Double riichi ダブル立直 · daburu riichi

Short answer: Double riichi is a 2-han riichi declared with a closed hand on your very first discard, before anyone has called a tile — one han more than an ordinary riichi.

Declare riichi on your first discard of the hand, before any call — worth 2 han instead of 1.

Value	2 han — closed hands only
How often	rare

Mahjong hand: 3 of characters, 4 of characters, 5 of characters — 6 of circles, 7 of circles, 8 of circles — 2 of bamboo, 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 5 of circles, 5 of circles — 6 of bamboo, 7 of bamboo, winning tile: 8 of bamboo — Riichi declared on your very first discard.

Check for it before anything else: the moment you sort your starting tiles, ask whether the hand is already tenpai テンパイ — and if it isn't, whether your very first draw gets you there (see riichi and tenpai). Either way qualifies: declaring riichi with your very first discard is worth 2 han instead of 1. The window is exactly one discard wide — take a turn to reshape the hand and any later declaration is a normal riichi. One outside event can also downgrade it: if anyone calls chii, pon, or kan before your first discard, the double is off, though the declaration still counts as a regular riichi.

The common dilemma is a thin wait. First-turn tenpai hands often wait on an edge shape or a single tile, and it's tempting to spend a turn improving that. Doing so costs the extra han and the earliest possible ippatsu 一発 window. Most of the time, declaring immediately is right: a full hand of draws at even a thin wait, plus ura dora on the win, usually beats a slightly better wait one turn later. And the stack builds fast — double riichi, ippatsu, and a self-draw is 4 han before any dora.

Key points

You must be tenpai by your first discard — dealt tenpai or reaching it on your very first draw both qualify
Any call before your first turn cancels the double and it reverts to normal riichi
All normal riichi rules apply: locked hand, ura dora, the 1,000-point stick

Worked example

Mahjong hand: 2 of characters, 3 of characters, 4 of characters — 6 of characters, 7 of characters, 8 of characters — 3 of circles, 4 of circles, 5 of circles — 9 of circles, 9 of circles — 5 of bamboo, 6 of bamboo, winning tile: 7 of bamboo — The first draw left this hand tenpai on 5s-6s (waiting on 4s or 7s). Riichi on the first discard, then a 7s wins it.

Your first draw makes the hand tenpai: four complete blocks — 234m, 678m, 345p, and the 99p pair — plus 56s. You discard the one tile that doesn't fit, turn it sideways, and put out the 1,000-point stick. Nobody has called chii, pon, or kan yet, so this is double riichi.

Two turns later an opponent discards the 7s. The hand scores double riichi (2 han) plus pinfu (1 han: all sequences, a plain pair, a two-sided wait) — 3 han 30 fu, 3,900 points for a non-dealer win before dora and ura dora. Had the win come within one go-around of the declaration, ippatsu would add another han.

Common mistakes

Waiting a turn to improve the wait. The window is one discard wide; declare on the second discard and it is ordinary riichi.
Forgetting that someone else's call ends the chance. A chii, pon, or kan anywhere at the table before your first discard downgrades a first-turn riichi to a normal one.
Counting double riichi and riichi together. Double riichi replaces riichi — the total is 2 han, not 3.

Related yaku

Riichi 立直 — Declare that you are one tile from winning, with a closed hand, by betting a 1,000-point stick.
Ippatsu 一発 — Win within one go-around of your riichi declaration, with no calls in between.

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