All aboard the Hanafuda Railroad

[wingedpotato]

That does look a lot like mine, but I got mine 30 years ago. I'm happy with my single set, so give in to the dark side...

[GandalfPC]

Looks like you opened a can of worms - Did a search for “Arus Korea Hanafuda” and found various versions of it - now I need to go on a full hunt for my favorite

Here’s one at amazon…

https://www.amazon.com/Hwatu-Korean-Flo ... B08C2N3C4Y

[GandalfPC]

Echigo Hanafuda by Oishi Tengudo

“One of the kinds of flower cards used in the Niigata region. The illustrations date farther back than those of the regular flower cards.”

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Closeup of the brights

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The various types of marks on the cards denote the months - here they are grouped up:

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[GandalfPC]

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[GandalfPC]

Unsun Karuta by Oishi Tengudo

Karuta, not hanafuda, so I will have to learn how to play a new game to give these puppies a fitting home. Super duper set thats for sure…

Could easily play western games with these (or a subset of these - there are 75 cards total, 5 suits of 15 cards each

“This is the archetype of Japanese karuta. Each of the seventy five cards is decorated with a beautiful design so that the Portuguese-transmitted Southeast Asian culture is expressed vividly.”

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Size comparison to standard hanafuda card:

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[GandalfPC]

Another non-standard one - in this case the Four Seasons Heath Oracle Deck. Poker sized cards, standard hanafuda art at its core but with embellishments on each. Guide book in Korean and English…

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[GandalfPC]

“The Pleasure of Four Seasons,” Playing Cards by Sumio Kawakami

Poker size, just plain odd, couldn’t resist them when spotted on Amazon Japan…

This is the reprinted edition of a work of Sumio Kawakami, a Japanese woodblock artist, made in 1960.
His sensitivity toward the changes of the seasons is brilliant.
Each suit is assigned four seasons; for example, clubs are spring, diamonds are summer,
hearts are fall, and spades are winter.
Moreover, each number is assigned motifs too; for example, there are fruits on the card numbered 7,
so diamond suit (summer) has bright red water melons, and hearts suit (fall) has persimmons.
It’s certainly that you enjoy the passage of seasons when you play sevens.
These playing cards make us feel nostalgic for the seasons which are the root of a Japanese sense of beauty.

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[GandalfPC]

Club Nintendo - Mario Hanafuda

Nice quality…

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Nintendo decks include a blank card with a date stamp, to show manufacture date - this one from Feb 13, 2018:

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[GandalfPC]

Unfortunately this deck from eBay didn’t pan out - return pending - missing 6 cards (yet still fills the box) - so don’t know what it is - but the hunt for an old deck will have to resume…

[wingedpotato]

Hey, GandalfPC, where'd you get that Four Seasons Oracle deck? I may have to track that down.

[GandalfPC]

Hey, GandalfPC, where'd you get that Four Seasons Oracle deck? I may have to track that down.

Got it off Etsy - seller I bought from has nothing for sale at the moment, but there is one available from another seller:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1179313778 ... ch_click=1

[GandalfPC]

A few more added to the stable from Amazon Japan - the unboxing may never end…

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[GandalfPC]

Yongjaeng Hwatoo Classic

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[GandalfPC]

Doraemon Hanafuda

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[GandalfPC]

Moomin Hanafuda

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[GandalfPC]

Genroku Hanafuda by Angel

I believe this is Angel’s highest quality set - once all the sets are unboxed I will do some direct comparison of all of them to determine how they rank…

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[GandalfPC]

So far I can say that Oishi Tengudo is easily the top of the line - and the bend they put in the cards is very desirable as it helps in picking them up and is just plain nice to the touch.

I will do my best to rank them all, discuss the companies, etc once I get to the end of the line, which will be the unboxing of the railroad deck that the thread started with…

[shkorc]

Thanks for sharing all these nice pictures Gandalf, I've really been enjoying them.

Also, you must have a big house hehe this decks are FAT.

[GandalfPC]

Hoping to post a few more decks tonight - I had better, the backlog is building, a trio more on the way from Japan…

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[GandalfPC]

Nintendo Miyako No Hana hanafuda

One of Nintendo’s lower price sets - they are decent quality, but certainly not high quality - a set for use and abuse - they have a light smooth feel to them that my hands instantly recognized as not being top of the line. More detailed analysis will come once all unboxing done and the head to head comparisons begin…. Part of my exploration is to get the nicest sets, part is to get the feel of all the different stocks - feels like the early days of card collecting again …

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[GandalfPC]

Master Hanafuda by Beverly

More of a learn to play set than a playing set - cards are very thin and certainly wouldn’t last long with use, but the price is equally low. My eyesight is not good enough to make too much use of the smaller images on them without my maximum mag glasses on

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[GandalfPC]

Nintendo Daitouryou (President) Hanafuda

Nintendo’s highest quality set. You won’t mistake it for an Oishi Tengudo deck, but it is certainly solid quality and should hold up to lots of play.

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[GandalfPC]

Vintage Nintendo Daitouryou (President) Hanafuda - wanted to see how the quality and construction changed over time - still looking for older decks - the tax stamp dates it to 1960-1989…

Comes with a nice little tray, and though it may be my imagination, is a bit nicer than the new decks all around - will wait till the head to head tests to make a real determination on that…

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[GandalfPC]

Here is a doll house sized deck from Etsy - comes in a sheet you have to cut apart yourself (carefully ) and it took a bit of work to open the little plastic boxes as they were super tight - I sanded the inner box sides a touch and recolored them with a sharpie. I picked up two sets, which was lucky, because each box only holds half the cards - fits perfectly in two boxes…. The cards have just the right meat to them and backing to feel like hanafuda and not like little bits of paper or cardboard.

Shown with a standard hanafuda card for size comparison

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[Eric Lee]

So have you actually played Hanafuda with any of them yet? How easy is it to pick up and teach the kids? Been too busy to learn up the rules for me atm.

[GandalfPC]

Yes - its really easy to learn - certainly a new favorite for me and my dear mum.

Had a video link that was a bit too quick (and annoying) - here is a good one: https://youtu.be/iWy9zMeE8Zs

And a quick reference for scoring: http://duarcain.blogspot.com/2012/06/ko ... -yaku.html

A good quick instruction and scoring web page: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/5675 ... ay-koi-koi


This is a great app for iOS (likely also on android) - play against computer or pass and play, really holds your hand through learning it: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kikis-koi-koi/id440630538

I also picked up the digital version of this book for about half the price of the print version: https://indianwolfstudios.com/product/h ... l-edition/

[GandalfPC]

I still have two Angel decks on the desk waiting to open before the railroad deck, and a small pile on the way - been holding off on those last two as I believe they will be fairly standard ones and would like to mix the unboxing of them with some more interesting decks.

Added another to the mix today when it popped up on eBay at a good price - the Hawaiian style deck. A preview from the eBay listing while we await the unboxing:

I thought it was the same as this deck, but it looks like they are quite different, so I may have another on the way as well…

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Of course that “may” turned into a “click, thank you for your order” about 10 seconds after I posted the pics

[wingedpotato]

I have both of these, an especially like the Flowers of Hawai'i deck. I refrained from posting about them because the thread seemed geared toward more traditional Hanafuda. In addition to to these and the awesome decks from IndianWolf, I have a few other fun "fusion" decks.

[GandalfPC]

seemed geared toward more traditional Hanafuda

I would say post away - the more the merrier!

[hsbc]

I refrained from posting about them because the thread seemed geared toward more traditional Hanafuda. In addition to to these and the awesome decks from IndianWolf, I have a few other fun "fusion" decks.

Mod permission granted