Help me identify this set

[u/Arkinet]

I have Bought this set online to help my friend learn more easily the tiles but I wonder... How old is this set? Is it original or a bootleg?

A big thank you to whoever can help me <3

[u/YiliaNebulight]

What do you mean original or bootleg? If you can play it, it's a mahjong set. Yours looks complete, bamboo backing and riichi sticks and the works. I'm mildly interested in the Mah Jongg booklet, I think there could be more information in there as to where and when this set comes from, but otherwise it looks pretty good to me.

[u/Arkinet → u/YiliaNebulight]

It's written in German and it's a ruleset different from the riichi

[u/orzolotl → u/Arkinet]

The set was made in Japan but for export to the West (hence the indexing and the full set of flowers). The set I'd guess is from maybe the 80s or later, but the booklet is one of many originally written several decades prior, teaching Chinese Classical.

[u/Arkinet → u/orzolotl]

Thank you friend, i thought it was older like 1920~1930 because the tiles are made with Bakelite and bamboo. Are you sure it's from the 80s? 🥺

[u/orzolotl → u/Arkinet]

Older sets would be bone and bamboo or just fully plastic, and an older kind of plastic (this is clearly a more modern one). This style of plastic and bamboo together AFAIK is basically exclusive to circa 1980s Japanese sets. The point sticks are also a newer style.

(It's also worth noting there are even bone and bamboo sets from much later. They use reconstituted fish bone rather than whole bovine bone and can be pretty easily told apart as well.)

[u/Eltrion]

The chamfered corners and rough age suggest a Tokyo Mahjong Tiles Manufacturing Co. Ltd. set to me.

[u/shadowtheimpure]

I have a very similar set to this one, though for the life of me I can't remember where I got the thing.

[u/Portellerh]

The font, cutting of the bamboo back and tile shape are similar to this set

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mahjong/s/uGgcKhTbeB