Today and tomorrow we’ll take a quick look at Rinshan Kaihou and Chankan. These two yaku are related to the formation of kans. If you’ve ever read or seen Saki, you probably are familiar with these yaku.
Basics: Rinshan Kaihou (嶺上開花) or Rinshan (嶺上) for short is a yaku worth 1 han. It is given to a hand that wins off of the supplemental tile after declaring a kan. The literal meaning of Rinshan Kaihou is “a flower blooms on a ridge.” When you declare a kan, you draw an additional tile from the dead wall so that you will have enough tiles to complete your sets. If you win on rinshan, then you are allowed to use any kandora created.
Thoughts: Rinshan is a fairly rare yaku as it requires a player to kan while in tenpai AND win. Something to watch out for is when you are allowed to kan. You may not kan on the same turn that you call pon or chii. Sometimes people will hold onto 4 of a kinds in homes of kanning later and getting rinshan. A note on some yaku combinations. Ippatsu and rinshan can’t be scored at the same time. Same goes for haitei.
Sometimes there is a rule called sekinin barai (責任払い) or pao (包/パオ) which makes a player who discards a live tile that is used in an open kan for a rinshan win is liable to pay all the points. Here’s what this means. Suppose you play a live tile (one that has not been played yet) and someone calls kan. If they win by rinshan kaihou on the dead wall draw in that turn, then you have to pay the full value of the hand for the tsumo. It is possible for the player to declare successive kans in the same turn, but as long as they win before they have to discard, then you are still liable. This rule is not always used but is something to watch out for.
That’s all for today. Tomorrow will be more discussion on kans.
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