Japanese Mahjong (aka Rīchi Mahjong)

Japanese Mahjong (Japanese: 麻雀, 麻将 or マージャン; mājan), also known as Rīchi Mahjong, is a variation of mahjong.

While the basic rules to the game are retained, the variation features a unique set of rules such as rīchi and the use of dora. Terms like "chow," "pung," and "kong" are not used in this variation, yet their functions are still used. Instead, they are referred to in Japanese as chī, pon, and kan.

In 1924, a soldier named Saburo Hirayama brought the game to Japan.^[1] In Tokyo, he started a mahjong club, parlor, and school.^[1] In the years after, the game dramatically increased in popularity. In this process, the game itself was simplified from the Chinese version. Then later, additional rules were adopted to increase the complexity.^[2]
 
Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan.^[3] As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million mahjong players and about 8,900 mahjong parlors in the country.

Japanese mahjong is usually played with 136 tiles.^[6][7]

There is a three player version called sanma (三麻).