Willow [柳, yanagi] or Rain [雨, ame] is the name of a suit in traditional hanafuda decks. In the standard Japanese ordering, it is generally taken to be the eleventh suit, representing the month of November [11月, jūichigatsu] or the number 11.
Originally, the cards in this suit all featured willow trees with hanging branches. In the Willow Chaff card these branches have simplified to abstract shapes in most modern hanafuda patterns. The other three cards of the suit have maintained the willow tree motif.
There is one Chaff card, one Plain Ribbon, one Animal, and one Bright. The Animal card features a long-tailed, red and yellow Swallow [燕, tsubame] flying between the drooping branches. The Bright card is generally known in English as the “Rain Man,” and features a human figure holding an umbrella under a willow tree beside a stream.
In a few games, including Tensho, an alternate month ordering is used, with the Willow suit representing February or the number 2 instead. On the other hand, in the Korean suit order, Willow is considered to represent December or the number 12.
In multiple games, cards of this suit have special or different mechanics compared to cards with the same ranks or properties in other suits.
¶ Cards
¶ Rain Man
Willow with Ono no Michikaze [柳に小野道風, yanagi ni Ono no Michikaze],[1] more commonly known in English as Rain Man or Umbrella Man, is the Bright card of the Willow suit. The card has a number of alternative names in Japanese, including ‘Frog with Ono no Michikaze’ [蛙に小野道風, kaeru ni Ono no Michikaze] and ‘Willow with Frog’ [柳に蛙, yanagi ni kaeru].
In many games the Rain Man is a lesser bright, with Bright yaku that include the Rain Man being generally worth less than the corresponding version without the Rainman. In Koi-Koi, it cannot form part of a “Three Brights” yaku.
In hanafuda’s early history, this card originally depicted someone running inside a closed umbrella, possibly an Amefurikozō or a Kasa-obake, two Japanese yōkai (demon-like supernatural beings in folklore) connected to umbrellas. A few modern patterns retain this old design.
¶ Swallow
Willow with Swallow [柳に燕, yanagi ni tsubame], or simply Swallow, is the Animal card of the Willow suit.
The Swallow is a basic Animal card that (comparatively) does not contribute to many yaku in most popular Hanafuda games. While it is used as part of a “Small Birds” yaku in Musashino-Bana and Taiyaku, interestingly, the Korean Go-Stop and Minhwatu do not recognize it for the “Five Birds” yaku, analogous to how the Rain Man does not count towards “Three Brights” and “Four Brights” in most games. In Koi-Koi, it can of course be used for the general “Animals” yaku.
¶ Plain Ribbon
Willow with Ribbon [柳に短冊, yanagi ni tanzaku] is the Ribbon card of the Willow suit.
In the standard Hachi-Hachi-Bana pattern, the Willow Ribbon is the only Ribbon card that does not have confetti-like dots decorating the card. This is likely because, similar to the Swallow and the Rain Man, this Ribbon is treated as a lesser Ribbon card in many games.
For example, it cannot be used with the other red Plain Ribbons to form the “Grass Ribbons” yaku found in many games, e.g. Hana-Awase, Sakura
It does not count towards the “Seven Ribbons” yaku in Hana-Awase and Hachi-Hachi either, though depending on the rule variation, it may award additional points if you capture it in addition to seven other Ribbons (similar to how the Rain Man does not help to make “Four Brights” in Hachi-Hachi but still makes for an upgrade to “Five Brights” if you capture him). In Koi-Koi however, it can be used for the general “Ribbons” Yaku.
¶ Lightning
The Willow suit is the only suit with only one Chaff card.
The Willow Chaff is known by various different names. In English, Lightning card is a common name. Japanese names include ‘Willow with Demon Hand’ [柳の鬼の手, yanagi ni oni no te], ‘Drum with Demon Hand’ [太鼓に鬼の手, taiko ni oni no te], and ‘Willow with Lightning’ [柳に雷, yanagi ni ikazuchi]. Sometimes it is called ‘Demon card’ [鬼札, onifuda] or ‘Shapeshifting card’ [化札, bakefuda], which are also terms for wild cards in general in hanafuda, and for joker cards with demon or monster designs. In the Hawaiian game of Sakura, the Willow Chaff is known as ‘Gaji’.
While the card originally depicted hanging willow branches, in the modern Hachi-Hachi-Bana pattern they have been altered to a more abstract dark grey and red shape, with various details (such as drums, windmills, a demon’s claw, etc.) underlying the coloration, depending on the specific deck.
The special design and coloration this card has in most decks might be due to its usage as a wild card that can capture any card regardless of its suit (with some restrictions) in several games like e.g. Mushi, Bakabana or Sakura. For the exact mechanics of this, check the respective pages of the games.
¶ Bibliography
- Ōishi Tengudō, “花札の謎シリーズ！１１月札『柳に小野道風』,” blog post, October 2013.
- Rin & Char, “各月に描かれた絵柄の意味,” りんとちゃーの花しらべ, blog post, September 2019.
- Hanafuda Hawaii, “Symbols and Motifs in Hanafuda,” March 2025.
¶ Footnotes
The name 小野道風 [Ono no Michikaze] is also commonly read as Ono no Tōfū in Japanese. ↩︎