Hanafuda ( ?) are playing cards of Japanese origin that are used to play a number of games.

The
name literally translates as "flower cards."[1][2] The name also refers to games played with those cards.
In 1549, the 18th year of Tenbun, a missionary Francis Xavier landed in the country and the crew of his
ship had carried a set of 48 Portuguese Hombre playing cards from Europe, and eventually card games
became popular, along with their use for gambling. When Japan subsequently closed off all contact with
the Western world in 1633, foreign playing cards were banned. [3]
Despite that prohibition, gambling with cards remained highly popular. Private gambling during
the Tokugawa Shogunate was illegal. Because playing with card games per se was not banned, new
cards were created with different designs to avoid the restriction. For example, an anonymous game
player designed a card game known as Unsun Karuta. These cards were decorated with Chinese art,
each depicting Chinese warriors, weaponry, armor, and dragons. This deck consisted of 75 cards, and
was not as popular as the Western card games had been, simply because of the difficulty of becoming
familiar with the system. Each time gambling with a card deck of a particular design became too
popular, the government banned those cards, which then prompted the creation of new ones. This cat
and mouse game between the government and rebellious gamblers resulted in the creation of many
differing designs.
Through the rest of the Edo era through the Meiwa, Anei, and Tenmei eras (roughly 17651788), a
game called Mekuri Karuta took the place of Unsun Karuta. Consisting of a 48-card deck divided into
four sets of 12, it became wildly popular and was one of the most common forms of gambling during
this time period. In fact, it became so commonly used for gambling that it was banned in 1791, during
the Kansei Era.
Over the next few decades, several new card games were developed and subsequently banned
because they were used almost exclusively for gambling purposes. However, the government began to
realize that some form of card games would always be played by the populace, and began to relax their
laws against gambling. The eventual result of all this was a game called Hanafuda, which combined
traditional Japanese games with Western-style playing cards. Because hanafuda cards do not have
numbers (the main purpose is to associate images) and the long length to complete a game, it has a
partially limited use for gambling. However, it is still possible to gamble by assigning points for
completed image combinations.
By this point, however, card games were not nearly as popular as they had been due to past
governmental repression.
In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai for the purposes of producing and selling handcrafted Hanafuda cards painted on mulberry tree bark. Though it took a while to catch on, soon
the Yakuza began using Hanafuda cards in their gambling parlors, and card games became popular in
Japan again.
Today, despite its focus on video games, Nintendo still produces the cards, including a special
edition Mario themed set for Club Nintendo. This is mostly in recognition of its own company history,
rather than specifically for the profit. In 2006, Nintendo published Clubhouse Games (42 All-Time
Classics in the United Kingdom) for the Nintendo DS, which included Koi-koi.

Elsewhere in the world[edit]

Hanafuda is commonly played in the state of Hawaii in the United States and South Korea,[citation
needed] though under different names. In Hawaii, there is Hawaiian-style Koi-koiwhich is
called Sakura, Higobana, and sometimes Hanafura. In South Korea, the cards are
called Hwatu (Korean: , Hanja: ); the name literally translates as battle of flowers. One of the
most common Hwatu game is Go-stop (Korean: )[4] or Seotda (Korean: ). Hwatu is very
commonly played in South Korea during special holidays such as the Lunar New Years, and also during
the Korean holiday of Chuseok (). Playing Go-stop at holiday family gatherings has been a Korean
tradition for many years. The Korean version is usually played with three players, with two-person
variants. Hanafuda is also played in Micronesia, where it is known under the same name, and is a fourperson game, which is often paired cross-table.
Cards[edit]
There are twelve suits, representing months. Each is designated a flower, and each suit has four cards.
Typically, each suit will have two normal cards and two special cards. The point values could be
considered unnecessary and arbitrary, as the most popular games only concern themselves with
certain combinations of taken cards.

Month

Flower

Cards

January

Two Normals (1 point), one

Poetry Ribbon (5 points) and
Matsu (, pine) one
Special: Crane and Sun (20
points)

February

Two Normals (1 point), one

Ume (, plum Poetry Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Bush-warbler in
blossom)
a Tree (10 points)

March

Sakura (,
cherry
blossom)

Two Normals (1 point), one

Poetry Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Camp
Curtain (20 points)

April

Fuji (,
wisteria)

Two Normals (1 point), one

Red Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Cuckoo (10
points)

Ayame (
, iris)

Two Normals (1 point), one

Red Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Water Iris and
Eight-plank Bridge (10
points)

May

Images

Two Normals (1 point), one

Purple Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Butterflies (10
points)

June

Botan (
,peony)

July

Two Normals (1 point), one

Hagi (, bush
Red Ribbon (5 points) and
clover)
one Special: Boar (10 points)

August

Susuki (,
Susuki grass)

Two Normals (1 point), two

Specials: Geese in Flight (10
points), Full Moon with Red
Sky (20 points)

Two Normals (1 point), one

Kiku (,
Purple Ribbon (5 points) and
September chrysanthemum
one Special:
)
Poetry Sake Cup (10 points)

October

November

December

Momiji (
,maple)

Two Normals (1 point), one

Purple Ribbon (5 points) and
one Special: Deer and Maple
(10 points)

Yanagi (,
willow)

One Red Ribbon (5 points)

and three Specials: Lightning
(1 point), Swallow (10
points), Ono no
Michikaze ("Rainman")
with Umbrella and Frog (20
points)

Kiri (,
paulownia)

Three Normals (1 point, one

off-shaded), and one
Special: Chinese Phoenix (20
points)

The Korean cards for Go-Stop, which uses a very similar deck of cards, has November and December
swapped around.[5]
Card significance[edit]

The January matsu Poetry Ribbon card has the phrase akayoroshi (), employing
a hentaigana character for the ka ( ). The meaning of the phrase is currently unknown. Although, by
breaking down the phrase into its component words (aka [] and yoroshi []), it roughly translates
as "red acceptance paper." Moreover, the hentaigana ka ( ) is formal and roughly means

"acceptable/passable/good".
The February ume Poetry Ribbon card has the same phrase akayoroshi.

The March sakura Poetry Ribbon card has the phrase Miyoshino ( ) referring to the place
Miyoshino ( ) in Nara. The town is known for its cherry blossoms.

The September kiku Poetry card image has the character for kotobuki ( ).
The November yanagi Rain card image portrays Ono no Michikaze.
Variants[edit]
There are variations of games played with Hanafuda cards.

Koi-koi
Hachi-hachi (eight-eight)
Hana Awase
Mushi, popular in the Kansai region
Sudaoshi
Tensho
Hachi
Hawaiian-style Koi-koi
Go-Stop
Rules[edit]
The following rules are not official: there are many different games played with Hanafuda.
Objective[edit]
Accumulate more points than the opponent. Either a set number of rounds is played, a point goal is set
to determine the winner, or players try to get so many more points than their opponent.
Rules of play[edit]
Cards are shuffled and placed into a pile (called the stock). Eight cards are placed face up between the
players, and then eight cards are dealt face-down to each player. If there are more than two players,
then the hand size is decreased.
Play[edit]
Play starts with the dealer. The player takes a card that was dealt to him and matches suit with a card
that is on the table. If there isn't a matching card, the player discards a card to the center of the table.
Then, the top stock card is turned face up, and if there is a matching suit on the playing field, the player
takes the cards, otherwise the stock card is added to the playing field. [6]
Play ends when either the stock is exhausted or either player's hand is empty.
If a player is dealt four pairs or two complete suits, that player automatically wins the round. Scoring for
this instance varies, but can be the value of the cards in the playing field.
Hiki[edit]
If there are a number of cards on the playing field of one suit, and a player has the rest of the suit in
hand, this is a hiki. The player may take the entire suit of cards on his turn instead of playing a card
from his hand. Trying to take a card from a hiki with the storm card is an illegal move. If the cards are
dealt so that all four of one suit are on the playing field, the cards are shuffled and redealt. If three cards

are on the table, they are stacked together and the remaining card takes all three.
Scoring[edit]
At the end of the round, each player adds the value of all cards he has taken.
In some variations, 'winner takes all', meaning the winner of the match gets all the points the opponent
has accumulated in that round.
Card sets and scoring can vary by which variant of Hanafuda is being played.
Oya-gachi[edit]
In case of a tie, dealer wins. If the dealer isn't involved with the tie, the player closest to the dealer's left
wins.
See also[edit]

Kabufuda
Karuta
Koi-Koi
Uta-garuta
Tazza: The High Rollers (a.k.a. The War of Flower)
Summer Wars
Nintendo
References[edit]

1.
2.
3.

Jump up^ Games played with Flower Cards

Jump up^ Pakarnian, John, "Game Boy: Glossary of Japanese Gambling Games", Metropolis, January 22, 2010, p. 15.
Jump up^ Harris, Blake J., Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation, It Books, 2014May-13. ISBN 978-0062276698. "Chapter 5"

4.
5.
6.

Jump up^ Rules of Go Stop

Jump up^ The cards of Go-Stop
Jump up^ Hanafuda Rules. digidemon.com

HANAFUDA the flower card game. Compiled by Japan Publications ISBN (in English) 0-87040-430-X
External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hanafuda.

Look up hanafuda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Hanafuda/Kabufuda, site featuring rules for many different games played with hanafuda cards
Hanafuda rules. sloperama.com