Renhou 「人和」 is an optional yaku. It is scored when a player declares ron with their starting hand, before drawing their first tile, and before anyone makes a tile call. Only non-dealers may invoke renhou, since the dealer gets the first draw (and discard) of the game.

Renhou
Type Optional yaku
Kanji 人和
English Hand of man
Value Variable
Speed Near instant
Difficulty Luck

It can be considered the ron equivalent of chiihou. Unlike chiihou, renhou is not always scored as a yakuman; it may be worth less, depending on the ruleset.

Variations

 
Renhou scored with real tiles.

Because of number of variations and interpretations to renhou, it is viewed as optional.

Renhou can be set to a mangan hand by default. If a hand could score more by using regular yaku/dora, it will be scored as the higher value. Otherwise, it is a mangan. If a hand has no other yaku, it is scored as a mangan, even if dora would bring it above that.
Likewise, it can be set as a yakuman.
A few rulesets set renhou as a baiman, though this is relatively rare.
Renhou may be considered as a yaku, which is cumulative with other yaku. It is frequently set at 4 han, so that the hand is always worth mangan at minimum.
  • Nashi
Renhou may not be used at all.

External links

Renhou in Japanese Wikipedia