Yakuhai: Seat Wind: 1-Han Riichi Yaku With Example Hand

Overview

Your seat wind (jikaze) is personal: East if you are the dealer, then South, West, and North counter-clockwise around the table. A triplet of it scores 1 han, open or closed, and unlike the round wind it stays yours as long as you hold the seat, though it changes every time the deal rotates. That rotation creates one of riichi's small reading skills: a wind is a value tile for exactly one player and a worthless guest wind for the other three, so the same tile is a keeper in one hand and an easy early discard in another. Watching who holds onto which winds is free information. The dealer's East in the East round is the double wind, 2 han from a single triplet, and seat-wind triplets count toward shousuushii and daisuushii like any other wind set.

Conditions

Your hand must contain a triplet or quad of the wind tile that matches your current seat wind (East, South, West, or North)
Your seat wind rotates as the dealer position changes: the dealer is always East, the player to the right is South, across is West, and to the left is North
The triplet can be open or closed — you can call pon on a discarded wind tile
If your seat wind is also the round wind, the triplet counts as two separate yakuhai (1 han each, for 2 han total)

Strategy Tips

Always know what your seat wind is at the start of each hand. It changes every time the dealer rotates. The tiles that are “your” wind are only valuable to you (and potentially to the round wind player), so keep track.
Wind tiles that aren’t your seat wind or the round wind are completely valueless for yakuhai. Discard guest winds early. But be careful — what’s a guest wind for you might be a seat wind or round wind for someone else.
If you’re the dealer (East) in an East round, your East wind triplet is worth 2 han because it counts as both seat wind and round wind. This makes East seat in East round especially powerful for fast, high-value hands.