Tiles

In Riichi Mahjong, the first thing you should know about are the tiles. Before you can start learning the rules, it's best to know what the suits and honours are.

On this page a description of the different kinds of tiles can be found.

Suits

There are three suits in Riichi Mahjong: Pin, Sou, and Wan. These three suits make up a majority of the tiles in Riichi Mahjong, and number 1 through to 9.

Pin Tiles

Also known as dots.

Sou Tiles

Also known as bamboos.

Wan Tiles

Also known as mans or characters.

The 1 and 9 of each suit is known as a terminal.

The 1 and 9 of Pin, Wan, and Sou, also known as the terminals.

Honours

Honours are tiles that do not fall under the three suits in Riichi Mahjong. These include the three dragons and four wind tiles.

Dragons

There are three dragons: Haku (White dragon), Hatsu (Green dragon), and Chun (Red dragon). The haku is not always blank, and may have a blue square-like shape instead. Additionally, the Hatsu symbol is slightly different in Japan from the usual symbol.

From left to right: Hatsu (Green),
Chun (Red), and Haku (White).

Wind Tiles

There are four wind tiles: Ton (East), Nan (South), Sha (West), and Pei (North).

From left to right: Ton (East), Nan (South),
Sha (West), and Pei (North).

Also worth noting is that there are four of each tile in Riichi Mahjong, making a total of 136 tiles.

Four haku tiles to show that there are four of each tile.