Tenhou and chiihou

Tenhou and chiihou

Type	Yakuman
Kanji	天和 地和
English	Heavenly hand Earthly hand
Value	Yakuman
Speed	Instant
Difficulty	Luck

Tenhou 「天和」 is a yakuman, which is attained by the dealer completing the hand on the first tile draw. In this case, no tile has been discarded; and the hand is already declared a winner, before any other action had taken place. By far, this is the fastest instance by which a player can win a hand.

Chiihou 「地和」 follows the same premise as tenhou, where the dealt hand is already tenpai and the initial tile draw results in a win. The initial hand may use any pattern, as long as 13 tiles constitute a tenpai hand, and the 14th tile is the winning tile. Unlike tenhou, chiihou applies to the non-dealers.

Under normal circumstances for both yakuman, luck and recognition are the only factors contributing towards the hands' completion.

Formation

For both tenhou and chiihou hands, no action is required from the player, other than recognition of a complete hand with the 14 dealt tiles and the declaration of a winning hand. Failure to do so may result in a lost opportunity to score this rare yakuman.

Yet, unlike tenhou, chiihou may be interrupted by tile calls prior to the tile draw; and hence the opportunity to score this yakuman. If tile calls did occur prior to the draw, then the hand is limited to a mentsumo plus any other applied yaku and/or dora.

External links

A real tenhou.

• One case of missed Tenhou
• 天和

Tenhou in Japanese Wikipedia.

• 地和

Chiihou in Japanese Wikipedia.