New Approach: Japanese Intermediate Course - Chapter 2 - 世界のじゃんけん

Original text coming from the "New Approach: Japanese Intermediate Course" textbook:

子供の遊びにはいろいろありますが、「鬼ごっこ」と言うのはだいたい世界中にあるあそびのようです。その鬼はどうやって決めますか。日本では「じゃんけん」で決めるのが普通です。「じゃんけん、ぽん」といって、グー、チョキ、パーのどれか1つを出して、負けた人が鬼になります。このじゃんけんも世界各地にあって、よく似ています。手を握る「グー」が「石」を、指を二本出す「チョキ」が「はさみ」を、手を開く「パー」が「紙」を表すのが一番多いです。石とはさみと紙の勝負ですから、グーはチョキに勝って、チョキはパーに勝つことが分かります。紙は石を包むので、パーはグーに勝ちます。国によって、グーが金づちだったり、紙が布だったりします。マレーシアのじゃんけんはちょっと違います。グーとパーの形は日本とそっくりが、チョキは指先を全部合わせて前に出して、まるで鳥のくちばしのような形を作ります。そして、パーは紙ではなくて水を表します。ですから、石と鳥と水の勝負です。インドネシアにもじゃんけんのような遊びがあります。握りこぶしから親指だけを出すのが「象」で、人差し指だけを出すのが「人」、小指だけ出すのが「アリ」だそうです。象が人に勝って、人がありに勝つのは分かりますが、どうしてアリが象に勝つのでしょうか。アリみたいに小さくても大きいものを倒すことができるところがおもしろいです。

And here's my translation:

There are various ways children have fun, but it looks like all over the world they play the game called “Tag”. How is the “demon” chosen? In Japan, it’s normally chosen by playing “Rock-paper-scissors”. Saying “Janken, pon” and forming rock, scissors, or paper, a person who lost becomes a demon. This game is everywhere in the world, and it’s often very similar to this. Usually, a clenched fist stands for rock, two stretched fingers for scissors, and an open hand for paper. Because it is a fight between a rock, a pair of scissors, and a piece of paper, it is understandable that a fist wins against fingers, and fingers win against an open hand.  Because a piece of paper would wrap up a rock, an open hand wins against a fist. Depending on country, a fist may symbolize a hammer, and instead of paper we have piece of cloth. The rock-paper-scissors in Malaysia is a little bit different. The forms of fist and open hand are just like in Japan, but the form of scissors is created by putting together fingertips just like a form of a bird’s beak. What’s more, an open hand does not mean a piece of paper, but it shows water. That’s why it’s a game between a rock, a bird, and water. In Indonesia, there is also a game like “Rock-paper-scissors”. Stretching only a thumb from a clenched fist stands for an elephant, an index finger for a human, and a little finger for an ant. An elephant wins against a human, a human obviously wins against an ant, but why an ant wins against an elephant? The fact that something so small as an ant can still win against something big is interesting.