What is Rinshan Kaihou? Mahjong Yaku Explained
Rinshan Kaihou is the 1 han yaku for winning on the rinshan tile — the replacement draw that follows a kan. It is rare but easy to grasp; here is exactly how it works.
What is Rinshan Kaihou?
Rinshan Kaihou (嶺上開花, literally "flower bloom on the ridge") is a 1 han yaku that scores when you win by tsumo on the very tile drawn from the rinshan — the dead wall's four-tile replacement pile — right after declaring a kan. The name evokes a flower opening at the edge of a mountain ridge: a small, unlikely flourish.
When exactly does Rinshan Kaihou score?
Three things must happen in sequence on the same turn: (1) you declare any kan — ankan, daiminkan or shouminkan; (2) you draw the rinshan replacement tile; (3) that drawn tile completes your hand and you call tsumo. If you draw the rinshan and then discard normally, no yaku — the win has to land on the rinshan draw itself.
Does any kind of kan qualify?
Yes — concealed (ankan), open (daiminkan) and upgraded (shouminkan) all trigger a rinshan draw, and winning on that draw scores the yaku for any of them. The yaku is about the draw, not the kan variant. Note that daiminkan opens the hand, so a rinshan win off a daiminkan cannot stack with menzen-only yaku like riichi or pinfu.
Can Rinshan Kaihou stack with other yaku?
It stacks with most yaku as long as the hand otherwise qualifies. Common companions: tanyao (if the hand has no terminals or honors), yakuhai (if it includes a value-tile triplet — and a daiminkan on a yakuhai is a textbook setup), toitoi (since kans count as a flavour of triplet), and sanankou or suuankou if enough triplets are concealed. It cannot stack with chankan — those are mutually exclusive scenarios — and the kan itself usually rules out riichi (you cannot declare a kan after riichi without an ankan whose shape doesn't change the wait).
How rare is Rinshan Kaihou in practice?
Quite rare — typical estimates put it at well under 0.5 percent of all wins, often closer to 0.1 percent. Two conditions must coincide: a kan declaration (already uncommon on its own) and the replacement tile completing a tenpai hand (low base rate). Most players collect a handful per year of casual play. It is one of the small joys of the game when it lands.