Hanafuda Cards and Games

In Japan, Korea, Hawaii, and a few areas beyond, a card game genre exists that's played with a deck of beautifully illustrated "flower cards". These cards - and the card game genre played with these cards - are commonly known by their Japanese name of 'hanafuda'.

Hanafuda games are around two hundred years old, enjoy popularity in Japan and Korea, and are responsible for the creation and rise of a video-gaming giant. Thanks to the Internet and the number of Western expatriates, military personnel, and tourists who have brought knowledge of these games home in recent decades, the popularity of Hanafuda card games are beginning to spread around the world.

If you're interested in learning more about Hanafuda cards and games, please read on!

NOTE: This hub is in no way endorsed by or associated with Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Hanafuda games came into existence in Japan sometime in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when gambling was illegal (but played underground nonetheless). Also during this time, specific card decks were banned by the various shoguns if they became too popular as a way to keep gambling in check.

After the Tokugawa shogunate lifted these bans in the early 1800s, the popularity of Hanafuda cards took off. The various games are a culmination of other popular card games played during the time, such as Unsun Karuta and Mekuri Karuta. Hanafuda cards are also a compromise between Japanese and Western card games. That is, between the Western playing cards such as those brought to Japan by the Portugese missionary Francis Xavier in 1549 and the various Japanese and Chinese-style card decks which appeared during the centuries when card playing and gambling were banned by the shoguns.

In 1889, a man named Fusajiro Yamauchi founded a company named Nintendo Koppai that focused on the production of Hanafuda flower cards. Today, some 122 years later, that company has become an international video gaming giant, but they are still the world's largest producer of Hanafuda cards!

In today's Japan, hanafuda cards and the games played with them have a large stigma around them due to their association with the Yakuza and gambling. However, in South Korea the situation is the complete polar opposite to Japan. While Go-Stop is a very common gambling game there, the game and Hwa-tu cards (the Korean name for Hanafuda cards, also written as '화투 ' in Hangul) are enormously popular there and Go-Stop in particular is played all across the country by many Koreans who are crazy about the game!

There have been a number of hanafuda card deck manufacturers that have sprung up over the years, but the most successful one has remained the most popular for over 120 years now: Nintendo!

Nintendo was founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi (who was an avid Hanafuda fan) for the sole purpose of manufacturing hanafuda cards. They have continued to do that up to this very day, even as the company has become an international gaming giant!

Nintendo's original Hanafuda cards were manufactured on mulberry bark, but they have switched to regular paper and card materials over the past century. Two of the original hanafuda decks, a deck featuring Napoleon's face on the box cover called Daitouryou and a traditional deck called Miyako No Hana Hanafuda, remain the two most popular decks up to this very day.

In 2007, one hundred and eighteen years after the company first went into business, Nintendo released a Mario Hanafuda deck that has become a hot collector's item, especially among Mario fans. Of course, there are plenty of Hanafuda fans who enjoy this deck as well!

There are many card games that can be played with Hanafuda cards and two of the most popular Hanafuda games in Japan and Korea, Hanafuda and Go-stop, will be discussed below.

The standard game of Hanafuda is also known as Matching Flowers and Sakura. In Korea, it's known as "Min-Hwa-Tu" and is usually played by families and friends at Chuseok (Korean Lunar New Year).

Hanafuda is played with 12 suits of 4 cards, with each suit representing the months of the year. Each suit has two normal cards and one special card that can bring in anywhere from 10-20 points.

The goal of Hanafuda is to win as many points as your opponent(s) and reach either a pre-determined number of points or a pre-determined set of rounds. The cards are first shuffled and placed in a pile, which is called a 'stock' in English. A hand of eight cards is dealt to each player in a typical game of two players and eight are left face-up in between both players beside the stock. If there are more than two players, the number of cards in a hand are shrunk.

The game begins with the first play, which is made by the dealer. This player matches a card drawn from their hand with a card from the same suit on the table. If the player has no cards that match the cards on the table, they place a card in the playing a field and proceed to the next step of the round, which is to draw a card from the stock and match it with a card in the playing field. Again, if there is no cards that match, that card is discarded into the playing field and the second player begins their turn.

The round ends when one player has played all the cards in their deck or the stock is empty. The player with the most points wins that round, but if one of the two players has won two suits or four complete pairs, they automatically win that round.

The number of points won is determined by the value of each suit or the number of special cards won by each player, but if one of the players wins two suits or four complete pairs, they can win the total point value of the entire playing field. In standard Hanafuda, each player tallies their points and the winner not only takes their points, but the amount of points the loser won in that round as well!

If the game is tied (or "Oya-gachi" in Japanese), Player 1 wins. If there are more than two players and Player 1 (aka the dealer) isn't involved, the player sitting on the left side of Player 1 wins.

One special occurrence in Hanafuda is the "hiki." This is when a number of cards of the same suit (usually about 3 in number) are in the playing field and one of the two players has the remaining card. This card can be played at any time during the round and the cards can bring in major points for the player who's lucky enough to win this suit! However, a hiki cannot be won with a storm card and if all four cards happen to turn up in the playing field, the cards must be reshuffled and the game starts all over again.

Each suit in Hanafuda is worth the following amounts of points:

-January (Matsu - pine. Cards have a crane, sun, and hills on the face). Two normals (1 point), one poetry ribbon (5 points), and the Crane and Sun special card (20 points).

-February (Ume - plum blossom. Cards have orange plum blossoms and a bird on the face). Two normals (1 point), one poetry ribbon (5 points) and a Bush-warbler special card (10 points).

-March (Sakura - cherry blossom. Cards have pink/red cherry blossoms on the face). Two normals (1 point), one poetry ribbon (5 points), and a Camp-curtain special card (20 points).

-April (Fuji - wisteria. Cards have black wisteria branches and a bird on the faces). Two normals (1 point), one red ribbon card (5 points), and a Cuckoo special card (10 points).

-May (Ayama - iris. Cards have blue iris flowers on the faces). Two normals (1 point), 1 red ribbon card (5 points), and an eight-plank bridge special card (10 points).

-June (Botan - peony. Cards have red peony flowers on the faces). Two normals (1 point), 1 purple ribbon card (5 points), and a butterfly special card (10 points).

-July (Hagi - Clover. Cards have black and orange shrubs on the faces). Two normals (1 point), 1 red ribbon, and a boar special card (10 points).

-August (Susuki - Pampas. Cards have hills with a moon or geese in the background on the faces). Two normals (1 point), 1 geese in flight card (10 points), and a Red Sky special card (20 points).

-September (Kiku - chrysanthemum. Cards have yellow chrysanthemum flowers on the faces). Two normals (1 point), 1 purple ribbon card (5 points), and a Poetry Sake Cup special card (10 points).

-October (Momji - maple tree. Cards have maple leaves on the faces.). Two normals (1 point), one purple ribbon card (5 points), and a Deer and Maple special card (20 points).

-November (Yanagi - willow and rain. Cards have various designs on the faces). One red ribbon card (5 points) and three special cards: Lightning (1 point), Swallow (10 points), and an Ono no Michikaze ("father" of Japanese calligraphy) with a Frog and an Umbrella card (20 points).

-December (Kiri - paulownia. Cards have blue and black shrubs and stars on the faces). Three normals (1 point each, with one card being odd-colored) and a Chinese phoenix special card (20 points).

In the game of Hanafuda, if four of the 20-point cards from the "Five Bright Months" (January, March, August, and November) suits are all won in a round, the player wins 60 points. However, if the player collects "Five Bright Months" (all of the above plus December), they win 100 points!

Any combination of poetry cards (known in Japanese as 'tanzaku') can also win a player a certain number of points. If a player nets all seven tanzaku cards, they win 40 points. If they net six, they win 30 points. Red-lettered and blue tanzaku are both worth 40 points each.

Go-Stop ('고스톱' in Korean Hangul alphabet; also known as 'Godori' and 'Korean Poker') is a card game played in Korea that is wildly popular in the country. The game is played with Hwa-tu - or Hanafuda cards and unlike Japanese Hanafuda cards, the Korean varieties often include bonus joker cards that have special properties in Go-Stop. These cards can either be played in the game or set aside. Also, Go-Stop cards with themes such as anime characters, etc on the backs can be found for sale in Korea.

Unlike Hanafuda/Min-Hwa-Tu described above which puts an emphasis on suits as well as points, Go-Stop is played purely for points. The first player to reach 3 points in a round can announce a 'Go' and keep playing for points. These points - as well as any money bet on a game (officially illegal in South Korea, but the game is widely considered to be a gambling game) are often doubled or even tripled or quadrupled! The player can either announce a 'Stop' and walk away as the winner of the round with all the points accumulated or call a 'Go'. If the other player wins 3 points, the player who called 'Go' loses the round.

The Go-Stop game begins when the players draw one card from the stack each. The one with the latest month of the year becomes the dealer.

The cards then are shuffled and dealt to each player. In a two-person game, five cards each are dealt to each player, including the dealer, and four are placed face-up on the table. Five more are then dealt to each player. In a three-person game, three are placed face-up on the table and four are dealt to each player instead of five. These cards are dealt starting with the player on the right and counterclockwise around the table. Another three are then placed on the table face-up and three more are dealt to each player in the same fashion.

The rest of the cards are placed face-down in a stack beside the playing field. Before the start of the game, the players check for sets of 2-4 cards of the same month in the playing field. If there are, the cards are placed on top of each other and just enough space is left at the top of cards to identify the cards and their month.

The game now begins. The dealer makes the first play and as is the case in virtually all other Hanafuda games, matches a card in their deck with one in the playing field. If there are two cards of the same month in the playing field, the player chooses one of the two. After playing a card from their own deck, the player then takes a card from the stack and matches it with a card in the playing field. If there are none, the card is placed into the playing field and it's the next player's turn.

If two cards of the same month are in the playing field and a player pulls a card of that particular month from the stack, that card must be placed in the playing field until either one of the other players claims all four cards or the missing card turns up in the stack. This concept is known as Ppeok and is an important point to keep in mind in a Go-Stop game.

If a player places a card into the playing field and draws one from the same month from the stack, the player not only claims these two cards, but one "junk card" from from their opponent's hands! This concept is known in Korean as Chok.

If the discarded card is one of three cards of the same month in the playing field and the card drawn from the stack is the fourth, the player claims all four cards as well as a junk card from each of their opponents! This concept is called Ttadak.

Once a player calls 'Go' and continues to play, they will have to collect one more point in order to keep going or they can play it safe and call 'Stop.' If they go for a second 'Go', two points are added to their score. A third 'Go' will double the score and from there on out the score from any further 'Gos' will be multiplied one less than the number of times the winning player has called 'Go.'

If a player calls 'Stop', a penalty (called a 'Go-bak') will be placed on the losing players who have called 'Go' by doubling the amount of points the winner has won and subtracting that from the losers' scores. Any players who have fewer than six junk cards will also face a penalty called a 'Pi bak' if the winner has won the game by accumulating junk cards. Also, if one of the losers has no bright cards in their hand when 'Stop' is called, they too face a penalty called a 'Gwang-bak'. In both instances, the penalty is doubled.

For Go-Stop, all of the same months described above for Matching Flowers apply. The names and values of the Go-Stop suits and groups are as follows:

Ribbon Cards ('Tti' in Korean). One of the ways to collect points in Go-Stop is by sweeping up the Ribbon cards. A set of ribbon cards from any of the suites is worth 1 point and any after that set of 5 is worth an additional 1 point. Also, in the game of Go-Stop, there are sets of three ribbon cards that can win a player 3 points each. These three sets are: the three blue ribbon cards (Cheong-dan), three poetry ribbon cards, and three red ribbon cards. If a player wins any of these three sets in addition to a mixed ribbon card set described above, the total point values are combined.

However, the rules above do not apply to the December ribbon card, which does not have poetry written on its ribbon.

Junk Cards ('Pi' in Korean). This is the most common way to win points. If a player wins a set of 10 junk cards, this is worth a point. Any additional junk cards won after that are worth an extra point each. Bonus cards and special junk cards known as Double Junks ('Ssang pi' in Korean) are counted as two junk cards and hence two points.

Animal Cards ('Dongmul' in Korean). Points for animal cards are accumulated much the same way as with ribbon cards. A set of any five animal cards is worth a point and an additional point is scored for any further animal cards won after this set. A set of the cuckoo, geese, and nightingale cards called a 'Godori' ('Five birds' in Korean) is worth 5 points. However, the bird in the December set is excluded from this rule. Just like with ribbon cards, if a player wins both sets, all the points are combined and added to the player's total score.

Bright Cards ('Gwang' in Korean). In Go-Stop, there are five month suits known as Bright cards. The main bright months are January, March, August, and November. December is known as a "wet bright" ('Bi-sam-gwang') month, but is included in this group. If a player has any three bright cards from the four main bright months, these cards are known as the "Three Brights" ('Sam Gwang') and 3 points are won. However, if a December card is collected or are in the player's hand, these cards become "Wet Three Bright" cards ('Bi-sam-gwang') and are only worth 2 points. If a player has four bright cards, these are known as "Four Brights" ('Sa-Gwang') and are worth 5 points. However, if a December card is collected or is in the player's hand, this set becomes a Wet Four Brights ('Bi-sa-gwang') and is only worth 4 points. If all five brights are won, these are known as "Five Brights" ('O-Gwang') and are worth anywhere from 15-50 points depending on what variations of the game are being played or the rules that have been agreed upon.

Hanafuda cards and the games played with them are very fun, easier than many other games, and games you'll be glad you played once you've played games such as Matching Flowers and Go-Stop! But be warned: If you play these games once, you'll want to play again and again!

Thank you for your visit and be sure to come back again as I'll update this hub as time permits. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the Comments below!