2-12-4 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan TEL:03-3502-6650 FAX:03-3581-2456 [Back] [Next] Five Dragons Cup A signature new year event of JMSA: a tournament of 3 games where the first several players who go out with any of the five hands with a Chinese character “竜“ (dragon) in its name can get a cash prize. (Japan has a long tradition of giving money to children as a New Year’s gift.) The five hands are Pure Terminal Chows, Three-suited Terminal Chows, Pure Straight, Knitted Straight and Mixed Straight. Players compete for the cash prize in a festive mood. Every second counts. It’s amazing how fast people raise their hand declaring “Mixed Straight!” or “Pure Straight!” here and there in the tournament venue. Many JMSA members look forward to this special tournament every year. 7th Five Dragons Cup was held on January 4, 2009 at Kingkoh-so in Yurakucho, Tokyo. 44 players from all over Japan strived to make dragon hands as fast as possible. The first 3 players who achieved each dragon hand were awarded a cash prize. The first 3 who achieved 3 dragon hands also won a prize. No one made 4 dragon hands this year, and Pure Terminal Chows has remained unattained since the first Five Dragons Cup in 2003. Three-suited Terminal Chows Player 1st Shogo Niman （二萬章吾） 2nd Emiko Suganuma （菅沼恵美子） 3rd Yo Tanaka （田中　洋） Pure Straight Player 1st Yuri Tezuka （手塚ゆり） 2nd Tadao Yagi （八木忠雄） 3rd Masamichi Fukaya （深谷正道） Knitted Straight Player 1st Fumiki Kanbara （蒲原史起） 2nd Yusuke Tamari （玉利祐助） 3rd Kiyomi Koyama （神山清美） Mixed Straight Player 1st Kei Uchida （内田　慶） 2nd Hideaki Kubota （窪田秀章） 3rd Hiroyuki Sakuma （佐久間弘行） Three Dragon Hands Player 1st Shogo Niman （二萬章吾） 2nd Jun Shinada （品田　純） 3rd Emiko Suganuma （菅沼恵美子） Top 3 Players Player Total Score 1 Chien Min Chang （張　建民） +594 2 Masamichi Fukaya （深谷正道） +493 3 Kaori Hirakawa （平川香織） +397 Players strive to go out with any of the dragon hands faster than anyone else. For some reason, it's difficult to make all-too-common Mixed Straight or Pure Straight at Five Dragons Cup. Shogo Niman (二萬章吾); first to achieve 3 dragon hands with Three-suited Terminal Chows, the least glamorous hand unless at Five Dragons Cup Predestined to play mahjong - his name "Niman (二萬)" means two of character Chien Min Chang, winner of 2009 Five Dragons Cup 　 [Back] [Next] Copyright (C) 2008-2009. JMSA. All Rights Reserved.