Wind Positions — Mahjong Mystic

In American Mah Jongg, while the East wind player is the most important — dealing first, starting with 14 tiles at the beginning of the Charleston and being the first player to start the game — every player at the table holds a wind position. Going counter-clockwise around the table from East, the positions are South, West, and North. But wait: if you glance at a compass, South should be to the Left of East, not to the Right. New players find this baffling, and even seasoned players often cannot explain it. The answer, it turns out, has nothing to do with geography — and everything to do with the seasons.

The Four Winds Are Named After China's Seasonal Winds

In China, the prevailing wind changes with each season, and the ancients named those winds accordingly. These are not arbitrary compass labels — they describe the actual direction from which the wind blows during each part of the year. The seasons start with Spring.

Spring Winds Come From the EastEast Wind

Summer Winds Come From the SouthSouth Wind

Autumn Winds Come From the WestWest Wind

Winter Winds Come From the NorthNorth Wind

Play Order Follows the Seasonal Sequence

The wind positions at the table follow the natural order of the seasons — Spring gives way to Summer, Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Winter. In Mah Jongg, this means the turn order moves from East to South to West to North, mirroring the turning of the year.

East→ South→ West→ North ( Spring → Summer → Autumn → Winter )

Play Proceeds Counterclockwise — and This Is the Key

Key In the Far East, games traditionally move counterclockwise — the opposite of Western card games. In Mah Jongg, each turn passes to the player on the right. This means that each successive wind position also sits to the right of the one before it. The seasonal order (East → South → West → North) therefore unfolds counterclockwise around the table — placing each new season to the right of the previous one.

South Is to the Right of East — Because Summer Follows Spring

Putting it all together: the winds are named in connection to the seasons. The seasons run Spring (winds come from the East) → Summer (winds come from the South) → Autumn (winds come from the West) → Winter (winds come from the North), and play moves counterclockwise — meaning each next season sits to the right. Therefore South is to the right of East, West is to the right of South, and North is to the right of West. The seating arrangement is not a compass — it is a calendar, played counterclockwise around the table.

The Bottom Line

The wind positions in Mah Jongg were never meant to map onto a compass. They reflect the Chinese seasonal calendar — East (Spring), South (Summer), West (Autumn), North (Winter) — played counterclockwise, in seasonal order around a table. South appears to East's right not because of geography, but simply because Summer follows Spring.