All aboard the Hanafuda Railroad

[GandalfPC]

I found one of the large formats online, it is again the same, but different - it obviously uses the same wood block and is the same size, but it is a different special edition that used special bright colors and lacks the silver inking of the brights (also appears to lack the gold paper) - on sale for just under $1000, so it won’t be coming home with me at this time - even I have my limits and don’t like to overpay - had it been half that price or less I might be less able to resist.

It is also of note, and should be expected, that the picture on the front of the box is not telling on its own, as several decks share the same image, but are very different.


Here is the text description (as translated from Japanese):

It is Matsui Tengudo's large size flower karuta "Kikuka" which went out of business in 2010. ・Large format is a particularly rare item.

And the pics:

And a repost of that card from my decks for easy comparison:

This rabbit hole is deeper than I thought…

At this point I can say there are enough interesting items out there that I am unlikely to get red or black copies of decks I already have, as even though I have my accountant tied and gagged there is simply too much out there to be ready to hop on that is unique and in need of being prepared to hop upon when they show up at a reasonable (ish) price…

[Eric Lee]

Curious to know if there's a Rider Waite version of Hanafuda. A design so popular that it's the template or influenced all future designs which came after it.

[GandalfPC]

Curious to know if there's a Rider Waite version of Hanafuda. A design so popular that it's the template or influenced all future designs which came after it.

I think the 88 flowers pattern would quality as the Ride Waite


From https://games.porg.es/articles/cards/ja ... afuda/art/

The standard pattern is now one that is called hachihachi-bana (八八花/八々花), since it was primarily used to play the game 八八 ‘88’. Almost all decks use this pattern…

[GandalfPC]

Night Parade Fusion from IndianWolf Studios, Printed by EPCC

A poker sized deck that speaks for itself.

Comes with instruction booklet which includes how to play - here are the card description pages:

[hsbc]

Night Parade Fusion from IndianWolf Studios, Printed by EPCC

Don't miss the Night Parade thread

[GandalfPC]

Sensu Hanafuda, First Edition - by IndianWolf Studios

Poker sized, printed by LPCC

This is a very nice take on the standard pattern - IndianWolf never fails to please

That accounts for the standard 48 hanafuda cards, deck includes an extra 6 fan cards:

[GandalfPC]

Sensu Fusion Hanfuda by IndianWolf Studios

Poker size, printed by EPCC

The fusion version of the above deck - handy for poker or those new to hanafuda

[GandalfPC]

Only unboxed deck left on my desk is the railroad deck - so it may be time for it to finally make its appearance. There are of course about two dozen more decks on their way to me, so it’s hardly the end of the journey

[GandalfPC]

Tetsufuda Hanafuda by Japan Rail and Travel

This is a very nice, high quality set - not your standard hanger box cardboard. Cards have a wonderful feel and will surely last through endless play - slight warp which is nicer than no warp - I think they are PVC. The set that sat at the entrance to the rabbit hole, and it does not disappoint.

[GandalfPC]

It has been rolling around my noggin the past few days that it would be fun to create a deck, which of course would take quite some time - and it did strike me rather quickly that as I was not an artist I would have to pay someone to do the art, and of course I would need a design first - well, perhaps I will do that one day, but as I perused the antique decks out there I figured perhaps it would be nice to just print one of those up for personal use, as it seems unlikely I will find one any time soon, and even more unlikely that I would be comfortable playing a game with them. So, I picked out a few of the older ones, chose a top few, picked the one of those that struck my fancy most, and got to creating an image set from them that I could upload to MPC - just finished, selected the mini size, thick card stock (tarot like) and ordered two copies - will let you know how they come out, but here are the preview pics from MPC:

[Timmargh]

Nice.

[wingedpotato]

That Spirited Away set is so nice and hanafuda fits in well with the movie even though it isn't shown.

FYI, coming in July: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eb ... ging-paths

[GandalfPC]

I will, of course, be in.

[GandalfPC]

Three decks from Japan just arrived, unboxing imminent:

[GandalfPC]

Found this one hiding under a rock in Japan, have zenmarket working on buying it now - from a leather goods maker, funded via a Japanese crowdfunding site - the only hanafuda deck I found there. They had funded a while back and still had some available on their website (which I couldn’t manage to buy from directly, hence zenmarket)…

[GandalfPC]

A few of the latest acquisitions - still awaiting their arrival, and of course they are not the only ones in transit - all nintendo - mostly Kabufuda with an Echigo deck in the mix - just a few more Kabufuda varieties to track down and I will have all the ones I currently know about (outside of antiques)

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[GandalfPC]

Todays arrivals…. Plenty of unboxing to do…

[GandalfPC]

Blvr Hwatu

Found these on Etsy - fairly mundane card stock, but an interesting deck nonetheless…

[hsbc]

Interesting minimal design! And a different color scheme from usual, too

[GandalfPC]

Hana­neko­fuda (花猫札) by Oishi Tengudo and Ganzo­futo­neko­dō (元祖ふとねこ堂)

Featuring Japanese cats, quality hand wrapped warped cards, but the stock is a bit thinner than his standard fair, and the warp a bit less even - but it is Oishi Tengudo, and how would my collection survive without it?

[GandalfPC]

Backlog building a bit for unboxing, with a fair bit on their way from Japan right behind them - Cameron decks in the next shipment along with a bunch of Kabufuda and a pair of Mekuri in the mix

[GandalfPC]

Fresh from the presses at MPC - had them printed in mini poker size on their thick stock

As listed in the Japanese Playing Card Museum:

Early hachikafuda (88 flowers pattern) - exhibition sample - Yamashiroya, mid-Meiji period

Very happy with how these came out.

The standard white box option - wondered if the odd 48 card deck with thick stock would be floating around in the box, but they seem to make them to fit

I printed a quick copy of one of the cards to label the box so it wouldn’t get lost (taped on) - custom box option is pretty expensive so this will have to do…

Here is the thickness of the deck compared to a standard pack of bikes:

[GandalfPC]

Ace - Great Victory Kabufuda

This is a very nice quality old set (how old I can’t tell, not ancient, but it wasn’t born yesterday) - cards have a nice warp and have a satisfying clack.

The full set - Kabufuda has one special ace and four card, as seen in the top row:

Detail pics from the top two rows (as row 3 and 4 are same as row 2)

[GandalfPC]

Koi-Koi Hanafuda from Wanted Games, Kiev Ukraine

Unique artwork done in watercolor - these are beautiful cards. Stock is on the thin side (like poker card stock), but has a slight velvety feel that is very nice. Another must have for the collection.

[GandalfPC]

Snoopy Comic Hanafuda, Peanuts World

by Nintendo, 2011

This is a nice set, very high quality, just a slight warp, which is more than Nintendo normally provides. Unusual for its comic strip layout, and as seen in many Japanese instruction books they lay out the cards right to left regarding brights to chaff in each month - normally I present them left to right, but these are right to left so the comic strips are presented correctly…

I have only seen this set on ebay demanding prices too rich for my blood, but found one in Japan for peanuts, albeit a rather expensive bag. Worth every penny.

[hsbc]

This thread got a shoutout in the comments on a KS update for the Shiki campaign

[GandalfPC]

Beast King Hanafuda by Sammy Networks and Oishi Tengudo from 2003

Made by Oishi Tengudo as a promotional product for the Beast King Pachislot (a slot machine game)

I found a lone deck floating about in Japan and thought it looked nifty, but nifty really doesn’t cover it, this deck is awesome. A very high quality deck, machine printed but hand wrapped and wonderfully warped - the art is quite unique and goes from beasts to aliens with colorful rendition of the standard 88 pattern.

[GandalfPC]

Summer Wars Oz Avatar Hanafuda

This set was packaged along with a blue-ray disc of the movie. I purchased it sans disc for about $15 and it was money well spent. Cards are standard cardboard hanger box quality, art and color scheme are quite unique and utterly pleasing…

[wingedpotato]

@GandalfPC, did you print any extras of your MPC decks we could buy off you? This thread really does deserve to get out to all the Hanafuda aficionados out there.

[GandalfPC]

I only had a pair printed as I wanted to make sure I liked the stock. I ordered a sample pack of card stocks at the same time so I could compare - upon examining it does appear that this stock was the best choice

I am planning on making a few other old deck prints as well very soon - probably a half dozen or less contenders for old decks that I have complete enough artwork in good enough condition to use - hoping to get them done this week

If a bunch of people want some we can always do a larger print run to bring the price per deck down - happy to sell them at cost - or I can make the projects public so that you can print your own (they were $16 each for a pair of them)

Took a quick peek and not sure how to make it public, might be that I have to “put it up for sale” with a zero cost - I have emailed MPC and ask them how to do it…