How to play Hanafuda, a traditional Japanese game

 花札（Hana-Fuda)　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Have you ever heard of Hanafuda?

I myself am not familiar with it, and I didn't know about it until I became an adult.

But they are familiar to people of all generations, played during Obon and New Year's holidays, or when relatives get together to play them.

And the designs are beautiful! Many people outside of Japan seem to like them because of their uniquely Japanese design!

What kind of game is this traditional Japanese game that has been around since the Azuchi-Momoyama period?

Let's take a closer look at Hanafuda this time!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator 

https://pixta.jp

 What is Hanafuda?　　　　　　　　　　　

Hanafuda was originally a type of Japanese karuta.

Today, however, hanafuda generally refers to hachifuda.

A set consists of 48 cards, and

Each set consists of 48 cards, and each set contains 4 cards of flowers representing 12 months of each season.

The 48-card set is a remnant of the Portuguese playing cards.

The 48-card set is said to have existed as far back as the 16th century, and was manufactured by companies such as Yamauchi Shoten, which later became the predecessor of the large company Nintendo Co.

which later became a major company, Nintendo.

 List of Hanafuda designs and types　

http://hirobee.oops.jp/hanahuda/yaku.htm

Many pictures of flowers and trees along with the month are used in Hanafuda.

The months, their flowers, and the animals depicted are as follows

January: Pine tree, pine tree and crane

February: Plum blossoms, plum blossoms and Japanese bush warblers

March: Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms and a curtain

April: wisteria, wisteria and a cicada

May ： iris, iris and yatsuhashi (bridge of eight)

June ：Peonies Peonies and butterflies

July ：Hagi (bush clover) Wild boar on bush clover

August: Silver grass, moon and geese on a pampas grass

September： Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum and cup

October ：Autumn leaves Deer on autumn leaves

November： Willow - Ono Michikaze with frog and willow with swallow

December ：Paulownia Paulownia and Phoenix

 Hanafuda Rules　　　　　　　　　　　　

The type of Hanafuda and the month are to be memorized along with the role when actually playing.

Let's get to know how to play those Hanafuda in general!

The rules are played one-on-one, which is very interesting!

I find myself playing all the time lol.

After learning the basics, let's try different rules!

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Step 1 Deal out 8 Hanafuda cards face down, so that the opponents cannot see them.

Step 2 From the pile, eight cards are placed face down between the two players.

Step 3 The remaining Hanafuda are piled up in a pile.

Step 4 Look at the table, take the matching cards from the hand, and arrange them face down.

If there are no cards in your hand, place one of the cards in your hand on the table.

Step 5 Now draw a card from the deck.

If there is a matching card in the deck, it is also placed face up in front of you.

If not, place it on the table.

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This procedure is continued until there are no more cards in the hand.

The game ends when either player runs out of cards in hand.

At the end of the game, the score of the cards is calculated, and the player with the highest score wins the game.

The higher the score, the more cards you have in your hand, the higher your score.

The role of Hanafuda (Japanese playing cards)

Goko

Reading・Gokou

Score 10 points

Five Gokou cards.

Duplication of Red Short and Blue Short

Reading・Red Short, Blue Short duplicate

Acquisition point 10 points

One point is added for each additional other tan tag.

Four light

Reading: "Shikou", "Shikou", "Shikou", "Shikou

Points gained 8 points

Four five-light cards.

Rain Shikko

Reading: "rain

Score 7 points

Four five-light cards (including rain).

Inoshika Butterfly

Reading: Inoshika-cho

Score 5 points

Seed cards of bush clovers, autumn leaves, and peonies

Sanko

Reading: Sanko

Score 5 points

Three five-light bills except rain.

Red Short

Reading: Red Short

Score 5 points

A tanzaku of plum blossoms, cherry blossoms, and pine trees.

Add 1 point for each other tanzaku tag.

Blue tan

Blue Short

Score 5 points

A strip of tanzaku with peony, chrysanthemum, and autumn leaves. One point is added for each other tanzaku tag.

Full of Hanami

Reading: Full of Tsukimi

Score 5 points

Cherry blossoms tag and cup tag.

Tan

Score 1 point

The role of collecting 5 tanzaku cards. 1 point is added for each additional card thereafter.

Tane

Score 1 point

The hand consists of five 10-point cards. 1 point is awarded for each additional card.

Scum

Score 1 point

The number of cards with 10 discarded cards. 1 point is added for each additional card thereafter.

It's hard to remember the roles at first, but you'll learn as you go!

These days, you can even play online with apps that support the rules!

(Now that I think about it, it's hard to imagine how it would have been played in the Azuchi-Momoyama period.)

(Now I think about it, it's unimaginable in the Azuchi-Momoyama era.)
The light cards, such as Gokou, seem very important...!

And the time per game is short, so it's exciting to think as you play the cards!

summary                                             

So this was about Hanafuda, one of the traditional Japanese games.

With the increase of new games such as online games, there is often no shortage of entertainment, but there is no shortage of table games such as playing cards, Hanafuda, and Mahjong, which are played by all generations.

However, table games such as playing cards, Hanafuda, and Mahjong, which are played by people of all ages, continue to show us a different kind of charm.

I think that table games such as playing cards, Hanafuda, and Mahjong, which are played by all generations, continue to show us different charms.

Try introducing Hanafuda to your foreign friends!

And look at the cartoons about Hanafuda, too! LOL!

My recommendation is "Summer Wars!" Japanese anime movie!