Chuuren Poutou
九蓮宝燈 | Chuuren Poutou
Form the pattern 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 in one suit plus any extra tile of that same suit.
By Kenji Tanaka · Updated
Overview
Chuuren poutou, the nine gates, is a yakuman and one of the most prized hands in mahjong, built from a single suit in the shape 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 plus any one extra tile of that same suit. It must be fully concealed. The hand is famous for its elegance and its pure wait: when held in the exact 1112345678999 form before the final tile, it is tenpai on all nine tiles of the suit at once, a nine-sided wait that many rule sets reward as a double yakuman. Because it requires gathering almost an entire suit in one closed hand, chuuren poutou is extraordinarily rare and is usually approached only from a heavily one-suited start, effectively as a closed chinitsu that happens to reach the nine-gates shape. Completing it is considered a landmark achievement, and superstition even holds that drawing a true nine gates is unlucky for the player.
Example Hand
1m 1m 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m 6m 7m 8m 9m 9m 9m 5m
Conditions
- The hand must contain the base pattern 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 all in a single suit
- The 14th tile must be any tile of that same suit (1 through 9), which determines the final hand structure
- The hand must be closed — no open calls allowed
- All tiles must be from a single suit (the hand is inherently also a chinitsu, but the yakuman supersedes)
- Some rulesets award double yakuman for a “pure” nine gates: when the hand is the exact 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 pattern waiting on any of the nine tiles (a 9-sided wait)
Strategy Tips
- Chuuren poutou requires a very specific distribution of tiles in one suit. Look for it when your starting hand has large clusters of one suit including multiple 1s and 9s alongside a spread of middle tiles. If you have 10 or more tiles of one suit including terminals, it may be worth pursuing.
- Because chuuren poutou must be closed, you cannot call chi or pon to accelerate it. This means you are entirely dependent on self-draws, making it one of the hardest yakuman to complete.
- Even if you don’t complete the exact chuuren poutou pattern, a hand heading in this direction is likely to achieve chinitsu (6 han closed), which is still an excellent result. Treat chinitsu as your fallback and chuuren poutou as the dream outcome.