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Kyoto is the home of many long-standing and successful companies, but probably the most famous is Nintendo. Though it is best known today for game consoles such as Wii, and Switch, and classic games series such as Legend of Zelda and the iconic Mario, Nintendo actually began life in 1889 as a maker of playing cards and it wasn’t until the 1970s that Nintendo became involved with electronic games. Although this change in focus brought the company international success, it has to some degree remained true to its roots: Nintendo’s headquarters are still located in Kyoto and amazingly, Nintendo (in Japan) still makes playing cards. These include Western-style cards as well as cards for traditional Japanese card games.
This article provides a short history of Nintendo in Kyoto, with a review of some of the cards that Nintendo still produces. At the end of the article there is a virtual market stall from which you can browse all the cards which are available to buy online from vendors in Japan, the U.S., and the UK. Click the links below to skip ahead to your area of interest.
| Nintendo in Kyoto Hanafuda Flower Cards Kabufuda Baton Cards Ogura Poem Cards Western Trump Cards Playing Cards Stall |
Nintendo in Kyoto
Nintendo got its start in a traditional wooden machiya style building on a small street not far from the Shosei-en garden. This was the site of both the business and the workshop where the cards were made. These wooden headquarters were rebuilt in 1933 on the same site, and it is this Showa era building that can still be viewed (from the outside) today. If you would like to view it, the location on Shomen Dori Street is about 4 minutes on foot from Shichijo Station on the Keihan Main Line. Here is a map of the location.
Until recently, the building was not in use, with just a plaque on the wall declaring the historical mainstay of the business – playing cards. However, this building has now been converted into a hotel named Marufukuro. Marufukuro has a newly built annexe designed by Tadao Ando and is due to open for business on April 1st 2022.
Real Nintendo fans may also wish to view the current headquarters, a much bigger building located about 3 minutes on foot from Jujo Station on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line. Here is a map for that.
Hanafuda Flower Cards
Let’s return to those playing cards. When Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889, the company’s first product was hand-painted hanafuda playing cards. Hanafuda means “flower cards”, and these colorful cards with traditional designs can be used to play a variety of matching games. Today, Nintendo still produces hanafuda in a range that includes Miyako no Hana (“Flowers of Kyoto”), Tengu (“Goblin”), Daitoryo (“President”) and the more contemporary Mario Hanafuda.
Unlike Western playing cards, which are arranged in 4 suits with 12 cards each, a deck of hanafuda cards has 12 suits (corresponding to the months of the year) with 4 cards each. Viewing the individual cards gives you some insight into the imagery that Japanese typically associate with the months of the year.
Kabufuda Batob Cards
Closely related to hanafuda are the kabufuda or “baton cards” which developed from the playing cards used by Portuguese sailors in the 16th century. These cards are used for gambling games similar to baccarat in which the object is to reach a total closest to 9. In a kabufuda deck cards are numbered from 1 to 10, with four cards for each number, so a complete deck totals 40 cards. There are no suits in kabufuda so all the cards bear the same baton designs. If you are interested in learning to play either hanafuda or kabufuda card games, Catherine Rogan’s book, Hanafuda and Kabufuda for Beginners, is an excellent introduction which is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.
Ogura Poem Cards
Another traditional set of cards that Nintendo produces are Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poem cards. The Hyakunin Isshu is a famous classical poetry anthology from the 12th century which consists of 100 different poems by 100 different poets. This anthology is often called the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu because it was compiled in the area of Mount Ogura in western Kyoto. There are several well-known translations of this anthology into English, which include celebrated renditions by Joshua S. Mostow and Peter MacMillan.
The Hyakunin Isshu is the basis for a popular card game called uta-garuta (or “poetry cards”) or often simply just karuta (“cards”). In this game the 100 poems are written on two sets of 100 cards. One set of cards are the yomifuda or recitation cards, and the other set are the torifuda or pick-up cards. Each yomifuda has a full poem on it, while the torifuda have only the endings of the poems. One player will read a card from the set of yomifuda, and as they do so the other players will try to find and grab the matching ending from the torifuda. Obviously players who have memorized all the poems will have a distinct advantage, so this is a game that is both fun and encourages an appreciation of Japan’s classical heritage. As you can see from the Nintendo set displayed above, these cards are also beautifully decorated with traditional images.
Western Trump Cards
During Japan’s Meiji era (1868 – 1912) the country underwent a period of rapid development in which all things Western were considered modern and fashionable, so it was only a matter of time before Nintendo began to produce Western style playing cards too. Such cards are usually called toranpu in Japanese, a name which is derived from the trick-winning trump card in games such as whist or bridge. However, Nintendo first hit the big time in 1959 when the company made a deal with Walt Disney to print cards featuring Disney’s most popular characters. The cards were wildly popular and marked a move from adult card games to family-oriented fun that continued with Nintendo’s later expansion into video games. These days Nintendo doesn’t need to use other brand characters to decorate its cards having plenty of popular characters of its own. You can still buy standard packs of Western style playing cards from Nintendo, which are unadorned with any obvious branding. But fans of Nintendo’s classic games can also buy packs that are decorated with characters from games such as Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Splatoon, and of course Super Mario.
Nintendo also produces traditional board games such as mahjong, shogi, and igo; all of which are listed in the stall below.
Playing Cards Stall
Use the menu below to navigate to your area of interest. For prices and other details click the vendor links below each product image. Some products are not available from all vendors.
| Traditional Cards Character Trump Cards Standard Trump Cards Board Games Merchandise |
Traditional Cards
President Kabufuda Amazon.com Amazon.co.jp Amazon.co.uk |
Character Trump Cards
Standard Trump Cards
Board Games
Merchandise
