Learn Riichi Mahjong rules including tile types, yaku requirements, riichi declarations, furiten, dora, and han/fu scoring. A complete intermediate guide.
Riichi Mahjong — also called Japanese Mahjong — is a strategic four-player tile game codified by the Japan Professional Mahjong League (JPML). It uses 136 tiles with no jokers or flowers, and stands apart from other mahjong variants through its unique riichi declaration, furiten rule, dora bonus system, and strict yaku requirements. This guide covers every core rule you need to start playing.
Riichi Mahjong is Japan's standardized version of mahjong, refined over decades into one of the most strategically deep tile games in the world. It evolved from Chinese mahjong after the game arrived in Japan in the early 20th century. Japanese players gradually introduced distinctive mechanics — including the riichi declaration and dora indicator system — that transformed the game into something fundamentally different from its Chinese ancestor.
The Japan Professional Mahjong League (JPML), founded in 1981, played a central role in codifying the modern ruleset. Today, multiple professional leagues operate in Japan, and the game has spread globally through organizations like the European Mahjong Association (EMA) and the World Riichi Championship (WRC). The EMA's Riichi Competition Rules serve as the standard for most international tournaments.
Riichi Mahjong has experienced a massive surge in worldwide popularity thanks to digital platforms. The free-to-play app Mahjong Soul has introduced millions of new players to the game since its 2019 launch. Anime series like Akagi and Saki have also fueled interest, particularly among younger audiences. Whether you call it Riichi Mahjong, Japanese Mahjong, or mah-jong in casual conversation, you are referring to the same tightly designed competitive game.
If you are coming from another mahjong variant, check our Mahjong Rules Overview for a comparison of how Riichi differs from Chinese Classical, Hong Kong, and American styles.
Riichi Mahjong uses 136 tiles divided into suit tiles and honor tiles, with no jokers, flowers, or seasons. Understanding these tiles is the first step toward reading your hand and planning your strategy.
There are three suits, each numbered 1 through 9, with 4 copies of every tile:
Tiles numbered 1 and 9 in any suit are called terminals (routouhai). Tiles numbered 2 through 8 are called simples (tanyaohai). This distinction matters for many yaku.
Honor tiles come in two subcategories:
Honor tiles cannot form sequences. They only form triplets (three identical tiles) or quads (four identical tiles).
Many online platforms and casual games include red five (akadora) tiles — typically one red 5-manzu, one red 5-pinzu, and one red 5-souzu. Each red five in a winning hand adds 1 han. Red fives are not part of the EMA tournament standard but are widespread in Japanese parlors and apps like Mahjong Soul.
For a deeper look at every tile type across all mahjong variants, visit our Mahjong Tiles Guide.
A round begins with building the wall, breaking it, dealing 13 tiles to each player, and then taking turns drawing and discarding until someone wins or the wall runs out. The flow is straightforward, but each step contains important details.
Four players sit at cardinal positions: East, South, West, and North. East is the dealer (oya) and acts first. All 136 tiles are shuffled face-down and arranged into a square wall, 2 tiles high and 17 tiles long on each side. A dice roll determines where the wall is broken. Each player receives 13 tiles; the dealer receives 14.
Play proceeds counterclockwise (East → South → West → North). On your turn:
Discard ponds are arranged neatly in rows of 6 in front of each player. This organization is not just etiquette — it is a rule. Other players read your discards to deduce what tiles are safe and what you might be building.
When another player discards, you can claim that tile under specific conditions:
Priority order when multiple players call the same discard: Ron > Pon/Kan > Chii.
A complete winning hand contains 14 tiles arranged as 4 sets + 1 pair. Each set is either a sequence (three consecutive tiles in one suit) or a triplet (three identical tiles). There is one exception: Chiitoitsu (Seven Pairs), which requires 7 distinct pairs instead.
You win by either:
But there is a critical requirement: your hand must contain at least one yaku.
Yaku are specific hand patterns or conditions that qualify your hand for a win — without at least one yaku, you cannot declare victory even if your tiles form a complete hand. This is the single most important rule that separates Riichi Mahjong from most other variants.
Think of yaku as "winning conditions" or "scoring patterns." Each yaku has a han value that contributes to your final score. Some yaku require a closed hand; others work whether your hand is open or closed.
| Yaku Name | Han (Closed) | Han (Open) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riichi | 1 | — | Declare tenpai with a closed hand; stake 1,000 points |
| Menzen Tsumo | 1 | — | Win by self-draw with a closed hand |
| Tanyao | 1 | 1* | Hand uses only simple tiles (2–8), no terminals or honors |
| Pinfu | 1 | — | All sequences, non-yakuhai pair, two-sided wait, closed hand |
| Iipeiko | 1 | — | Two identical sequences in the same suit (closed only) |
| Yakuhai | 1 | 1 | Triplet of seat wind, round wind, or any dragon |
| Chiitoitsu | 2 | — | Seven distinct pairs (special hand structure) |
| Toitoi | 2 | 2 | All triplets, no sequences |
| Honitsu | 3 | 2 | One suit plus honor tiles only |
| Chinitsu | 6 | 5 | One suit only, no honors |
Tanyao is closed-only (kuitan nashi) in some rulesets, but most online platforms and EMA rules allow open tanyao (kuitan ari).
There are over 40 recognized yaku in standard Riichi Mahjong, ranging from 1-han basics to rare yakuman (limit hands) worth a massive 32,000 or 48,000 points. Learning the common yaku listed above covers the vast majority of winning hands you will encounter.
For a full scoring breakdown, see our Riichi Mahjong Scoring guide.
The riichi declaration is the game's signature mechanic: when your closed hand is one tile away from winning (tenpai), you can declare "Riichi," place a 1,000-point stick on the table, and commit to your hand. It is both a strategic weapon and a calculated risk.
To declare riichi, all of the following must be true:
When you declare riichi, you turn your discard sideways to signal the declaration. From that moment:
Riichi broadcasts to the entire table that you are tenpai. Skilled opponents will shift to defensive play, discarding only safe tiles. You also lose all flexibility — if a better tile appears, you cannot pivot. And if you do not win, your 1,000-point stake goes to whoever eventually wins the hand.
Despite these risks, riichi is one of the most frequently declared yaku in competitive play. The combination of riichi (1 han) + ippatsu (1 han) + ura-dora (variable) can transform a cheap hand into a high-scoring one. Roughly 40% of winning hands in professional play include a riichi declaration.
Furiten is a defensive rule unique to Riichi Mahjong: if any of your winning tiles exists in your own discard pond, you are in furiten and cannot win by ron (claiming another player's discard). You can still win by tsumo (self-draw). This rule fundamentally shapes both offensive and defensive strategy.
Standard Furiten: You previously discarded a tile that would complete your hand. This applies to all your possible winning tiles, not just the specific one you discarded. For example, if you wait on 3-man or 6-man and you discarded 6-man earlier, you cannot ron on 3-man either — you are furiten on the entire wait.
Temporary Furiten: After another player discards a tile you could have won on and you choose not to call ron, you enter temporary furiten. You cannot ron on anyone else's discard until your next draw. This prevents selective ron — you cannot "pass" on one player's discard hoping to ron a different player for more points.
Riichi Furiten: If you are in riichi and any player discards your winning tile but you miss it (or choose not to take it), you are in permanent furiten for the rest of the hand. Since you cannot change your hand during riichi, this furiten persists until you either tsumo or the hand ends.
Furiten creates a powerful defensive principle: your own discards are always safe for you to reference. If you see a tile in your discard pond, no one can ron you with that exact tile (though they might still win by tsumo). This is the foundation of defensive play (betaori) — when an opponent declares riichi, experienced players check discard ponds to identify safe tiles.
Furiten also punishes careless discarding. If you throw away a tile early and later find yourself waiting on that tile, you have limited your own winning options to tsumo only. Planning your discards with an eye toward your potential waits is a hallmark of intermediate and advanced play.
Dora tiles are bonus tiles that each add 1 han to a winning hand — they are not yaku themselves, but they amplify your score once you have at least one valid yaku. The dora system adds an element of luck and reward that can turn a modest hand into a significant one.
After the wall is broken, one tile on the dead wall is flipped face-up. This is the dora indicator. The actual dora tile is the next tile in sequence after the indicator:
Every copy of the dora tile in your winning hand adds 1 han. If you hold 3 copies of the dora tile, that is 3 additional han.
Dora tiles are a major reason why Riichi Mahjong scores can swing dramatically. A hand with riichi (1 han) + tsumo (1 han) + 3 dora jumps to 5 han — enough for a mangan-level payout worth 8,000 points from a non-dealer or 12,000 from the dealer.
Riichi Mahjong scoring combines han (hand difficulty multipliers) and fu (minipoints for specific tile compositions) to produce a point value from a lookup table. The system looks complex at first, but it follows a logical structure.
Han comes from your yaku and dora. Add up all the han from your winning hand's yaku, plus any dora tiles you hold.
Fu (minipoints) comes from the base composition of your hand:
Once you have your han and fu totals, you look up the point value on a scoring table. The basic formula is: fu × 2^(han+2), but in practice, players use memorized tables or apps.
At higher han counts, scoring hits fixed limits that simplify calculation:
| Han Count | Limit Name | Non-Dealer Tsumo (each) | Non-Dealer Ron | Dealer Tsumo (each) | Dealer Ron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 han, 70+ fu or 4 han, 30+ fu | Mangan | 2,000 / 4,000 | 8,000 | 4,000 all | 12,000 |
| 6-7 han | Haneman | 3,000 / 6,000 | 12,000 | 6,000 all | 18,000 |
| 8-10 han | Baiman | 4,000 / 8,000 | 16,000 | 8,000 all | 24,000 |
| 11-12 han | Sanbaiman | 6,000 / 12,000 | 24,000 | 12,000 all | 36,000 |
| 13+ han or Yakuman | Yakuman | 8,000 / 16,000 | 32,000 | 16,000 all | 48,000 |
For non-dealer tsumo, the dealer pays the larger amount and the two non-dealers pay the smaller amount.
Most hands in actual play fall in the 1–4 han range. Reaching mangan is a strong result; yakuman hands are rare and exciting events that happen perhaps once in hundreds of hands.
For detailed scoring tables and worked examples, visit our Riichi Mahjong Scoring page.
A standard Riichi Mahjong game (hanchan) consists of a minimum of 8 hands played across two wind rounds — the East round and the South round. Each player starts with 25,000 points, and the goal is to finish with the most points.
The game begins in the East round. Each player takes a turn as dealer (East seat), creating 4 hands in the East round. Then the game moves to the South round for another 4 hands. The dealer rotates counterclockwise after each hand — unless the dealer wins or the hand ends in a draw where the dealer is tenpai. In those cases, the dealer stays (renchan), and the hand counter (honba) increases, adding a 300-point bonus to the next win.
A hand ends when:
The game ends after the South round unless a player's score drops below zero (ending the game immediately in most rulesets) or the dealer in South 4 extends by continuing to win. Final scores are calculated by comparing each player's points to the 25,000-point starting value, then converting to a plus/minus placement score (uma) for competitive tracking.
The best way to learn Riichi Mahjong is to play it. Online platforms like Mahjong Soul offer free practice against AI opponents, letting you internalize the rules at your own pace. When you are ready for the real thing, find mahjong lessons near you to get hands-on instruction from experienced players. You can also join a mahjong club to find regular games in your area, or find riichi mahjong near you to connect with the growing community of Japanese Mahjong enthusiasts.
Learn Riichi Mahjong rules including tile types, yaku requirements, riichi declarations, furiten, dora, and han/fu scoring. A complete intermediate guide.
A standard Riichi Mahjong set contains exactly 136 tiles. There are 34 unique tiles — 27 suit tiles (three suits numbered 1–9) and 7 honor tiles (4 winds and 3 dragons) — with 4 copies of each. Riichi Mahjong does not use jokers, flowers, or season tiles found in other mahjong variants.
Riichi Mahjong requires at least one yaku (winning pattern) to declare a win, while many Chinese variants allow any complete hand. Riichi Mahjong also features the riichi declaration, furiten rule, and dora bonus system — none of which exist in standard Chinese Mahjong. Chinese variants often include flower and season tiles, bringing the tile count to 144, compared to Riichi's 136.
Yes. Riichi is just one of over 40 possible yaku. You can win with any valid yaku, such as tanyao (all simples), yakuhai (value triplets), pinfu (all sequences with a two-sided wait), or dozens of others. Declaring riichi is optional and only available when your hand is closed and tenpai.
When the drawable tiles in the wall are exhausted and no one has won, the hand ends in an exhaustive draw (ryuukyoku). Each player reveals whether they are tenpai. Players who are tenpai receive a share of 3,000 points paid by players who are not tenpai. The dealer stays if they are tenpai; otherwise, the deal passes.
The basic flow of drawing, discarding, and forming 4 sets plus a pair is simple to grasp. The learning curve comes from memorizing yaku, understanding furiten, and calculating scores. Most new players become comfortable with core gameplay within 5–10 sessions. Free apps like Mahjong Soul handle scoring automatically, letting you focus on learning hand patterns and strategy.
Now that you know the basics, find a game near you.
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