As we inch closer to the 21st century, it may seem like there isn’t much more to say about the evolution of playing cards. However, a humble card making company that would come to be known as one of the most recognizable brands worldwide was born in the late 19th century: Nintendo. Although you may know Nintendo for Mario and Pikachu, in 1895, it was known for Hanafuda.
What is Hanafuda?
Hanafuda are a type of Japanese playing cards, often depicting animals, plants, natural scenes, and occasionally figures and man-made objects. The twelve suits of the hanafuda decks are distinguished by a different flower, each representing a month of the year. These decks primarily incorporate black and that bold Japanese red.
Although I found quite a few images of different decks and cards, I had a harder time finding any that were dated, credited, or with any information on how they were made. I have a theory that this is simply because authentic decks are moreso found in collectors’ storage lockers than museums unlike previous cards I’ve discussed. However, there was a decent amount of information on this Nintendo deck, dated to sometime in the early 20th century. The black outline would most likely have been done with woodblock printing, while the colouring used a special technique called kappa-zuri. This is a hand printing technique where the artist would use a stencil and brush to fill in the shapes.
The April Suite
This reproduced suite represents the month of July. The plant that is illustrated is the Japanese bush clover.
Although I do enjoy the illustration of this plant, I’ll admit I chose to show this deck in detail because of the piggy. The Japanese bush clover represents unrequited love and melancholy, while the boar would represent reckless aggression in Japanese culture at this time. In terms of the deck, animal cards can be known as ’10-point cards,’ but sources also tell me that there an uncountable number of games which each have very disputed rules, so who knows if each animal card is actually worth 10 points consistently. The cards with ribbon, or 5-point cards, refers to a Chinese summer festival that spread to Japan. The ribbon can be red, blue, and even include some writing. Lastly, the plain cards which only have the illustrated flower are the 1-point cards. There is also one more type of card, the light cards worth 20-points, which isn’t included in the July suite, but here’s a few from other months:
Further study
It was interesting to learn about the development of this artform outside Europe, and my research did not disappoint. Although this is my last post in this series of exploration of cards, I encourage readers to explore further study on how design evolved all over the world.
Links
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-japan-hanafuda-cards-beauty-gambling-tradition-1848724872
https://www.britannica.com/topic/hanafuda
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