Chinroutou

Chinroutou

Chinroutou (清老頭, ちんろーとう) is a yakuman where your entire 14-tile hand consists solely of terminal tiles—the 1s and 9s of each suit. No simples (2-8) or honor tiles (winds/dragons) are allowed. The name translates to “all terminals” or “pure terminals.”

Detailed Explanation

Requirements

To achieve chinroutou, all 14 tiles must be terminals:

• 1-man, 1-pin, 1-sou (the three 1-tiles)
• 9-man, 9-pin, 9-sou (the three 9-tiles)
• No other tiles: Cannot contain simples (2-8) or honors

Since there are only six different terminal tile types and terminals cannot form middle sequences, chinroutou hands always consist of:

• Four triplets of terminals (e.g., 1-1-1, 9-9-9)
• One pair of terminals

Extreme Rarity

Chinroutou is one of the rarest yakuman because:

• Limited tiles: Only 24 terminal tiles exist in the set (four each of six types)
• Triplet requirement: Terminals cannot form sequences like 1-2-3 or 7-8-9 when restricted to 1s and 9s only, so you must form triplets
• Toitoi structure: Since all melds must be triplets, you need four triplets from just six tile types—statistically very difficult

Many experienced players have never achieved chinroutou despite thousands of hands.

Strategic Considerations

Toitoi Requirement: Chinroutou always includes toitoi (all triplets) since terminals at extremes cannot form sequences. Yakuman overrides toitoi, so you score only yakuman.

Open-Friendly: Like other yakuman, chinroutou maintains full yakuman value when open. You can call pon on terminal discards without penalty.

Honroutou Foundation: If your hand contains honors alongside terminals, it becomes honroutou (terminals and honors only) worth 2 han instead of yakuman. Chinroutou is the pure, no-honors version of honroutou.

Comparison to Similar Yaku

Chinroutou (all terminals): Yakuman Honroutou (terminals + honors): 2 han, not yakuman Junchan (terminals in every meld): 3 han (closed) or 2 han (open), allows simples

Chinroutou is the strictest and most valuable of these terminal-focused patterns.

Usage Example

You draw several 1s and 9s early and commit to chinroutou. You call pon on 1-bamboo and 9-characters. Later, you self-draw triplets of 9-dots and 1-characters. Your final hand: 1-1-1 bamboo, 1-1-1 characters, 9-9-9 characters, 9-9-9 dots (four terminal triplets), plus a pair of 1-man or 9-man. No simples, no honors—pure terminals. When you win, you declare chinroutou (yakuman), scoring 8,000 base points (32,000 total for non-dealer) or 12,000 base points (48,000 total for dealer).

Related Terms

Honroutou: Terminals and honors yaku (2 han). Chinroutou is the pure-terminals version worth yakuman.

Terminal: The 1 and 9 tiles of each suit. Chinroutou requires only terminals.

Toitoi: All triplets yaku. Chinroutou always includes toitoi since terminals at extremes cannot form sequences.

Yakuman: The highest-value hand patterns. Chinroutou is one of the rarest yakuman.