IF YOU ask a Japanese to name the most popular card games in the country, he might pick
the Western games of bridge or poker as his first guess and the Japanese game of hanafuda
as his second. Although probably not as widely played as they are in the West, bridge and poker
have gained increasing numbers of enthusiasts within the last several decades. Hanafuda is a
game that most Japanese know how to play, and some-especially gamblers- play it fairly
often. A fact that surprises many of its devoted fans, however, is that hanafuda was not a Japanese invention at all. Like its later counterpart, bridge, hanafuda was actually a Western import. But it has become so much a part of the culture that most Japanese think of it as their own .
Known variously as hanafuda, hanagaruta , or hanaawase , the "flower card" game was first introduced to Japan in the late sixteenth century by Dutch traders at Nagasaki. The exciting
and fast-paced game caught on very quickly, and local craftsmen were soon making Japanese
versions of the cards. Within 100 years hanafuda parlors could be found throughout the
country; the game was played in tea houses, machiai , and other places where people gathered
for relaxation.
Although hanafuda underwent a number of changes and regional variations in the following centuries, it still takes both skill and some luck to win. The object is to take as many two card tricks as possible by matching a card in one's hand with one of the same suit turned up on the table. Unlike a bridge deck, the forty-eight -card hanafuda deck consists of twelve
four-card suits. These suits feature flowers or flowering trees, one for each month of the year.
Because the cards in a suit have different point values, however, scoring can be very complicated. It is made even trickier because certain low-card combinations are worth more than some high cards. With the fast pace at which the game progresses, it is clear that playing for money could never be a sport for the weak at
heart.
Soon after it was introduced, hanafuda became linked with gambling and attracted criminal elements. For this reason the Tokugawa shogun ate issued several warnings about wasting time in "frivolous" activities and then finally prohibited the game altogether. The
edicts were not very successful, though they were repeated with almost predictable regularity
in the years that followed. One final attempt to stamp out the game was made in 1830, when
the manufacture, sale, or possession of hanafuda was outlawed. Even this measure failed, and the new Meiji government finally gave up trying to eliminate an activity that had become firmly
implanted in Japan ese life and culture. Today hanafuda is like poker in most parts of the
United States: recreational games are permitted, although betting, even in penny ante
games, is technically illegal. Of course there are those who can not resist playing for big
stakes. Every year the newspapers report at least half a dozen cases in which police raided a secret hanafuda parlor and arrested the players.
Actually, it seems that changing lifestyles, the coming of TV, and the development of
other leisure activities have accomplished what government regulations were never able to do.
While hanafuda is still enjoyed by many people, it is gradually losing ground to other pursuits.
N ow it is most frequently found as a family activity during the holiday seasons, especially at
New Year's.
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