Hana Cards (花カード) were a unique type of Hanafuda printed using western-style cardstock. They were introduced by Nintendo around the 1950’s, and continued to be manufactured until the late 1960’s, usually for export to Hawaii, USA.
¶ Features
Unlike traditional hanafuda, which were small and thick, and cannot be bent to any degree without damaging them, Hana Cards were printed on bridge-size western-style cardstock, making them easier to shuffle.
The faces contained a small illustration of the standard hachi-hachi-bana pattern. To facilitate easier playing, the suits are indicated by both the name of the plant above the illustration, and the name of the month below the illustration, in both English and Japanese Romaji. Also, the point value of the card is indicated on its indices.
Included in the set was a booklet containing Japanese-language instructions for games that can be played using Hana Cards. Curiously, these were not games traditionally played using hanafuda, but were actually western card games adapted for play using hanafuda!
¶ Games Included in the Hana Cards Booklet
- Babanuki (old maid)
- Shinkei Suijaku (concentration)
- Doubt
- Unmei no Uranai (fortune telling)
- Kazoku-awase (happy families)
¶ Hawaiian Version
Hana Cards were known to be exported to the United States during the 1960’s. These sets of cards came with an English-language instruction for playing Koi-Koi.
However, the game that was played in Hawaii was not Koi-koi, but Sakura, which used card points different from the ones printed on the cards.
Considering this, versions of Hana Cards made specifically for playing Sakura were created. The face design is identical, except the indices carried the card points used in the game of Sakura (cards worth no points have blank indices). The decks made by Nintendo were distributed by a Hawaiian company called Paradise Factors.
¶ Predecessors
¶ Hana-Trump
Printing hanafuda designs on western-style cardstock was not a new idea. Hana-Trump, which combined the elements of hanafuda and french-suited playing cards and printed them on western-style cardstock, were already being made by Nintendo before Hana Cards were introduced.
The differences are Hana-Trump were usually smaller than western playing cards, whereas Hana Cards had the same size (Hana-Trump that had the same size as western playing cards also existed). Also, Hana Cards omitted all elements of western playing cards (suits and numbers) from its faces.
¶ Yasen Hanafuda
Another type of hanafuda was already being printed on western-style cardstock before Hana Cards were introduced, called Yasen Hanafuda. They were made by Universal Playing Card Co., and had the same thickness and material as western playing cards, and the same face design, height, and width as traditional hanafuda. Based on the brand name and label, it is suggested that this type of hanafuda might have been carried around in the battlefield by soldiers because they fit easily in the pocket due to their small size.
¶ Modern Equivalents
Hana Cards, in both the standard and Hawaiian version, were already long discontinued by Nintendo. However, there exist modern equivalents that are similar to Hana Cards.
¶ Master Hanafuda
Master Hanafuda was a set of hanafuda cards printed on western-style cardstock, published by Beverly in Japan for its “Master” board game series.
Just like other games in the “Master” series, Master Hanafuda aims to assist players into the rules of the game while they’re playing, by putting hints on the cards themselves.
The face format is similar to Hana Cards: There’s a small illustration of a hachi-hachi-bana pattern hanafuda in the middle of the card. The month and card points are both written on the left side of the illustration in Japanese.
In addition, all the possible yaku that can be formed by each card is fully illustrated at the bottom part of the face of each card. Yaku for both Hana-awase and Koi-koi are illustrated.
¶ Hanafuda Hawaii Style
Hanafuda Hawaii Style was 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.
The first edition was originally made of small, stiff cardboard similar to traditional hanafuda decks, but it has been discontinued in favor of the “extra-large” version printed on western-style cardstock, to make the cards easier to read. This version is still being sold today.
Just like the Hawaiian version of Hana Cards, each card of a Hanafuda Hawaii Style deck has markers that indicate the month of the card (denoted by its archaic Japanese month name written on the top right of the card) and its point value (on the top left of the card).
In addition, some cards have markers (denoted by one of the Japanese characters in the i-ro-ha poem) on the bottom of the card, which indicate that the card is a part of a certain yaku in the game.
¶ Bibliography
- Nintendo Hana Cards Booklet, 1950’s
- Directions of Playing “HANAFUDA” Japanese Flower Card Game, 1960’s
- Paradise Factors, A Japanese HANA FUDA (Flower Cards) Game, 1960’s