Four kans 四槓子 · suu kantsu

Short answer: Suukantsu is a yakuman, open or closed, for declaring four kans in one hand and then winning on the single remaining pair tile, paying 32,000 or 48,000 as dealer.

Declare four kans in one hand — then win with the single remaining pair.

Value	Yakuman
How often	very rare

Mahjong hand: 1 of characters, 1 of characters, 1 of characters, 1 of characters — 3 of circles, 3 of circles, 3 of circles, 3 of circles — 5 of bamboo, 5 of bamboo, 5 of bamboo, 5 of bamboo — red dragon, red dragon, red dragon, red dragon — 9 of characters, 9 of characters — Four kans declared by one player, any mix of open and closed.

Nobody sits down planning four kans. Suukantsu grows out of a pon-heavy hand, usually a toitoi shape, where triplet after triplet picks up its fourth tile. Each kan you declare draws a replacement from the dead wall, flips a new dora ドラ indicator, and hands that same dora to every opponent still attacking — so the third and fourth declarations take real nerve.

After the fourth kan your hand is a bare single-tile wait on the pair, and some of these hands end with rinshan, winning on the replacement draw itself. Know the draw rule before you try: in rulesets that use abortive draws, four kans split among different players abort the hand, but when one player owns all four, play continues for everyone. The classic mistake sits earlier, though — declaring casual kans in ordinary hands, where the new dora helps your opponents at least as often as it helps you.

Key points

After four kans the hand is a bare pair wait
Generally considered the rarest yakuman in real play
Four kans by one player also interacts with the four-kan abortive-draw rule — when one player holds all four, play continues

Worked example

Mahjong hand: 2 of characters, 2 of characters, 2 of characters, 2 of characters — 5 of circles, 5 of circles, 5 of circles, 5 of circles — 7 of bamboo, 7 of bamboo, 7 of bamboo, 7 of bamboo — green dragon, green dragon, green dragon, green dragon — North wind, winning tile: North wind — Four kans on the table — 2m, 5p, 7s, and Green dragons — and a single North wind waiting for its partner.

After four kans only one tile is left in your hand. Here it is a North wind, so the hand is a bare pair wait on another North. Draw it or claim it, and the hand completes as eighteen tiles: four quads and a pair.

Suukantsu is a yakuman: 32,000 for a non-dealer, 48,000 for the dealer. Some of these hands finish on a replacement tile after the fourth kan, which is also rinshan kaihou — but at yakuman the extra han no longer changes the payment.

Common mistakes

Counting three kans as a yakuman. Three kans is sankantsu, 2 han.
Forgetting the draw rule. In rulesets that use abortive draws, four kans split between different players ends the hand; one player holding all four plays on. WRC and EMA use no abortive draws — see your first game.
Ignoring what each kan gives away. Every kan flips a new dora indicator for the whole table.

Related yaku

Three kans 三槓子 — Declare three kans in one hand — open, closed, or added, in any mix.
After-kan win 嶺上開花 — Win on the replacement tile you draw after declaring a kan — “blossom on the ridge.”

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