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I picked some up on amazon japan - grabbed a few other hanafuda at the same time - shipping is not bad with the low prices - better than eBay for many, including the Snoopy Hanafuda which I picked up for 12 bucks each…


https://japanrailandtravel.com/special/ ... tetsufuda/

English Instructions: https://www.kotsu.co.jp/en/tetsufuda/


Also found the “Master Hanafuda” interesting - much in Japanese, but I figure I can make my way with it. Available all over, picked up from amazon japan for a pittance:


https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/TRA-038-M ... 134&sr=1-1


And a Korean set which contains some extra info on the cards which seemed nice/helpful (picked up on eBay and amazon us) - comes in classic, style and cute variations - classic my favorite, style picked up, passed on cute - here is the classic:

Hey, if you are on Reddit, r/Hanafuda doesn't get nearly enough love...

wingedpotato wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:15 pm Hey, if you are on Reddit, r/Hanafuda doesn't get nearly enough love...

Not on ReddIt, probably half past time to join…. Seems to be a fair amount of card banter there but I only scratch the surface from time to time during a google search…

r/playingcards has kinda died down. Reddit in general I'd recommend though.

Looks like that Master Hanafuda set has English instructions - hooray

Busting open some decks…


Snoopy hanafuda

Brights:

Animals (10s) - note that snoopys bowl replaces the standard sake cup:

Banners:

Chaff:

Special Hands: (all solo snoopy except for the three on right, all Woodstock, and I think the ball team)

more special hands:

Sets - peppermint patty and whats her face, music, Charlie and snoopy dancing, Charlie and sister, snoopy’s family

Trios - Three animals (boar, deer, butterfly) with snoopy and Woodstock, then the banners

And the Style deck - handy month numbers and other marks for beginners - notable that it seems December and November are switched from other decks (I think…). Plastic cards a bit larger than standard hanafuda but not by much - nice feel (and I am not a plastic lover) - very durable and fitting for a learning deck. I would recommend the classic version instead though, which should arrive shortly…

A note or three on buying such things (the currently made ones) - https://steve-p.org/cards/HanaBuy.html

As for their note:


You will find that handy for buying Nintendo’s Presidents (their higher end cards):
The top pack has the Kabufuda mark boldly displayed on the front of the pack, letting you know its not Hanafuda, but rather looks like this:

Old and new, black and white


Nintendo President - Previously mis-identified as (1947-1951) Marufuku Sakura - the box is Marufuku, contents were mismatched.

At least that is my best assumption at this point, as the logo cards are an exact match for president, and I have not yet found images of Marufuku cards



Oishi Tengudo (2022) 59Fifty:

Man, the Snoopy one looks really nice. So much better than the Japanese Bicycle Snoopy decks.

Todays arrival: Chihoufukkokuban Kintokihana Hanafuda by Oishi Tengudo

Really liking these…. Nice quality

This is quickly becoming my favorite UC thread

GandalfPC wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 3:13 pm Busting open some decks…

It's totally up to you of course but maybe you should rename this thread just "hanafuda" or whatever

I did notice that this thread had busted its borders - I kind of liked the “railroad” pun on the growing hanafuda tour

But I think you are right - perhaps time for a generic hanafuda title - not sure if the thread should move out of the new decks and into the collection or general sections….

GandalfPC wrote: ↑Mon Apr 11, 2022 7:41 pmnot sure if the thread should move out of the new decks and into the collection or general sections….

I think this is the best place for it, but if everyone disagrees we can move it

Thread name fits well for now

Shigeru Mizuki - GeGeGe No Kitaro Hanafuda

12 seasons:

Box - red and black decks included:

Brights:

Animals (10s):

Banners:

Dregs:

Yesterdays mail bag - will unbox next week…. Expecting another batch or two to arrive next week as well…

Pile for unboxing growing fast…

One more arrival. Also a bit of a lull in work today, so the unboxing should begin later today…

Prime Minister Hana Karuta by Oishi Tengudo

“A replica of an original deck dating back to the Meiji era (1864-1912), that one century earlier had been commissioned to the same manufacturer by Itô Hirofumi (1841-1909), the first Japanese prime minister. He was a lover of figurative art of his own country, and had a particular interest for the typical flower card illustrations. During the 19th century, despite some graphic details were still partly subject to changes, the design of the local cards had gradually reached a certain stability, and its basic elements had become a standard: a crane on the first card of Pine, a nightingale on the same card of Plum, the curtain on Cherry, and so on, including the ones with red and blue ribbons. The edition that Hirofumi had made by Ôishi could be described today as "luxury". The maker kept one copy for himself, and from this specimen, in 1991, a faithful replica was obtained, also called Sôridaijin no Hana-karuta ("prime minister's flower cards"), in honour of the important client.”


Forgive the quality of my pictures, but I was unable to kidnap HSBC to do a proper job - these are very nice cards…


This deck is larger than the standard hanafuda deck - standard card shown in lower left for comparison

Brights on the top row, 10s on the second, banners the third, then the dregs…


Some closeups…

Next to standard deck…

59FIFTY Hanafuda By Oishi Tengudo

Tensai Hana Asobi Hanafuda by Fujio Akatsuka

I came across a lone copy on Amazon Japan and snatched it up. Cards are pretty nice quality for machine made ones

Found out some more info (and corrected name above)

Tensai Hana Asobi, featuring colourful characters from the series called Tensai Bakabon ("genius-idiot"), a cartoon about a family of blockheads with a very brilliant son.

The author, Fujio Akatsuka, is known as "the father of comedy manga", having created also several other series, such as Himitsu no Akko-chan ("Akko of Secrets"), and Osomatsu-kun ("Young Osomatsu"), all very popular in Japan, whose personages in fact appear in some of the cards of this deck.

Picked this one up off eBay - old deck from Oishi Tengudo

Takarabune Hanafuda - this is a nice hand painted one.

Something about an old hanafuda deck - they just look and feel special…


Japanese written in a right-to-left ordering generally indicates that the deck would have been made before the end of WWII. Thus, 任天堂 is written 任天堂 on very old decks. However, some manufacturers such as Ōishi Tengudō or Nihon Karuta have persisted in using right-to-left ordering even into the present era.

These are right-to-left ordered, but as the paragraph above states, for Tengudo that is not definitive for pre WWII

So hard to tell how old they are - certainly the plastic box says they aren’t ancient (though its hard to say if it’s the original box), but they are certainly hand printed and older than any of my others by good measure…


Took some new photos to show this deck the proper respect…




Some additional close ups

Identified the above deck as Takarabune Hanafuda

Here is the original wrapper…



Takarabune means “Treasure Ship”

That’s enough for tonight - another dozen left to unbox on the table, and several more in the mail. More unboxing tomorrow.

Hmm for some reason, can't see the pics for any posts Apr 15 onwards.

Thanks for showing these. That Prime Minister deck is gorgeous!

GandalfPC inspired me to dig out my old decks. Pretty basic Hanafuda, but I also have this plastic Korean set, which was actually my intro to the game. My dorm-mate called it Qwa-to, but I understand it has many roman variations on the Korean name. The cards are a sweet clacky plastic and the gold ink pops much more than it does in these pics.

Morning mail call - Amazon Japan last package just arrived…. Another half dozen for unboxing

wingedpotato wrote: ↑Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:58 amthis plastic Korean set

Surprisingly enough, this deck (or rather a version of it) popped up on Mercuri - not as nice as yours I think, but definitely its cousin:

https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m67818036889/

If you are interested you should buy it fast ($19) before the dark forces inside me rise and force me to get it…