Cards - Junior Hanafuda (Junior Cards)

Junior Hanafuda. Junior Cards, USA. Full hanafuda deck + extra month/s, 58 or 56 single-headed cards (see commentary below). Size: 63mm x 88mm.

Deck make-up:
12x 4-card monthly suits + (4-card 13th & 14th month suits) OR (6-card 13th/joker suit): 56 cards or 54 cards.
Extras: title cards x2.

In early 2018, while researching for an emoji-related project, Portland-based designer Louie Mantia happened across hanafuda, a traditional Japanese deck of flower-themed playing cards, and found himself inspired to begin designing his own interpretation: "Junior Hanafuda started with an interest in mon (Japanese for 'crests'), which typically represent families in Japan. Because these crests often depict the same plants and animals found in hanafuda, mon became the basis for the design of Junior Hanafuda."

(Click here for my primer on hanafuda cards, if you need to know the basics of the structure of this deck.)

Mantia had been drawing icons, shapes, and symbols for over ten years, so he welcomed a way to use the principles of iconography to create playing cards. It became his aim to introduce beautiful interpretations of regional playing cards to all-new audiences. "The Junior brand is the name of my company. I didn't create these for any particular age range, but I hope they appeal to everyone. A lot of playing cards (hanafuda included) are primarily red and black. They're very serious in tone, and I think the name 'Junior' helps remind me to make my own cards a little more lighthearted, brighter, and more colourful. I want these to be approachable, and whenever I see pictures of kids playing with my cards, I light up!"

Junior Hanafuda comes in three varieties: Phoenix, Dragon and Tiger. The Phoenix variant was the first off the blocks, released in 2019. This deck has the standard hanafuda pattern of twelve suits (representing the months of the year) each consisting of four cards. It has an additional pseudo-suit (bamboo) consisting of six cards which can be used in games which require one or more extra cards. The Phoenix deck has a blue reverse to the cards.

In 2020, two more variants of Junior Hanafuda followed: Dragon and Tiger. Both designs are principally as per the Phoenix deck but with some variation in the colouring of the main / front designs; the other significant difference being that Dragon has a blue reverse and Tiger, red. This time both packs come with two extra suits (bamboo and lotus), each of four cards. Mantia explains: "This structure came from Matsui Tengudō, who made the original 14-suit deck years ago. The goal was to increase the total point value of the deck to allow four players rather than three. Only three people can play the game 88, but with four players, you can play 77. With my deck, you can do that, or you can also play games like hana-awase or koi-koi with four players!"

All three of the sub-species of Junior Hanafuda are made by The United States Playing Card Company in Kentucky, so have the high-quality feel in the hand that one would expect from such a manufacturer.

Click here to see the Junior website where these excellent cards can be purchased along with other Junior products. The site includes instructions for several hanafuda games.

In the main, it is the Dragon / Tiger version of Junior Hanafuda shown here, but the Phoenix set of extra cards is shown in the last section. Click on any card to explore the design.

(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)



Card image size, below:     

January (pine)

Junior Hanafuda's bright cards are indicated with rays radiating from the crest in the centre, as per the first image. The January tanzaku / ribbon reads: "White Sand, Green Pine Trees" ( 白砂青松 ), describing beautiful coastal scenery.

February (plum blossom)

The decks' tane / animal cards have criss-crosses on them, as per the first image. The February tanzaku reads: "Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon" ( 花鳥風月 ), referring to the beauty of nature.

March (cherry blossom)

The March tanzaku is: "A Hundred Flowers Blooming" ( 百花繚乱 ), meaning lots of beautiful people in the same place, or else a moment where many wonderful people achieve great things.

April (wisteria)

May (iris)

The traditional May tane card features an eight-plank bridge, though to make this card fit in better with other tane cards, Junior Hanafuda adapted this card to include koi instead. Mantia: "I used two koi rather than an eight-plank bridge to make it easier for newcomers to understand what the tane cards feature, and since most of them are based on bird-and-flower paintings, animals are a common thread, the eight-plank-bridge is not super identifiable for lots of Westerners."

June (peony)

July (bush clover)

August (silvergrass)

In older hanafuda, a rabbit is occasionally included on the bright card here. This is based on the idea that a rabbit or hare can be seen in the pattern of craters on the moon. In the Japanese take on this, the lunar rabbit is using a mortar and pestle and is pounding the ingredients for rice cakes.

September (chrysanthemum)

October (maple)

November (willow)

"After looking through a half-dozen books full of mon, I can't say I found a single instance of a human, so it didn't seem right for the design of these cards. An umbrella is a common enough feature of mon, but it didn't seem special to me where the frog was the subject of the story. You know, I think when I saw existing mon designs with a frog and a willow branch, it was clear to me the frog was the important part of this bit."
The storm card features Raijin, the god of thunder.

December (paulownia)

13th suit (Bamboo)

Matsui Tengudō once produced an expanded hanafuda deck which included two new "months", Bamboo and Lotus, and the two extra suits in Junior Hanafuda are based on those. The tanzaku says: "Shy Moon, Closed Flower" ( 羞月閉花 ), describing something so beautiful that even the moon and flowers are shy and hiding.
Fujin, the god of wind, is on one of the plain cards here. The tane card is a tiger.

14th suit (Lotus)

The bright card here features a dragon.

Extras

Phoenix decks have an adaptable six-card suit (again called Bamboo – see the first row) for players to experiment and create their own extra suits. These extra cards can also function as Korean-style jokers. The bright card shows Mount Fuji; the animal card features sparrows.

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