What is Pinfu? Riichi Mahjong's All-Sequences Yaku
Pinfu rewards one particular hand shape — all sequences, ryanmen wait, no extra fu. It is the high-frequency partner of riichi and tanyao.
What is pinfu?
Pinfu (平和, literally "peaceful hand") is a 1-han closed-hand yaku awarded for a very specific shape: four sequences plus a pair that is not a yakuhai, won on a ryanmen (two-sided) wait. The hand is built so that no part of it adds fu beyond the base 20 — pinfu is the maximum-flat hand.
What are pinfu's four conditions?
(1) The hand must be closed — no calls. (2) All four melds must be sequences (shuntsu) — no triplets, no kan. (3) The pair must not be a yakuhai — no dragons, no round wind, no seat wind. (4) The winning wait must be ryanmen — two-sided. Miss any one and the hand is not pinfu.
Why does the wait shape matter?
Pinfu is defined by adding zero fu beyond the base, and only ryanmen waits avoid the +2 fu that kanchan, penchan and tanki waits all add. Shanpon waits would force triplets, which also break the all-sequences rule. So restricting the wait to ryanmen is what keeps the fu count flat.
Does the pair tile matter beyond yakuhai?
Yes — the pair cannot be any tile that would itself score yakuhai for the player. The three dragons are always disallowed. The round wind is disallowed in that round. Your own seat wind is disallowed for your seat. A pair of East tiles is fine for a West-seat player in a South round, but not for an East-seat player in an East round.
How does pinfu interact with tsumo?
A self-draw normally adds 2 fu. Pinfu tsumo explicitly negates that bonus, so the hand stays at 20 fu whether won by ron or tsumo. The trade-off is asymmetric: a ron pinfu rounds up to 30 fu (20 base + 10 menzen-ron bonus), while a tsumo pinfu stays at 20 fu. Different fu, different points.
Train the pattern
Look at each hand and decide before revealing the answer.
123m 456m 234p 567s 99s
Reveal answer
Four sequences (123m, 456m, 234p, 567s) plus a 9s pair. 9s is not a yakuhai, so the pair is fine. The hand is closed and contains no triplets. If the winning tile completed any of the sequences on a two-sided shape (e.g. won 6s on a 5-7s wait), pinfu scores.
123m 456m 234p 567s 77z
Reveal answer
7z is chun (red dragon), a yakuhai for every player. Pinfu's third condition forbids any yakuhai pair, so this hand fails even though every meld is a sequence.
123m 456m 234p 777s 99s
Reveal answer
777s is a triplet (kotsu). Pinfu's second condition is all four melds must be sequences. One triplet breaks it — and a triplet also adds fu, which the no-extra-fu rule forbids.