Houchi rules

Assessment

Confidence

documented a published ruleset or rule description exists and is cited

Evidence

corroborated two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

Cross-comparison

What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.

• [1] Amano Daizou published rules in the newspaper Houchi Shinbun between 11 November and 5 December 1952, for a game heavily based on tochuu riichi which he called simply riichi; the Houchi rules established the dora as the third tile from the edge of the dead wall. Amano then left the Federation and founded the Japanese Mahjong Association
• [5] independently states that the riichi variant played today emerged only after the publication of the Hochi rules in 1952, corroborating the Chombo Club account from a different source
• [6] independently confirms the 1952 Hochi Shinbun publication as the first standardised riichi rules, the report to the police by someone connected with the Mahjong Association of Japan, Amano's departure as its executive director, and his founding of the Japan Tile Association 日本牌棋院. Gives his dates as 1904-1982, which matches the other account's statement that the Federation accepted riichi in 2016, thirty-four years after his death
• [1] Played as tontonsen, two East rounds, East 1 to East 8. Furiten applied only to the tile itself discarded. Yaku went by names nearer the Chinese (pin-hou, ii-chii-ton-kan, shii-san-yao-chuu). The 1957 Tokyo rules then brought in the one-han minimum
• [7] Amano Daizō, born 1904 in Yamanashi, published the 立直麻雀標準規定, known as the Houchi rules, in the Hōchi Shinbun in 1952: the first written rules for riichi and dora. After he published them at the end of 1952, someone connected with the Japan Mahjong Federation, which did not accept mid-game riichi, informed the police; he was cleared, stripped of his Federation sixth dan and board seat, and founded the Nihon Haikiin. Later: the 1957 one-han rules (Tokyo rules); in 1958 the 日本麻雀一飜縛理規程, the 'unified rules', merging the Houchi and Tokyo rules; the 1967 modern rules; and a 1978 'new Houchi rules' that would abolish the dead wall and did not spread. Died 1982
• [2] Amano set riichi down in the Hōchi Shinbun in 1952 and it spread from there; these first written riichi rules are said to have shaped the post-war game. Riichi was at first a declaration on the first discard only, today's double riichi; mid-game riichi spread after the war and took the name. The rule is traced to Manchuria, brought back by repatriates
• [3] Dora began in Kansai bū mahjong in the late 1940s and counted one han each from about 1947-48. The Houchi rules of 1952 wrote them down; the present rule, the tile after the third from the end of the dead wall, followed in about 1953-54
• [4] Dora began just after the war in Kansai bū mahjong, brought by a player back from Manchuria or devised by the parlours. The shown-tile and next-tile rules ran side by side for a time, until the next tile settled. Kan dora and ura-dora came later
• [8] Riichi began as a north Chinese local rule, a declaration of ready on the first discard; Asami cites Furuya Tokutarō in the Federation's 麻雀タイムス no. 1 (April 1948) and Nakamura Tokusaburō (1924), who gives 立直 as the southern name and 控聴 the northern. About 1940 Japanese in Manchuria began declaring mid-game, calling out '新體制!' or '大東亜!'; after the war mid-game riichi spread through Japan under the name 立直. The derivation from English 'reach' is a fabrication
• [9] A 2003 Asahi column from Harbin reports a local game without winds or dragons in which riichi is compulsory, after at least one call. The accepted account is that Manchurian riichi came to Japan with post-war repatriates, and that mid-game riichi was taken up by Kwantung Army officers there; the Harbin game could also be a re-import
• [10] The appendix, from p. 217, is 「昭和二十八年度制定 立直麻雀標準規定（一名報知ルール）」: the standard riichi rules enacted for Shōwa 28 (1953), also called the Houchi rules; then 「立直麻雀正打法」. Chapters on riichi, scoring, yaku and 'the strict discipline of the standard rules' (標準規程のきびしい躾, p. 131)
• [11] Appendices: 「昭和二十八年度制定立直麻雀標準規定（別名、報知ルール）」 from p. 212 and 「昭和三十年度日本麻雀連盟競技規定（別名、連盟ルール）」 from p. 231. Sections on the history of riichi (立直の変遷), the riichi deposit, false riichi and the one-han minimum
• [12] Title page advertises a supplement charting winning hands under the riichi 'unified rules' (統一ルール) and the 'Houchi rules'; the last section is 「昭和三十五年度改正日本麻雀一飜縛理規定」, the 1960 revision of the one-han rules

Reading it

Amano and 1952 are well supported; what 1952 marks needs care. The newspaper serial ran from 11 November to 5 December 1952 (Chombo Club). Japanese Wikipedia, riichi.wiki and Asami Ryō all make it the first written riichi rules, and Japanese Wikipedia the first written dora. But Amano's own books of 1954 and 1956 print the standard as 'enacted for Shōwa 28', which is 1953, so the version that circulated as the Houchi rules carries a 1953 date. Neither the serial nor the appendix text could be read to say whether they differ. The sources also split on the dora: the Chombo Club puts the third-tile indicator in the Houchi rules, while Japanese Wikipedia, citing Ōkuma Hideo (1974), dates it a year or two after. What the rules wrote down was older: a first-discard declaration in north China, mid-game riichi among Japanese in Manchuria from about 1940, and dora in post-war Kansai parlours (Asami). The rules did not stay separate for long. In 1958 Amano merged them with his 1957 Tokyo rules into the 'unified rules', though his 1960 book still charts both. He issued a 'new Houchi rules' in 1978, and the Hōchi Shinbun published a Heisei edition under Ide Yōsuke in 1997. Amano's birth year is 1904 in Japanese Wikipedia and riichi.wiki, 1905 in the National Diet Library's catalogue.

Looked for, not found

• Tournament rules A general standard, not an event's rules. The Haikiin's entry in the first Shūkan Taishū Meijinsen (1970) is in Japanese Wikipedia; that event's rules were not looked for.
• Law No source names a law: the 1952 report to the police is told without a charge, and the matter was dropped. No law text was read for this pass.
• Scholarship CiNii Research found nothing on the rules. A 2024 IPSJ technical report from Future University Hakodate surfaced in web search; its Japanese text would not extract, and its figures and links (M-League, Tenhou) point to mahjong AI, not history.
• Forum Not searched: Reddit and BoardGameGeek refuse automated readers.
• Commercial Not searched: no platform plays the 1952 rules.
• Organisation No site for the Nihon Haikiin: a Japanese search for it returned only the Go association Nihon Ki-in, and Japanese Wikipedia says its Nishi-Shinjuku parlour closed about 2020. The Hōchi Shinbun's site was not searched.
• Collection Not searched; the Mahjong Museum's catalogue is wanted under Modern riichi.

Known, not yet read

Sources that look worth having but could not be read for this entry. If you can reach one, it can be read and added. Every variant’s list is gathered on Missing sources.

• Official rules Amano Daizō, 「立直麻雀標準規定」, serialised in the Hōchi Shinbun 報知新聞, 11 November - 5 December 1952 — The rules as first published; the books of 1954 and 1956 print a version dated 1953.
  Where: The Hōchi Shinbun's archive, or a library holding the paper on microfilm.. Tried: Not digitised; NDL Search finds only books (2026-10-08).
• Rulebook Amano Daizō, 『リーチ麻雀を始める人のために』 (1954), appendix p. 217: 昭和二十八年度制定 立直麻雀標準規定 — The earliest book printing of the standard, with Amano's own date for it.
  Where: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2466661. Tried: Contents list read 2026-10-08; the pages are open to registered users of the NDL's individuals' service.
• Rulebook 井出洋介 監修, 『平成版 麻雀新報知ルール : Q&A付』, 報知新聞社, 1997 (ISBN 4-8319-0118-0) — The newspaper's own later edition; Japanese Wikipedia cites p. 22 for the 1952 rules' influence.
  Where: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000002615147. Tried: NDL record read 2026-10-08; the digital copy is for NDL premises only.
• Historical 大隈秀夫, 『立直一代 : 日本麻雀裏面史 天野大三の78年』, 竹書房, 1983 — The biography behind Japanese Wikipedia's account of the police report and Amano's break with the Federation.
  Where: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000001652706. Tried: NDL record read 2026-10-08; print only.
• Journalism 『近代麻雀』 vol. 30 no. 7 (March 2008), p. 14, 「麻雀新撰組 in the 70s'」 — Japanese Wikipedia's source for Amano setting riichi down in 1952.
  Where: Print (Takeshobo).. Tried: Print only.
• Guide 大隈秀夫, 『マージャン金言集』, 光文社, 1974, pp. 162-163 — Japanese Wikipedia's source for dating the third-tile dora to 1953-54, after the Houchi rules.
  Where: Print.. Tried: Print only.

Where it was searched

Every place the search checklist names for this variant’s languages, and what each gave, including nothing. The last full pass was on 2026-10-08.

Names searched: Japanese 報知ルール, 立直麻雀標準規定; English Houchi rules, Hochi rules.