All aboard the Hanafuda Railroad

[GandalfPC]

Decided that I wasn’t going to let a little cello and a tax stamp hinder the journey - popped em open and preserved the tax stamp…

Glad I did - worth seeing the logo cards (queens) and extra cards (kings)

Decent card quality and ready for play, mini poker deck size (1/2 poker deck size)

Tax stamp dates the deck anywhere from 1960 to 1989


The Heibon Hanafuda Fusion Deck:

[GandalfPC]

Kintengu Hawaiian Hanafuda

Easier opening cello the second time around (no tax stamp on this one) - 48 card poker size hanafuda deck, Hawaiian style score markers - flower and month names on the cards is a nice touch…

Decent card quality, ready for play

[wingedpotato]

I kinda like how the cards are labeled in English. Wouldn't want it on every deck, but it is a neat addition.

[GandalfPC]

Tuhwa Hwatu v3 has arrived!

Picked up 4 of them using an as of yet unnamed shopping service from Korea - now that they have come through I feel I can recommend KoreanBuddy.com - easy, timely, no issues.

Will do a full unboxing as soon as work allows me to squeeze in the time, perhaps tonight - a quick photo snapped of a few cards to show you the awesomeness - cards are plastic as is normal for Korean hanafuda, but these especially nice quality with a great texture on the back and quite sturdy - these are must haves…

[wingedpotato]

Beautiful! That "shadow" border around the art is interesting.

[GandalfPC]

Second batch of mail came in today:

The big box is a Karuta deck - onboxed on the Japan thread here: viewtopic.php?p=217811#p217811

[GandalfPC]

Tuhwa Hwatu v3

As stated above in the preview pic, a super deck - Korean style plastic cards with a nice textured back, high quality.

designed by Chung Chi-ho and Noh Kyung-sun.

The extra cards

This picture shows the back texture - its all the same red color, the pattern is reflection from the texture alone.

[GandalfPC]

万両 (manryū, ‘10 000 coins’), trademarked by NK in 1919

This is a lower quality set - plastic of some sort (pvc?), edges a bit sharp feeling, but overall sturdy and will hold up to play. Seeing how long this set has been produced for, one imagines that older sets used different materials.

Graphics are certainly clear and bright, and should be easy to keep clean for an eon.

[GandalfPC]

All but one item purchased through zenmarket has arrived at their warehouse (8 of 9) - just waiting on Cameron’s cards to arrive…

Items that arrived first have only been waiting for 7 days, so things are coming in pretty smoothly

[GandalfPC]

Inuyasha Hanafuda

Inuyasha (犬夜叉, lit. "Dog Yaksha") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi

These are nice higher quality plastic cards smooth and comfortable to handle

[GandalfPC]

Paradise Factors Hawaiian Hanafuda

Similar to other poker sized Hawaiian style hanafuda decks, I picked this one up at a nice price off ebay - its age, as well as the little corner hanafuda card markings earned it a spot in my collection…

[GandalfPC]

Hanapua Hawaiian Hanafuda

Another set of hanafuda standard size high quality plastic cards - nothing to complain about from stem to stern. The unique art (and the whale) made this a must have for me…. The sea urchins and fish are also a winner in my book

[wingedpotato]

Yeah, that is one sweet variation.

[GandalfPC]

Angel hanafuda decks

The leftmost one is the Genroku deck, center I am not sure of the name of, and on the right we have the Chidori deck

These currently produced decks range in quality from the highest (Genroku) to the lowest (Chidori), much like Nintendo’s current line up

The Genroku deck was unboxed earlier in this thread, now it’s time to unbox the other two

First up, the unnamed center deck - of quite nice quality, good weight, begging for play - washi paper wrapped and varnished, nothing to complain about here - about $7.50 from amazon japan - quite the bargain by any measure.

[GandalfPC]

Angel Chidori deck - we can spare most of the pictures here, as the cards are basically the same as the deck above - they are of good quality and washi paper wrapped, but lack the varnish of the higher quality set. Seeing the low price of the higher quality decks there is little reason to have to skimp and go for this one - should every dollar count or you are trying to supply a crowd for party favors, these will certainly please.

These go for under $5.50 on amazon japan.

I will be returning to these decks when I do some heads up comparisons across all my decks later on, but the number of varnish layers is a common quality break point.

[Eric Lee]

There seems to be a wide price range for Hanafuda as well. What's the range you see for Hanafuda from the easily accessible ones like the Bicycles vs the higher custom version like JR/Lorenzo ? From a quick glimpse I can see anywhere from $5.50 to $30.

Also, what's the most expensive Lotrek level Hanafuda deck you've gotten and how much was it, if you don't mind sharing?

[GandalfPC]

Just picked one up last night for a bit over $500, and one the other day for about $250 - both from Matsui Tengudō - with the pricier one being his 14 month deck wood box, which is rather hard to find. Matsui closed in 2010 and was the Lotrek.

The comparison to Lotrek is based upon the hand made high quality aspect - the craftsmanship - the history - not the bling.

Oishi Tengudo is the current top maker. I’ve dropped a bit over 100 for at least one of his (the black new era deck) and around that much for one or two others (GeGeGe No Kitaro sets come to mind, as well as the Unsunkaruta)

Oishi makes a gold backed deck that I am waiting to see pop up - which he sells for around $250

Also dropped a fair bit on the latest kickstarter hanafuda Shiki decks - the top sets were around $180 - these were made by Oishi

Vintage/Antique decks are hard to come by, have been considering one for around $800 thats about 100 years old (though the above Matsui deck likely put that to bed, at least for this month)

One item of note, it would seem that the deck that I thought was a 14 season deck is instead an Irinokichi Deck (a Kabu deck, which have pip and courts rather than hanafuda art) - the Dragon and Tiger mark was used on a variety of different decks, and since his 14 season decks extra seasons start with a dragon and tiger I strolled in thinking it was hanafuda for sure - probably not the only expensive lesson I will learn along the way but certainly a heads up when going hunting for rare birds in sealed packages. I will take it in stride, and look forward to seeing what Matsui has hidden within…. Key to identifying which version it was appeared in a few cryptic characters on the side of the box. In a few weeks when they arrive they will be unboxed here.

Here is a note on the Irinokichi deck (covers the various varieties of such decks, which are quite abstract):

“Although modelled on Portuguese cards taken into the country during the mid 16th century, these images give an idea of the general incomprehensibility of Japanese Mekuri cards.

The court cards have become abstract forms with almost no visible indication of what suit they belong to. The idea was to disguise their appearance after Mekuri games such as Unsun Karuta and Tenshô Karuta were banned by the authorities, especially if played with foreign cards. However, on some cards, one can see printed outlines peeping through the masses of paint, forming faces, etc. The famous “dragons” (Aces) are now only vague shapes of paint, having lost all connection with their original models. Another feature is the silver overprints on some of the cards, perhaps to make them more visible in dimly lit rooms: note the 6 of batons in particular, which has 壽 (longevity) on it.”


As the Phoenix deck I have on the way has the same first 12 months as the 14 month deck, perhaps I am well off having an Irinokichi instead, as it is a rare bird I might not have hunted otherwise.

Irinokichi along with several other Kabu decks left the scene around 1960, and have since only been produced rarely for collectors, leaving Kabufuda as their only widely produced brethren (to loosely quote the page linked below)

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Marking of Irinokichi:

Not sure what Matsui’s look like, as I have not been able to find any images of them anywhere, but for a primer on such things, and identifying other varieties of Kabu see this page: https://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards45.htm

Of course now I am getting that awful feeling that I might be wanting to collect more varieties…


For posterity, the extra two seasons of the 14 season deck:

And the 13 season decks extra season:

Here is the pic of the 13 month deck in box - you will note same picture as above on top, but lack of text on side - really need to pay attention when buying these:

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[GandalfPC]

Some nice arrivals today, a menagerie of creatures including the Phoenix deck from Matsui Tengudo, Dogs and Cats from Korea and one misc Korean deck that caught my eye (took a quick peek and its of very nice quality) - unboxing imminent…

[GandalfPC]

Phoenix handrail hanafuda by Matsui Tengudo - version appears to be Shikishima Kinji

Top of the line for modern decks. A deck so nice I bought it twice - just picked up a black one from Japan to keep the red company.

Handrail is a term describing the hand printing process - neither the term, nor these photos do justice to this utterly and astoundingly gorgeous deck.

The paper is gold, with gold flecks - giving the translucent inks a metallic sheen - this first picture seems to capture it best and I am uploading it at a large size, so do click on it to view it full size and in its full glory…

Blank card and one of the pine cards:

From what I have seen there are versions of this deck without the poems, without the silver ink, and without the gold paper - so if you pick one up do be aware,,,


The remaining pictures I took before the image above, and they will all be retaken before the weekend is out to squeeze the best quality I can out of my iPad Pro camera and my lighting - I hope to use sunlight, but I will experiment as this deck deserves it…

Frankly I may have to buy a camera soon to make sure decks such as this get their due.

Markings on side of this box - they are likely important in identifying this exact deck version - nearest I can tell from what I can find they identify this deck as the "Shikishima" Kinji version

I have seen at least one for sale, identified in the auction as the Marukin version, which did not seem to have gold paper, and may not have poems, which seemed to be in a box with same markings - not sure if they swapped the box or if I am missing some fine detail - one cannot look too closely before clicking buy buttons.

As deserved, this deck gets some closeups…

The Brights:

The Tens:

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Here is a link to a twitter thread where you can see some variations of this deck, along with some short videos of him at work…

https://twitter.com/mantia/status/1266528610350858240

They are worth the trip to view - just the care that goes into putting on the backing paper is amazing…

[GandalfPC]

This deck I spotted on ebay, which seems to lack the gold paper but still has poems and silver stamping on brights, has different markings on side of box which one can assume identifies this version - for reference:

And another example of what appears to be the same deck, though this is the 100 year anniversary version with signature card:

[GandalfPC]

Another from ebay for reference - identified in listing as Phoenix Akauchi version - seems to have a different background, not sure if its silver or white, but it does not look gold…

It appears to me to be the same as the deck posted above

Silver stamping on brights is present, not sure if it has poems or not…

Again, side of box is key in identification:

[GandalfPC]

The Marukin Version, which seems to have same side markings as mine, but lacks the red markings on box top…. As stated above, hard to say if the box and set really belong together…


Does not seem to have gold paper (though it could be low quality photos hiding that fact, as they do look yellowish - but still look too even colored to be the gold…), no silver stamping on brights, and may not have poems..

[GandalfPC]

Just heard back from Wanted Games in Ukraine - they are shipping my decks now - if you are interested you can contact them on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wanted_games_ukr/

You can find more pics of this deck on page 4 of this thread, as well as on their instagram feed

[GandalfPC]

Cute Dog Hwatu - made in South Korea

Nice quality plastic cards with textured backs and very glossy fronts

[GandalfPC]

Cute Cat Hwatu - made in South Korea

The feline companion to the above pooch themed deck - same high quality high gloss plastic with red textured backs

[Timmargh]

I received my Echigo Flowers Hanafuda deck the other day and the carer who opened them for me loved them; she's usually a bit when It comes to my card collection (she loves my pin badges), but she loved these. In her words they're "cuuuuuute!"

[hsbc]

I'm a big fan of that Korean cat deck

[GandalfPC]

Cute Traditional Hwatu - made in South Korea

These are identical in construction and back texture to the above Cute Dog and Cute Cat decks - certainly made in the same plant - high quality, unique art and a pleasant off white color - really liking the whole series (though from the packaging I don’t think this is actually meant to be a companion to dogs and cats)

[GandalfPC]

Ok, so I made an attempt to take some shots in the sun today of the Phoenix deck, but although the sun cooperated the wind did not, I did my best to get some shielding from the wind, and took as many nervous and hasty shots as I could before I had to grab things up and run for cover - here are the shots I managed to salvage - some time next week I will give it another go on a calmer day, or just earlier in the day when the sun can shine through the sliding glass door - perhaps even with a real camera.

Most of these pictures are in a decent resolution, so clicking on them will give you a better view (though most have been trimmed to one degree or another as needed to focus on cards that were not effected by glare)

Another problem I had was that the glare on my ipad screen was so extreme that the pictures had to be taken more or less in the blind - yet another reason it seems time to get a real camera…


Lucky I got them at all, as the wind is really howling now

[GandalfPC]

Scored an out of print cat deck from Japan for about $30:

From Oishi Tengudo in conjunction with Ganzo­futo­neko­dō (元祖ふとねこ堂) - Hana­neko­fuda (花猫札 ), featuring Japanese cats

A pair of preview pics while we await its arrival…

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