The Ghost Seat · Riichi Lore
Yokai Riichi is where Japanese Mahjong lives inside the Ghost Seat — taught through the ghost stories that shaped it, starting with the one every biwa player still tells: the legend of Hōichi the Earless.
A Kwaidan, Retold At The Table
Old Japan's most famous ghost story: a blind musician, a doomed imperial court, and the cost of being heard by the dead. It's the story riichi itself is taught through — hold your hand, declare it ready, and go silent, trusting that silence to carry you through to the end. The full telling, all four beats and sourced, is saved for the table.
Turns out Hōichi knew the strategy before the tiles ever existed.
A Modern Haunting, Not An Ancient One
Mahjong didn't reach Japan until the early 20th century, so it never turns up in the older kaidan — the spirits and tricksters who sit down at a mahjong table at all are almost entirely a modern invention, from supernatural gambling dens to the deadly-serious psychological thrillers of Saki and Akagi. Where each of those stories actually shows up, and what they borrow from folklore versus invent outright, is part of what gets covered at the table.
Where The Tiles Pick Up
This page is lore first, on purpose. Full Riichi sessions — riichi, tenpai, yaku, and the etiquette that goes with them — join the table once the story behind them has been told in full.
Who Sits Down For This One
A relaxed night with friends, built around conversation as much as the tiles.
For the crowd that already knows Saki and Akagi by name.
Booked sessions built to run in a single sitting, start to finish.
A haunted ruleset, taught quietly, by request.
Yokai Riichi sessions for conventions, fandom meetups, and private tables all start with a message.
Back to The Ghost Seat · back to Four Winds Mahjong