Honitsu And Chinitsu 混一色・清一色

What They Are

Honitsu (混一色, half flush) is a hand of one suit plus any winds or dragons. Chinitsu (清一色, full flush) is one suit and nothing else at all.

What They’re Worth

Honitsu is 3 han (2 open) and chinitsu 6 han (5 open). They don’t stack: a chinitsu is never also a honitsu. See the half flush and full flush guides for the other tables.

Closed Or Open

Both lose just one han when open, which is why flushes are the classic open hand. Pon and chi freely in your suit; the yaku holds.

Closed is still better when you can manage it: riichi on a closed honitsu often reaches the limits. But an open flush that wins beats a closed one that never finishes, so call when the hand is slow.

How To Build It

Pick a suit when the deal gives you seven or more tiles of it, plus a few honours. Throw the other two suits early and steadily. Valued honour pairs are gold: a yakuhai pon adds a han and speeds the hand up.

Chinitsu waits get complicated. A hand like 2-3-4-5-6-7-7 waits on several tiles at once, so take a moment to count every winning tile before you discard.

Honitsu or chinitsu? Keep the honours while they’re useful as pairs or pons. If they turn into lone tiles and your suit keeps coming, drop them and go for the full flush; the extra han is often worth it.

What Gives It Away

Rivers tell stories. A player throwing every tile of two suits and keeping the third is easy to read, especially with an open pon or two of that suit. When you see it, hold their suit back, and be extra wary of their honours too if it looks like honitsu. When you’re the one flushing, accept that your discards will make the others careful, and that the tiles you need may dry up late in the hand.

What They Combine With

Flushes stack beautifully: ittsu, iipeikou, toitoi, chiitoitsu and, for honitsu, yakuhai and chanta. A closed chinitsu with riichi reaches the limits quickly, and the right one-suit shape becomes the yakuman chuuren poutou.