Jihai
Jihai 「字牌」 are the honor tiles. Sometimes, they are referred to as "word tiles". Unlike the numbered suits, these tiles cannot be mixed together to form tile groups. Instead, they must be identical; and thus, they are limited to triplets. Furthermore, this class of mahjong tiles is subdivided into two smaller groups: sangenpai (dragons) and kazehai (winds).
Sangenpai
 |
 |
|
| Haku | Hatsu | Chun |
Sangenpai 「三元牌」 consists of the dragon tiles. These are easily identifiable by their color. As for the haku, or white dragon, this tile is simply a plan blank tile; and as a note, Chinese sets mark this tile with a bluish rectangle. Collection of these tiles gives anyone's hand an instant yaku.
With regards to dora, the tile order is indicated by the table to the right.
Collection of three sets produces the daisangen yakuman. In this case, open collection of two out of the three type may trigger a sign for an impending yakuman; or at least, it may indicate shousangen. Either case, two open sangenpai groups in one player's hand definitely indicates a threatening hand.
Kazehai
 |
 |
 |
|
| Ton | Nan | Shaa | Pei |
Kazehai 「風牌」 consists of the wind tiles. They are denoted as East, South, West, and North tiles in order. As many players notice, the wind order does not emulate the Western cardinal counterclockwise order of: East, North, West, and South. For the mahjong order, two of the four cardinal directions are swapped, to produce the counterclockwise order of: East, South, West, and North.
For yakuhai, the wind tiles directly corresponds to wind seating. The dealer is always seated East. To the right of the dealer is always South; across is always West; and the dealer's left is always seated North. As the dealer position rotates counterclockwise at appropriate time, the wind seating rotates along with the position. Collecting tile groups of all four types into one hand produces the wind based yakuman.
With regards to dora, the wind order mimics that of the seat wind order. It is important to note the dealer position, as well as the seat wind order in order to properly use yakuhai.
See also
External links
- Jihai in Japanese Wikipedia