Junchan

Conditions

• Every meld in the hand must include at least one terminal tile (1 or 9)
• The pair must also be a terminal tile (1 or 9)
• No honor tiles (winds or dragons) are allowed anywhere in the hand
• Valid sequences are limited to 1-2-3 and 7-8-9; valid triplets are 1-1-1 and 9-9-9
• Worth 3 han when the hand is closed, 2 han when open
• This is the pure version of chanta (which allows honors)

Strategy Tips

• Junchan is stricter than chanta because it forbids all honor tiles. Only pursue it when your hand is rich in terminals and edge sequences but has few or no honors.
• The hand often works well with sanshoku doujun if you can align 1-2-3 or 7-8-9 across all three suits, giving a significant han boost.
• Since valid melds are very limited (only 1-2-3 sequences, 7-8-9 sequences, and terminal triplets), your opponents can often read your hand. Prioritize completing the hand quickly over maximizing han value.