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Greywolf74

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Did you guys know that Nintendo was originally a playing card manufacturer that was founded in 1889 by a guy named Yamauchi Fusajirō? I have a set of Nintendo hanafuda playing cards (not to be confused with western playing cards) that date back to somewhere between 1954-1957. I'm trying to find one that pre-WWII but I'm still trying to figure out how to use Yahoo auctions because thats the main ebay-like website they use in Japan. :)


Pre-1960 Nintendo Deck Box and sealed deck of hanafuda cards. All playing cards in Japanmade before 1990 have tax stamps. This pair is from '54-'57
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Otafuku 1.jpg
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Side of a sealed deck. I know Google translate isnt great but it gives a rough idea
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You can buy individual decks but you can also buy them in red/black pairs. In this picture the black deck on the left is still sealed but the red one on the right has been opened.
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These arent Nintendo brand cards but it gives you an idea of the size of hanafuda cards.
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The top symbol (pictured below) is Nintendo's manufacturers mark. That mark can be found on all Nintendo hanafuda cards no matter what brand they were sold under. "It says "marufuku" which literally translated means "circle fortune". The meaning of the name ‘Nintendo’ is not exactly known, but a U.S. Patent Office trademark describes it as “a corporation whose fortune or prosperity should be left to the mercy of heaven”. This could possibly be the origin of the phrase “leave luck to heaven”, which is widely regarded to be the meaning of the name. Despite being a full-fledged video game manufacturer, Nintendo still continues to manufacture Hanafuda today."

The last two symbols below Marufuku say "Tengu" which is a type of ancient Japanese "imp" I guess you could call him. Tengu is one of many many brand names that Nintendo has made over the years. The vintage deck I posted pics of above is "Otafuku" brand which was also made by Nintendo but discontinued sometime in the late 70s IIRC. Nintendos current brands are Daitoryo (Their flagship brand which translates to "President"), Tengu (step down in quality from Daitoryo), Miyako No Hana (Step down from Tengu and translates to "Flowers of the city", and Chiyozakura which is a step down in quality from Miyako No Hana and translates to "Thousand-year Sakura". Sakura btw mean Cherry Blossom or Cherry Blossom Tree.
Tengu Kanji.jpg

Heres an example of what all the cards look like. I hope you guys find this half as interesting as I do :)


Month / Suit
Flower
Hikari
(20 points)
Tane
(10 points)
Tanzaku
(5 points)
Kasu
(1 point)
January
Pine
Crane and SunPoetry tanzaku 2 cards
February
Plum blossom
Warbling white-eyePoetry tanzaku 2 cards
March
Cherry blossom
CurtainPoetry tanzaku 2 cards
April
Wisteria
CuckooPlain tanzaku 2 cards
May
Iris
Eight-plank bridgePlain tanzaku 2 cards
June
Peony
ButterfliesBlue tanzaku 2 cards
July
Bush clover
BoarPlain tanzaku 2 cards
August
Susuki grass[a]
Full moonGeese 2 cards
September
Chrysanthemum
Sake cupBlue tanzaku 2 cards
October
Maple
DeerBlue tanzaku 2 cards
November*
Willow
Ono no Michikaze
or figure with umbrella
SwallowPlain tanzaku (Lightning)1 card
December*
Paulownia
Chinese phoenix 3 cards
 
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Reminds me of Mahjong tiles, pretty cool stuff. I love history. :thumbs-up:
I've read that they were created the way they were to mimic Mahjong tiles but that person was just speculating. Makes sense though.


Nintendo also makes Western style playing cards too. I dont collect these as much as Hanafuda but I do like these as well. Probably because the years I spent working in casinos as a dealer/floor supervisor. All of these are vintage but they all have the same tax stamp that was used between 1960-1989 so its impossible to narrow it down further than that unless theres maybe some sort of catalog out there but I kinda doubt it. Hanafuda decks if sealed will have a "shirofuda" card inside of it with the exact date stamped on it. The wetern style cards dont do that. Hanafuda uses the same stamp for the same years but it was pink instead of purple. Pink was used for "Karuta" cards of which hanafuda is a member and purple was used for what they call "Trump" style cards.

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