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Mahjong Master
advanced Yakuman Very Rare

Chinroutou

清老頭 | Chinroutou

Chinroutou is a yakuman scoring 13 han for a hand made entirely of 1s and 9s. Examples, formation tips, and how it compares to honroutou.

By Kenji Tanaka · Updated

Overview

Chinroutou, all terminals, is a yakuman in which every tile in your hand is a terminal, a 1 or a 9, with no simples and no honors anywhere. Since terminals cannot form sequences, the hand is necessarily made of terminal triplets (or quads) plus a terminal pair, so it always overlaps with toitoi and often with sanankou or suuankou when the triplets are concealed. It is one of the rarest yakuman because it draws only from the eight terminal types, the 1 and 9 of three suits, each limited to four copies, which makes assembling four sets plus a pair extremely difficult and usually dependent on calling pon from a terminal-heavy start. Opponents recognize the threat as terminal triplets appear and defend accordingly. Chinroutou is closely related to honroutou (terminals and honors, a non-yakuman 2-han hand); using terminals only, with no honors, is what elevates it to yakuman status.

Han Value
Yakuman

Example Hand

111m 999m 111p 999s 9p 9p

Conditions

  • Every tile in the hand must be a terminal tile: 1 or 9 of any suit
  • No honor tiles, no middle tiles (2-8) are allowed
  • The hand can be open — calling pon on terminals is allowed
  • The hand must consist entirely of triplets (or kans) plus a pair, since sequences cannot be formed with only 1s and 9s
  • There are only six types of terminal tiles (1m, 9m, 1p, 9p, 1s, 9s) and you need five different types (four triplets + one pair), so the hand is extremely constrained

Strategy Tips

  • With only six types of terminal tiles available, chinroutou is one of the most constrained yakuman. You need triplets from five of the six types plus a pair from the sixth, meaning nearly every terminal tile in the game must cooperate.
  • If your starting hand is heavy on terminals and honors, consider whether honroutou (all terminals and honors, worth toitoi + honroutou for a combined mangan-level hand) might be more achievable. Chinroutou is the pure terminal version and is vastly harder.
  • Watch the discard piles and open melds carefully. If other players are using terminals for their own hands (such as chanta or junchan sequences), the remaining terminals may not be enough to complete chinroutou.