Riichi 立直 · riichi

Declare that you are one tile from winning, with a closed hand, by betting a 1,000-point stick.

Value	1 han — closed hands only
How often	very common

Mahjong hand: 4 of characters, 5 of characters, 6 of characters — 7 of characters, 8 of characters, 9 of characters — 1 of circles, 2 of circles, 3 of circles — 8 of bamboo, 8 of bamboo — 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo, winning tile: 2 of bamboo — Any closed tenpai hand qualifies — declare riichi, place a 1,000-point stick, and your hand is locked.

You're looking for one specific moment: your hand is closed and one tile from complete, the state called tenpai テンパイ. Say "riichi", turn your discard sideways, and put a 1,000-point stick on the table. From then on the hand plays itself: you draw, and you either win or discard what you drew (one exception — a closed kan on a drawn tile that doesn't change your wait). If tenpai still feels fuzzy, start with riichi and tenpai.

The real skill is deciding whether to declare at all. Riichi adds a han, unlocks ura dora 裏ドラ, and pressures the table; the price is that you can no longer adapt, and everyone knows you're one tile out. As a beginner, declare by default. The value usually beats the flexibility you give up. One check you should never skip: make sure your winning tile isn't already in your own discards. That's furiten フリテン, and it blocks you from winning off opponents' discards — see furiten.

Riichi also rarely arrives alone. Win by self-draw and menzen tsumo joins. Win within one go-around — with no calls in between — and so does ippatsu. A sequence hand on a two-sided wait often carries pinfu too, and the ura dora you flip at the end can turn a quiet declaration into a big hand.

Key points

Requires a closed hand (no calls); most Japanese rules also require 1,000 points on hand to bet, though WRC 2025 rules (§8.9, no-bankruptcy play) allow declaring even when short
After declaring, you cannot change your hand — you draw and discard until the hand ends (one exception: a closed kan on a drawn tile that doesn't change your wait)
Unlocks ura dora (hidden dora under the indicators) when you win
The single most common yaku in the game — the beginner's default path to a valid hand

Related yaku

Ippatsu 一発 — Win within one go-around of your riichi declaration, with no calls in between.
Double riichi 両立直 — Declare riichi on your first discard of the hand, before any call — worth 2 han instead of 1.
Fully closed self-draw 門前清自摸和 — Complete a closed hand by drawing the winning tile yourself.

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