Japanese Hanafuda Playing Cards, 1934

Hanafuda, or flower cards, are a type of Japanese playing card. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, roughly 2" x 1.25", but are thicker and stiffer. On the face of each card is a plant, animal, bird, or a man-made object. Only one depicts a human. The backs are normally plain and typically are colored red or black (this deck is red). There are 48 cards in one deck that are broken up into twelve suits, representing the months of they year. Each suit is designated a flower and has 4 cards. An extra blank card may be included to use as a replacement (this deck has a blank card).

Playing cards were introduced to Japan by Portugal in the mid-16th century. The Portuguese deck consisted of 48 cards with 4 suits of twelve cards each. The first Japanese decks mimicked these. After Japan broke off contact with the Western world in 1633, foreign playing cards were banned. In 1648, gambling became a favorite pasttime in Japan and whenever a particular design of playing cards was seen to be used for gambling the government would ban it, prompting a new design to be made. Cards became so widely used for gambling that they were eventually banned altogether in 1791. The earliest known reference to early Hanafuda cards was in 1816 when it was a recorded banned gambling tool. In the Meiji period (1868-1912) playing cards became tolerated by authorities. The company Nintendo was originally created in 1889 for the purposes of producing and selling hand-crafted Hanafuda.