# Tenpai — Riichi Mahjong Glossary

> Ready to win with one tile away from completing a winning hand. Required to declare riichi in Japanese mahjong.

**Source:** https://www.mahjongmaster.co/learn/riichi/glossary/tenpai/
**Author:** Kenji Tanaka (https://www.mahjongmaster.co/about/kenji-tanaka/)
**Publisher:** Mahjong Master (https://www.mahjongmaster.co)
**Published:** 2026-02-18
**Updated:** 2026-03-10
**Japanese:** 聴牌
**Category:** hand-structure
**Variant:** riichi

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## Tenpai

**Tenpai** (聴牌) is a hand state in mahjong where a player is exactly one tile away from completing a winning hand (agari). This is a critical hand condition that enables the declaration of riichi.

## How Tenpai plays out at the table

In mahjong, tenpai represents the penultimate stage of hand development. When your hand is in tenpai, you need to draw or obtain exactly one specific tile (or sometimes multiple different tiles) to achieve a winning hand. This tile is called the "winning tile" or "agari tile."

The concept of tenpai is fundamental to Japanese mahjong strategy. A hand in tenpai is considered "ready" and positions you to win on your next draw or when an opponent discards your winning tile. The number of different tiles that can complete your hand is called the "wait" – for example, if you can win on any of four different tile types, you have a four-sided wait.

Tenpai is a prerequisite for declaring riichi, one of the most important special declarations in Japanese mahjong. You cannot declare riichi unless your hand is in tenpai. Once you declare riichi, your hand becomes locked – you cannot change the tiles you're waiting for, and you must continue drawing until you either win or the hand ends in an exhaustive draw.

The hand state immediately before tenpai is called iishanten (一向聴), meaning you are two tiles away from winning. Understanding the relationship between shanten levels helps players plan their strategy and know when they're close to being able to declare riichi.

It's worth noting that being in tenpai doesn't guarantee a win. Your opponents may discard tiles that don't help you, or you might draw tiles that don't complete your hand. Additionally, if the game reaches the end of the round without anyone winning, players in tenpai receive bonus points (tenpai bonus) while players not in tenpai (noten) pay penalties.

## Seeing Tenpai in play

Consider a player whose 13-tile hand contains: 2-man, 3-man, 4-man, 5-pin, 6-pin, 7-pin, 1-sou, 1-sou, 1-sou, 5-sou, 6-sou, East wind, East wind.

This hand is tenpai: three complete groups (2-3-4 man, 5-6-7 pin, the 1-sou triplet), the East wind pair, and a 5-6 sou shape waiting on 4-sou or 7-sou to finish the last sequence. Since the hand is closed, the player could declare riichi here, signaling to opponents that they are one tile from winning.

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*This content is from [Mahjong Master](https://www.mahjongmaster.co), a free educational reference for riichi (Japanese) and American (NMJL) mahjong. When citing this page, please link to https://www.mahjongmaster.co/learn/riichi/glossary/tenpai/.*