Iipeekoo (iipeikou)

Iipeikou is one of my least favourite yaku. Seemingly a siren song for the beginner, luring them away from the blue waters of sanshoku and dora into the rocky waters of a very hopeful 1-han.

But that’s not what I want to write about today. The other thing that annoys me is its name. The accepted romanization is “Iipeikou” which I never understood as it is commonly rendered in Japanese as イーペーコー. A lot of yaku are read in katakana when not in kanji but it should raise flags that something odd has happened here and at some point they’ve appropriated another language’s word.

The kanji is 一盃口. Which really means nothing. At a stretch “the mouth of a cup” maybe… But give it a Google and you’re only going to pick up mahjong hits. So this is one of those mahjong-created words and even to a native Japanese speaker, it’s going to need some explanation.

With a little research you can find that it comes from the Chinese yaku name 一般高 which is meant to mean “similar value” which I suppose comes close to what is going on with this yaku. However, I found that they have an alternative name which is 一色同顺 which we could read in Japanese as “Iishoku Dojun” or “One Colour Run”. It’s sanshoku’s baby sibling!

When I found this out I was seriously disappointed. Clarity is something mahjong rules desperately needs but seems to take every opportunity to obfuscate what is going on.

So how did we land at Iipeikou? The first part is easy and is basically a lot of the Japanese mahjong technical terms. A Japanese person heard a Chinese person say a word and either misheard or tried to apply Japanese’s phonetics over it. 一般高 or Yibangao is a real jump, though.

This is only from a story I was told by a Japanese mahjong friend so should be taken as unsourced and unverified. But one particular mahjong player who had a fondness for drink heard “Ippai ikou” or “いっぱい　いこう/一杯行こう” meaning “let’s go for a drink” and that had stuck somehow.

It rings as true and if I have time one day, I should try to find some sources to support this. Honestly, most Westerners I’ve heard certainly manage to make the Japanese sound more like “let’s have a drink” than the actual Japanese name. Maybe our mythical friend of Japanese long ago actually heard the Chinese term through a Westerner’s mouth and that was what doomed the yaku name for eternity.

In my experience, people will more readily remember something relatable and amusing than some random selection of sounds. WRC rules translation went with “Twin Sequences” a bit brutalist but at least it would allow a newcomer to recall the basics quicker. (I hasten to add that doesn’t mean you can’t use the Japanese terms — something a lot of people misunderstand — but instead to help with a more consistent translation of the rule set that uses the Japanese as a source rather than a translation of Chinese rules as a source).

I suppose I should add “Let’s Drink” as my alternative translation on my Shadow Yaku Translation List. It dovetails nicely with “Ippatsu” or “DOWN IT!”. Never will this list see light of day because I will definitely lose any opportunity to sit on any decision making body.

I stand by “Iishoku” being a better name for “Iipeikou” though.