Black Green Dragon

[Fat Dragon]

Does anyone know why the \"Green Dragon\" in Riichi sets often is coloured in black?

In Mahjong Fight Club it\'s colour is also black.

The Chinese Mahjong sets I\'ve seen so far all include a green painted dragon. So why do Japanese sets use black colour?

Also I was surprised to see, that bamboo tiles are coloured black. (See attached link).


http://www28.atwiki.jp/mjpai/pages/14.html

So what\'s the deal with that? Maybe a historical bakground? Or just saving of colour?

[Torgo]

My guess is that it\'s a simple cost saving measure. They went with black, red, and gold. Another color would add cost.

[Tom Sloper]

Does anyone know why the "Green Dragon" in Riichi sets often is coloured in black?...

Also I was surprised to see, that bamboo tiles are coloured black.

It\'s a VERY dark green, actually (I\'m talking about actual tiles, not any images you\'ve seen). Muted colors as opposed to garish Hong Kong colors; the Japanese way.

To add to your confusion, the Japanese name for "green dragon" is "blue" (ao).

[Shirluban]

It\'s not black, it\'s very dark green.

Cost saving is out of purpose, in the image you give I see five colors:
black
red
\"gold\"
very dark green
brown

The gold-color paint is very few used, brown is only on the 1 bamboo, and the green is so dark it\'s like black.
So making the set black and red only will make very few differences.

[Fat Dragon]

...so it\'s a very dark green. Interesting. They could have really used black instead. I guess in live play the difference between black and dark green is very small.

[Gamegrunt]

If Mahjong sets were female models the typical Chinese set would be a woman in a colorful summer dress while the Japanese set would be a business woman clad in a serious, dark blue pinstripe suit.

I have both and prefer the formal, dignified look of the Japanese sets. Having said that, a truly green appearance of the green dragons would be nice as it would better set them apart from the winds.

Gg

[Fat Dragon]

@Gamegrunt

Dito.
I would also prefer a \"real\" green dragon, for the same reasons you stated.

But overall I like the idea of the \"business woman\". Chinese sets are too flashy for my taste.

[zzo38]

Does anyone know why the "Green Dragon" in Riichi sets often is coloured in black?...

Also I was surprised to see, that bamboo tiles are coloured black.

It is not always black, it is often green. In the Washizu set I have, the bamboo/sou tiles are black, but the hatsu ("green dragon") is green (and it is the only thing which is green).

To add to your confusion, the Japanese name for "green dragon" is "blue" (ao).

It is also sometimes called "hatsu", which is what the kanji on that tile is called.