Although by the 20th century, the deck structure and design of Hanafuda has established a standard, there have already existed a lot of variations in patterns and formats. These variations come from differences in development of Hanafuda in different regions in and even outside Japan.
The following is a list of known hanafuda variations, organized by type and alphabetically, with links to individual pages on those for which we have gathered sufficient information.
For patterns featuring a particular cultural theme or intellectual property, see Character Hanafuda.
For the Korean version of hanafuda, see Hwatu.
| Name | Played In | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hachi-Hachi-Bana | Japan, Taiwan and some places in China, Karafuto (now South Sakhalin, Russia), Korea, USA, and Micronesia | The standard pattern of hanafuda. Named after the game Hachi-hachi which was the most popular hanafuda game in Japan during the early 20th century. Possibly evolved from Yokohama-bana. |
| Name | Played In | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Awa-Bana or Kintoki-Bana | Awa (Shikoku island, Tokushima prefecture), Okayama prefecture | Also known as Kintoki-Bana. Most Chaff, Ribbons, and some other cards explicitly mention the month number on the cards. The Chaff of Pine and Susuki Grass have a very abridged version of the Echigo-bana poems. Includes an Onifuda which depicts Kintaro. |
| Bizen-Bana | Bizen, Okayama prefecture | Described as an Echigo-bana variant without poems. Not much else is known about this deck. |
| Echigo-Bana | Naoetsu, Shinyu, Nagaoka, Takada, Echigo Province, Uozu, Toyama, Etchu Province, Bizen | Copies the design of old woodblock-printed hanafuda. Characterized by very crude-looking drawings, striped skies, poems on the Chaff, and a liberal use of silver and gold paint on all cards. Rainman is depicted as braving a storm inside a closed umbrella, while the Chaff of Willow does not depict a Thunderstorm. Includes a red Onifuda card. |
| Echigo-Ko-Bana | - | An Echigo-bana variant but usually with no Waka poems. The Rainman has a raccoon tail, the yellow paulownia chaff has a small ribbon on it, and it sometimes comes with multiple Onifuda cards. The cards are smaller than Echigo-bana. |
| Hanamaki-Bana | Hanamaki and possibly other nearby areas | The design resembles Echigo-bana, but with slightly better looking but still crude woodblock design, and an even cruder coloring method which seems as if there was no attempt to align them with the drawings. |
| Hokkai-Bana | Hokkaido east and west coasts, and other nearby areas | Speculated to have the same or similar coloring pattern as Echigo-bana, but with a better designed woodblock pattern. |
| Kanto-Bana | Kanto region? | Not much is known about this deck, except that it did not have any poems on them. |
| Mushi-Bana | Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Fushimi, Yamashiro, and other nearby areas | Same design as Hachi-hachi-Bana except all Peony and Bush Clover cards are removed, making it technically a format variant. Designed specifically for playing the game of Mushi. Usually the style of drawings on the cards are in the style of Hachi-hachi-bana made in Osaka, to acknowledge the origin of the game. |
| Nanbu-Bana | - | - |
| Yamagata-Bana or Oshu-Bana | Uzen, Ugo, Iwaki, Iwashiro, Oshu Region | A variant of Hanamaki-Bana, where the yellow Paulownia junk has a small Ribbon on it, and in each month, there is one Chaff that is marked with a black dot, to differentiate it from the other chaff. Most likely used as a way to play mekuri-type or yomi-type games that required four distinct suits. |
| Yokohama-Bana | Yokohama and possibly other nearby areas | Not much is known about this deck, except that it did not have any poems on them. |
| Name | Played In | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dairen-Bana | Dalian, China | Same design as Hachi-hachi-Bana except the Ribbons have Japanesque patterns on the background. Sold in Dairen (Now Dalian, China) when it was part of the Kwantung Leased Territory. |
| Hwatu | South Korea | This pattern evolved from the low-cost Hachi-hachi-bana pattern made by Nihon Karuta, where a lot of design elements were borrowed, such as the Geese colorization and the idea of putting a symbol on the Full Moon card. The origin of the circled ‘光’ symbol is disputed, with both Oishi Tengudo and Nihon Karuta claiming to be the originator. Nowadays, Hwatu is mainly manufactured using plastic rather than paper. |
| Kwa-Dō | USA | Illustrated by Virginia Seeger and published by K.K. Corner and R. Whitbeck in 1959, it aimed to promote Hanafuda to an unsuspecting American market as an “ancient Oriental game played for over 400 years”. The designs are based on Japanese hanafuda, albeit crudely drawn, and all the bright cards are marked with a circled ‘光’, in similar fashion to Hwatu. Printed on western-style cardstock. Each set included instructions for a game that is largely based on Sakura. |
| Hanafuda Hawaii Style | Hawaii, USA | Designed by Helen Nakano and her son Jason Nakano, who drew the illustrations. It was sold by her company, Hanafuda Hawaii LLC, since 2009, in order to promote the local game of Sakura around Hawaii. Each card has markers that indicate the month of the card, its point value, and what yaku it is part of. Originally made of small, stiff cardboard similar to traditional hanafuda decks, it was later replaced with the current version printed on western-style cardstock. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Character Hanafuda | Any type of hanafuda pattern that features a particular cultural theme or intellectual property, which may be either on the scoring cards only, or throughout the entire deck. Usually sold for the purpose of being promotional materials or collectors’ items. This family of hanafuda patterns fluorished after the abolition of the Trump Tax Law in 1989. |
| Junior Hanafuda | Published by Louie Mantia in 2020 and printed by The United States Playing Card Co. on western-style cardstock. The design features a reinterpretation of the hanafuda plants, animals, and objects in the form of Japanese crests (紋, mon), making the cards easier to distinguish from each other. |
| Kairyō Hachi-hachi-bana | A colorful and well detailed hana-trump design originally used as one of the sets of cigarette cards from packs of Murai Bros. cigarettes, but was printed as a complete hanafuda set by Tsuchida Tenguya in the 1900’s. The designs demonstrate the western machine-printing techniques of the time, which produced very detailed and colorful illustrations that look like traditional Japanese paintings. Each card has a western playing card design printed on the top right corner of the card. |
| Kinbotan | A special-made Hanafuda commissioned by Former Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi. The cards are larger and thicker than regular hanafuda cards. However, the patterns are more colorful, more detailed, and with plenty of gold outlines. |
| Musashino | A very early woodblock-printed hanafuda from the Edo period. The name comes from the Waka poem written on the Susuki grass Chaff. It shares the same drawings as Echigo-bana, including the Waka poems. It is thought to be the standard pattern of hanafuda before Hachi-hachi-bana took its place. |
| Nakayoshi Village Hachi-hachi Hanafuda | Designed by Nakayoshi Village and Game Tree and manufactured by Oishi Tengudo in 2015 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Nakayoshi Village and Game Tree. It features pips with the month and card points written on it, and the illustrations were inspired by the art of paper-cutting (切り絵, kiri-e). |
| Quadtych Hanafuda | Usually custom hanafuda patterns in which cards of the same suit could be put together like a puzzle to form a complete, larger picture. |
| Soridaijin no Hanakaruta “Prime Minister’s Hanakaruta” |
A special-made Hanafuda commissioned by Former Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi and manufactured by Oishi Tengudo during the Meiji era. The cards are larger and thicker than regular hanafuda cards, and have detailed woodblock patterns inspired by traditional Japanese paintings. Waka poems present in Echigo-bana are also present in this pattern. Only two original copies survived: One from the descendants of Ito Hirobumi, and one at Oishi Tengudo. Since 1991, Oishi Tengudo produced replicas of this pattern for the general public to enjoy, and they continue to produce them to this day. |
| - | A unique style of handprinted hanafuda since Matsui Tengudo’s revival of the technique. It features green leaves instead of black, and the Waka poems are reintroduced into the standard Hachi-hachi-bana design. |
While a standard hanafuda deck has 12 suits, there are variants where suits are added or removed.
| Name | Suits | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Juusangatsu-Bana | 13 | Hachi-hachi-bana but with an extra month added: Bamboo. Popularized by a Matsui Tengudo-made deck for Yasuhiko Yamaguchi, author of the book, “Saigo no Yamikaruta” (‘The Last Yomikaruta’), where it is prominently shown on the back cover of the book. In other instances, the 13th month was used on the Kings in the Hana-Trump deck design of Universal Playing Card Co. to match the 52-card structure of western playing cards. |
| Juushigatsu-Bana or Shichi-shichi-bana | 14 | Hachi-hachi-bana but with two extra months added: Bamboo and Lotus. However, the design of the cards of the Bamboo suit is different from Juusangatsu-Bana. Produced by Tezuka Karuta Kobo and manufactured by Matsui Tengudo, this deck came with a leaflet for a 4-player game called “Shichi-shichi-bana”. |
| Mushi-Bana | 10 | Hachi-hachi-bana except all Peony and Bush Clover cards are removed. Used for playing Mushi. |
| Shiki | 4 | A western playing card deck in disguise as hanafuda. It retains all the iconography of hanafuda sans most of the flowers, as well as adding new Japanese-inspired illustrations and court cards based on the poets and warriors of the Heian period. Produced by Richert Karuta. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Kaichuu-Bana | Hachi-hachi-bana but thinner and with smaller dimensions |
| Ko-Bana | Hachi-hachi-bana but with smaller dimensions |
| Usukuchi-Bana or Usute-Bana | Hachi-hachi-bana but the deck is thinner |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Gomu-hiki or Gomu-hana | Hanafuda produced in Belgium that uses rubber to clear coat the cards and give them a glossy look. |
| Honshimai | Hanafuda made by pasting four sheets of washi paper together to form the cardstock. |
| Kirippanashi | Hanafuda where the manufacturing step of wrapping the card with a backpaper (this technique is called herikaeshi) is completely omitted, leaving the edges of the cards unprotected. It is a characteristic of budget hanafuda decks. |
| Plastic Hanafuda | Hanafuda made of plastic instead of paper. It wasn’t fully embraced in Japan, with only a handful of manufacturers such as Ace and Angel selling their plastic hanafuda. However, it was fully embraced in South Korea since the 1970’s, and all paper Hwatu was replaced with plastic Hwatu. |
| Suzuiri Hanafuda | Hanafuda that has a layer(s) of tinfoil sandwiched in between the washi paper in the cardstock. This was an alternative method of adding weight to each card, as traditionally a very fine stone powder (tonoko) is mixed with the paste for gluing the paper layers together to add weight to the cards. |
| Tezuri | Hand-printed hanafuda cards. Before the 20th century, the traditional way of printing hanafuda cards is by using a woodblock to stamp the pattern on the paper (this technique is called hone-zuri), and then using stencils and a round brush, the colored dyes are applied to the paper (this technique is called kappa-zuri). This practice died out by the 1940’s, when machine-printed hanafuda was more common and easily mass-produced. However in 1975, the technique was revived by Matsui Tengudo, in order to differentiate their products from those of other hanafuda manufacturers. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Hana Cards | Hachi-hachi-bana pattern printed on bridge-size western-style playing card material. The front of each card shows not only the hanafuda design, but also the points of the card as indices, and the name of the suit on the top, and the name of the month on the bottom. The card points may either be standard, or those used in Sakura, depending on the deck. Manufactured mostly for export to Hawaii, USA, by different playing card companies including Nintendo. |
| Hana-Trump | Hachi-hachi-bana pattern printed on western-style playing card material. On the front of each card, the hanafuda design is printed in the middle, while the indices indicate its western playing card value. This makes it possible to be used for both Hanafuda games and Western playing card games. Available in different card dimensions, although typically it is slightly smaller than bridge size playing cards. |
| Yasen Hanafuda | Hachi-hachi-bana pattern printed on western-style playing card material. The deck is as thick as a typical western playing card deck, but the length and width of the cards are close to those of traditional hanafuda. Manufactured by Universal Playing Card Co. |
| Master Hanafuda | Published by Beverly for its “Master” board game series. It is similar in function and material to Hana Cards, but with all the Hana-awase and Koi-Koi Yaku shown on the bottom part of the card. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Hanakoma | Hanafuda designs etched and painted on Japanese mahjong-size tiles. Sold by companies such as Hakuto and Francais Co. Ltd. |
| Tobacco Cards | Among the different sets that were printed on collectible cigarette cards are several unique and very detailed hana-trump sets. Each of them were included in a pack of Murai Bros. Cigarettes, and one would have to collect the whole set to be able to play with it. Curiously, Tsuchida Tenguya took one of these hana-trump sets and printed them on actual karuta paper, with backpasting and all. |