Glossary

Riichi is played in Japanese, everywhere. These are the terms you will actually hear at tables and in communities — each with romaji, the Japanese, and a one-line definition. Terms used in lessons link here.

Term	Japanese	English	Meaning
agari	あがり	winning	Completing a valid hand, by ron or tsumo.
aka dora	赤ドラ	red five	A red-colored 5 tile worth one bonus han. Not a yaku.
ankou	暗刻	concealed triplet	A triplet formed without calling. Worth more fu than an open one.
atamahane	頭ハネ	head bump	Rule where only the player closest in turn order may ron a discard.
chii	チー	sequence call	Claiming the previous player’s discard to complete a sequence. Opens the hand.
chombo	チョンボ	penalty	A rule-breaking play (e.g. invalid ron) that pays a mangan-sized penalty.
damaten	ダマテン	silent tenpai	Being tenpai with a yaku but not declaring riichi, to stay unreadable.
dora	ドラ	bonus tile	The tile after the indicator; each copy in a winning hand adds one han.
furiten	フリテン	—	State where your own discards block you from winning by ron.
genbutsu	現物	safe tile	A tile in an opponent’s own discards — fully safe against that player’s ron (only theirs).
han	飜	value unit	The main scoring unit. Yaku and dora are counted in han.
haitei / houtei	海底 / 河底	last tile / last discard	Winning on the very last draw (haitei) or last discard (houtei) — 1 han each.
honba	本場	repeat counter	Counters for repeated/drawn hands; each adds 300 points to the next win.
ippatsu	一発	one-shot	Winning within one go-around of riichi with no calls — 1 bonus han.
jihai	字牌	honor tiles	Winds and dragons — the tiles without numbers.
kan	カン	quad	A set of four identical tiles. Adds fu, a replacement draw, and a new dora indicator.
kanchan	嵌張	middle wait	Waiting on the middle tile of a sequence (4-6 waiting on 5). 2 fu.
kuitan	喰いタン	open tanyao	Rule allowing tanyao with an open hand. Standard in WRC/EMA.
kyotaku	供託	deposit sticks	Riichi sticks left on the table; the next winner takes them.
mangan	満貫	limit hand	The first score cap: 8,000 (non-dealer) / 12,000 (dealer).
menzen	門前	closed hand	A hand with no open calls. Required for riichi and several yaku.
minkou	明刻	open triplet	A triplet completed by pon (or by ron). Less fu than concealed.
noten	ノーテン	not tenpai	Not one tile from winning at an exhaustive draw — pays the tenpai players.
penchan	辺張	edge wait	Waiting on the end of a 1-2 or 8-9 shape (needing the 3 or the 7). 2 fu.
pon	ポン	triplet call	Claiming any player’s discard to complete a triplet. Opens the hand.
riichi	立直	—	Declaring tenpai with a closed hand for 1,000 points — 1 han plus ura dora rights.
ron	ロン	discard win	Winning on an opponent’s discard. The discarder pays everything.
ryanmen	両面	two-sided wait	Waiting on either end of a sequence (6-7 waiting on 5/8). 0 fu, and required for pinfu.
ryuukyoku	流局	exhaustive draw	The wall runs out with no winner; noten players pay tenpai players.
shanten	向聴	tiles from tenpai	Distance to tenpai: 1-shanten means one effective tile away.
suji	筋	lines	Defensive reading based on 1-4-7 / 2-5-8 / 3-6-9 relationships with discarded tiles.
tanki	単騎	pair wait	Waiting on the tile that completes your pair. 2 fu.
tenpai	聴牌	ready	One tile from a complete hand.
tsumo	ツモ	self-draw	Drawing your own winning tile; all opponents pay shares.
ura dora	裏ドラ	hidden dora	Extra dora revealed under the indicators — riichi winners only.
yaku	役	scoring pattern	A recognized hand pattern worth han. Every winning hand needs at least one.
yakuhai	役牌	value tiles	Dragons, your seat wind, and the round wind — triplets worth 1 han each.
yakuman	役満	top limit hand	The highest hand class: 32,000 / 48,000 points.

Missing a term you've run into? The lessons introduce vocabulary in context — start with the course — and the yaku encyclopedia covers every hand name individually.