The mahjong book to start with is a free PDF. Riichi Book 1, by Daina Chiba. The file is titled Riichi Book I. Same book.
The Amazon.com buttons lower down are affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy through one. The Japanese paperback at the end is on Amazon.co.jp. A US affiliate tag earns nothing there, so that link has no tag.
Riichi Book 1
Riichi Book 1 is a free PDF. The full title is Riichi Book I: A Mahjong Strategy Primer for European Players. Chiba wrote it for people who already play, up through about 4-dan.
It names the shapes. Then it teaches tile efficiency with the five-block method. After that come riichi, defense, calling, and how to play out a session. It is not a rules textbook.
Download it from his site. It costs nothing.
New to the rules? Read Reach Mahjong first. Chiba sends complete beginners there.
Servers, trainers, and a two-page cheat sheet sit on the tools list.
Other riichi mahjong books
English riichi has a short shelf. Plenty of mahjong books teach a different ruleset. These are the editions you can actually get, and what each one is for.
Reach Mahjong, for the rules
Strategy can wait until you can finish a hand.
Reach Mahjong: The Only Way to Play
Jenn Barr, 2009. 224 pages. ISBN 978-1935396345. Rules, scoring, and yaku, illustrated so a new player can sit a session.
Huntington Press published it in July 2009. The Amazon author note says Barr joined the Japan Professional Mahjong League in 2006. The publisher calls her the first American in that league.
When I checked in October 2026, Amazon.com listed a used paperback at $174. The cover price is $19.95. Look at the live offer before you buy.
Kotaro Uchikawa
World Riichi Publishing released two English editions of Mynavi books on 17 July 2026. Both are Kindle Print Replica files on Amazon.com. Printed copies were sold at the M.League x World Riichi U.S. Tour. The digital files need a current Kindle app.
World Riichi's tour report names the Japanese originals. Finish Riichi Book 1 first. These books assume you already have the vocabulary.
Riichi Mahjong: The Essential Playbook
Kotaro Uchikawa (内川幸太郎). 228 pages. ISBN 978-1066712830. ASIN B0H98QW634. English edition of 現代麻雀の絶対手順.
Uchikawa is a Japan Professional Mahjong League pro. He plays M-League for EX Furinkazan (EX風林火山). He won the individual title at the 2025 World Riichi Championship in Tokyo.
The Essential Playbook is about the order of decisions in your own hand. Which shape you keep. When you chase speed, value, or flexibility. When you riichi, and when you keep building. Christine Rung illustrated it. Gemma Sakamoto edited it.
Balance Your Game
Riichi Mahjong: Balance Your Game
Yoshihiro Matsumoto (松本吉弘). 226 pages. ISBN 978-1066712816. ASIN B0H98M4FZZ. English edition of 初代Mリーガー松本のベストバランス麻雀.
Matsumoto plays for Shibuya ABEMAS. He turned pro with the Japan Pro Mahjong Association in 2013. His nickname is 卓上のヒットマン.
The same hand can call for a different plan once the score and the other three players change. The book is about that shift. Attack, fold, and what the discards suggest.
A Japanese drill book, if you can read it
Makoto Fukuchi (福地誠), 「牌効率」入門ドリル76. The subtitle is 福地誠の麻雀爆勝講座. Yousensha (洋泉社) published it on 11 April 2015. 222 pages. ISBN 978-4-8003-0634-0.
Seventy-six problems. You start with 4 tiles, then 7, then 10. After that comes the five-block method, then shape choices from a real hand. Chiba cites this ISBN in Riichi Book 1. He says part of the five-block chapter follows Fukuchi's explanation.
The paperback on Amazon.co.jp. No affiliate tag on that link.
What this list leaves out
American and Chinese rulebooks are a different game. I also left out quiz books I couldn't tie to a current edition and ISBN. Fewer books, each one checked, is the point.
When a book gets you to the table and you want the leaks in your own logs named, that's the review work I do.
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