legend, who also appears as the titular character in Fukumoto's later work AkagiAkagi (manga)is a mahjong centric Japanese manga, written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto and first published in 1992. It is featured in the weekly magazine Modern Mahjong, and is a prequel to the author's previous work Ten, in which Akagi's titular character also appears...
, and a good friend of Ten.
- Reputed to be the best player in Hokkaido.
- Head Priest of the "temple of mahjong" in Tohoku.
- 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.
- 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
- The leader of the west camp and the main opponent of Ten and his friends during most of the story.
- 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.