Hanafuda and Kabufuda
Graham Leonard
hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) and kabufuda. It can be found at
http://hana.kirisame.org/
When looking for information for the site I noticed posts in this
group asking about these cards and their rules, so thought that my
site might be of interest to some of the posters here.
---
Graham Leonard
Pwee Keng Ho
Thanks a lot.
Regards,
Keng Ho
"Graham Leonard" <ccker...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:dd7f3312.0403...@posting.google.com...
Iain Cheyne
news:dd7f3312.0403...@posting.google.com:
> I've launched a website explaining how to play various games using
> hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) and kabufuda. It can be found at
> http://hana.kirisame.org/
Very nice. Thank you. I might pick up a pack.
Which is the best hanafunda game in your opinion?
Also, it might be worth sorting the encoding out as some of the Japanese
script does not display properly on Western browsers.
--
Iain Cheyne
John Coxon
Nintendo was a hanafuda card producer before going into toys and eventually
video games.
--
John Coxon
Random quote:
Adult (n.): One old enough to know better.
E-mail:
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My website:
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My blog:
http://www.livejournal.com/~johncoxon
Join The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy RPG:
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Graham Leonard
Out of the hanafuda games on my site, I've only played Poka, Koi-Koi,
Hachi-Hachi, Mushi, Hana-awase, so I can only comment on them. I've
also played the kabufuda games, but won't involve them because they're
essentially just black jack variants.
My favorite game for two is Mushi. Koi-Koi is more popular (except for
here in Kansai), but I'm not fond of the game's tendency for low
scoring hands.
For three players I like Hana-awase because it has a range of hands to
get but isn't too complicated. Hachi-Hachi is certainly fun, though;
it's field multipliers can add a great sense of excitement.
Is there a way for Japanese characters to display properly for someone
who hasn't installed a Japanese font? I was tempted to make image
files for the words but in the end decided that the use of Japanese on
the pages wasn't that extensive and that users who could read Japanese
would likely have the correct font.
----
Graham Leonard
Tom Sloper
>> script does not display properly on Western browsers.
I looked at every page and didn't see any problems. However, I looked at the
page source and did not see any encodings line in the source. Gotta do that,
else Japanese won't display properly for folks who aren't set up for it! (My
computer IS set up for it, and defaults to Shift-JIS when I go to that
page.)
>Is there a way for Japanese characters to display properly for someone
>who hasn't installed a Japanese font?
I think you can insert a line like the following, after the </head> tag and
before the <body> tag:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Shift-JIS">
or maybe there's supposed to be an underline after Shift and before JIS:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=Shift_JIS">
I don't know how all of that line works, so maybe somebody will suggest a
better way to enforce the Shift-JIS encoding in your web page.
>users who could read Japanese
>would likely have the correct font.
Yes, but it's nice if it looks right even for those who don't. Oh, and by
the way. I can only speak for myself, but I find the white text a little
hard to read on the light blue background.
And I should mention that I greatly admire the amount of research and detail
inherent in the site.
Tom
Iain Cheyne
> My favorite game for two is Mushi. Koi-Koi is more popular (except for
> here in Kansai), but I'm not fond of the game's tendency for low
> scoring hands.
> For three players I like Hana-awase because it has a range of hands to
> get but isn't too complicated. Hachi-Hachi is certainly fun, though;
> it's field multipliers can add a great sense of excitement.
Thanks. Might be worth putting this advice on the site.
> Is there a way for Japanese characters to display properly for someone
> who hasn't installed a Japanese font?
Use Shift-JIS on your webpage. Put this tag between the <Head> and </Head>
part of your HTML:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=x-sjis">
I think I'll find it easy to persuade my wife to play with these cards with
me. She did a Japanese degree, lived in Tokyo for a year and loves Japanese
things in general.
--
Iain Cheyne
Pwee Keng Ho
they are called Kwa Do in Korea.
I can get Korean hanafuda cards more easily than ones from Japan. This is
because there are two Korean supermarkets here in Singapore, and the
Japanese stationery shops don't often stock hanafuda from Japan. The Korean
cards are on thick plastic and have a textured back. There are also
superficial differences in the card faces and the Korean packs tend to have
a few extra joker cards.
Regards,
Keng Ho
"Graham Leonard" <ccker...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:dd7f3312.04032...@posting.google.com...
Tom Sloper
>Do you have any information on Korean games using Hanafuda cards?
I do. Go to http://www.sloperama.com/hanafuda.html
>I think
>they are called Kwa Do in Korea.
No, they're called hwa-tu. There are decks labeled "Kwa Do" (I think they're
distributed in the US by US Games) but that isn't an accurate rendition of
the Korean name.
>The Korean
>cards are on thick plastic and have a textured back. There are also
>superficial differences in the card faces and the Korean packs tend to have
>a few extra joker cards.
Yes. The most popular Korean game is Go-Stop, based on the Japanese game
Koi-Koi. The use of the jokers is explained on my site.
Tom
Graham Leonard
> I think you can insert a line like the following, after the </head> tag and
> before the <body> tag:
>
> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Shift-JIS">
>
> or maybe there's supposed to be an underline after Shift and before JIS:
>
> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=Shift_JIS">
>
> I don't know how all of that line works, so maybe somebody will suggest a
> better way to enforce the Shift-JIS encoding in your web page.
I added the Shift-JIS specification to all the pages.
> I can only speak for myself, but I find the white text a little
> hard to read on the light blue background.
I can see your point. I'm not particularly attached to the current
color scheme and don't mind changing it. I'm leaving for China on the
day after tomorrow, though, so it probably won't get done for at least
a week.
> And I should mention that I greatly admire the amount of research and detail
> inherent in the site.
Thank you. There's still a couple points that I'd like to clarify and
add examples for; particularly in regards to the scoring.
As an aside, how familiar are you with the Hawaiian rules for
hanafuda?
----
Graham Leonard
Graham Leonard
> Thanks. Might be worth putting this advice on the site.
I'm hoping to add a strategy/comments section to the site after I
finish the page on the history of the cards. I'll include that
information in there.
> I think I'll find it easy to persuade my wife to play with these cards with
> me. She did a Japanese degree, lived in Tokyo for a year and loves Japanese
> things in general.
Good! I recommend finding a third player if you can. I find the three
player games more entertaining.
----
Graham Leonard
Tom Sloper
>how familiar are you with the Hawaiian rules for hanafuda?
What I learned about Higo Bana I learned by playing the downloadable
hanafuda game by Mark Hashimoto. I see that his Geocities website is gone
now, but his email address is (or was) alohapc at hotmail.com. I had to
download an old Visual Basic DLL file to get his program to run again - and
the rules of the game are given in his game's help file. I don't remember
where I heard that Hawaiian hanafuda is called "higo bana" - I don't see
that term listed in Mark's help file. His rules are similar to koi-koi, but
have added yaku combos (see http://www.sloperama.com/hanafuda/variants.htm).
Tom
Iain Cheyne
> I'm hoping to add a strategy/comments section to the site after I
> finish the page on the history of the cards. I'll include that
> information in there.
Lovely. I'll keep an eye on your site.
> I recommend finding a third player if you can. I find the three
> player games more entertaining.
Thanks for the tip. (FWIW, I mentioned this on my blog.)
Also, there are a few different packs for sale here:
http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/framehdg.asp?cat=SRP&nav=1&hdg=JPA
What are the differences between the packs? Which is the most
classic/typical/attractive?
--
Iain Cheyne
http://cheyne.net/blog
Tom Sloper
>What are the differences between the packs? Which is the most
>classic/typical/attractive?
That's three questions.
CLASSIC - the most "classic" hanafuda decks would be those made by Nintendo,
since they were in business making those for a very long time before getting
into the videogame biz.
TYPICAL - that depends where you buy them. In Japan, Nintendo-style or even
cartoon-licensed decks are typical. In Korea, decks with Korean joker cards
are typical. I haven't bought any in Hawaii, but I assume those are
Japanese-style.
ATTRACTIVE - that depends on your taste. Some folks prefer a classic simple
look. Some folks prefer the gaudy gold-decorated decks you can get at
card/game shops in Japan (like Okuno Karuta, see
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/wheret.htm for English, or
http://www.okunokaruta.com/. I like Tricia Kirk's colorful "restoration"
deck, but it looks like her website is down, so I don't know how you could
get in touch with her now.
BUT THEN - You know what? I just realized you were asking about the cards
available at the site you were talking about (playingcardsales.co.uk) -
Chidori, Genroku, Matoi, Ohshou, Okina, or Taihei. And I'm sorry, but I
don't know. I never asked Mr. Okuno to teach me the difference. I just
collected some different decks without learning tremendous amounts of
information about their history, their names, the manufacturers, etc. Maybe
one of the collectors knows, or Graham might. If not, you may need to
contact the playingcardsales.co.uk webmaster if you want to get one of
those - or see if there are any helpful options at
http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/help.htm...
Sorry if I was way off track there! - Tom
Graham Leonard
> Thanks for the tip. (FWIW, I mentioned this on my blog.)
On that note, let me say that while I don't know whether or not it's a
'real' word, the term 'japanophile' is tossed around a fair amount.
> Also, there are a few different packs for sale here:
> http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/framehdg.asp?cat=SRP&nav=1&hdg=JPA
>
> What are the differences between the packs? Which is the most
> classic/typical/attractive?
I typed up a longer response earlier, but unfortunately google ate it.
Virtually all standard hanafuda decks look the same except for minor
differences. There are some nicer looking replicas of older decks out
there, but I would imagine that they would be very hard to get outside
of Japan (and they're not particularly common here). The Nintendo
cards that I use on my site are pretty typical.
http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards52.htm gives a nice example of the
uniformity of the cards. (As an aside, I think that the Golden Peony
deck shown at http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards42.htm is the most
attractive I've seen).
Regarding the hanafuda decks on that site... I had never heard of
Angel, but I found there website. There they only list the Genroku,
Oushou, and Chidori brands decks. Unfortunately they only had pictures
of the boxes, not of the cards themselves. But at this page
(http://www.maruka.jp/omocha/variety/variety/variety_02.html) there
are pictures of the Chidori and Genroku decks. Since the cards look
the same I'm going to guess that Angel does the same thing that
Nintendo does: release identical cards printed on different stocks of
paper. The more expensive the cards the heavier the backing. In
theory, anyway. I have a deck of Nintendo's cheapest cards as well as
their standard cards, but the difference is essentially unnoticeable.
As a reference point for you in your shopping, cheap hanafuda decks in
Japan are about 5 pounds, while the more expensive standard decks are
about 10.
Good Luck.
----
Graham Leonard
Leigh
<tom...@sloperamaNOSPAM.com> wrote:
>Keng Ho wrote:
>
>>Do you have any information on Korean games using Hanafuda cards?
>
>I do. Go to http://www.sloperama.com/hanafuda.html
>
>>I think
>>they are called Kwa Do in Korea.
>
>No, they're called hwa-tu. There are decks labeled "Kwa Do" (I think they're
>distributed in the US by US Games) but that isn't an accurate rendition of
>the Korean name.
>
The Kwa-Do cards are put out by US Games, www.usgamesinc.com
>>The Korean
>>cards are on thick plastic and have a textured back. There are also
>>superficial differences in the card faces and the Korean packs tend to have
>>a few extra joker cards.
>
There aren't any extra cards in the US Games version that I have. I
don't care for the graphics myself but they are certainly serviceable.
>Yes. The most popular Korean game is Go-Stop, based on the Japanese game
>Koi-Koi. The use of the jokers is explained on my site.
>
>Tom
>
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Iain Cheyne
ccker...@hotmail.com (Graham Leonard) wrote in
news:dd7f3312.0403...@posting.google.com:
> On that note, let me say that while I don't know whether or not it's a
> 'real' word, the term 'japanophile' is tossed around a fair amount.
Onelook does not come up with it, http://www.onelook.com/?w=japanophile,
but it's on Google 1570 times. It's as good a term as any.
> Since the cards look
> the same I'm going to guess that Angel does the same thing that
> Nintendo does: release identical cards printed on different stocks of
> paper. The more expensive the cards the heavier the backing. In
> theory, anyway. I have a deck of Nintendo's cheapest cards as well as
> their standard cards, but the difference is essentially unnoticeable.
Well that sounds like a very reasonable guess to me. I'll definitely pick
a pack up. When I get around to playing with them, I'll let you know how
we got on.
By the way, use Xnews (http://xnews.newsguy.com/)to read newsgroups. It's
the best Windows newsreader around, it's free and it's never lost any of
my messages.
--
Iain Cheyne
Tom Sloper
> > 'real' word, the term 'japanophile' is tossed around a fair amount.
>
> Onelook does not come up with it, http://www.onelook.com/?w=japanophile,
> but it's on Google 1570 times. It's as good a term as any.
The usual term (I should know because I am one and have hung around
with numerous others) is "nippophile." Perhaps your search will turn
up more references on that term?
On a side note, I'm curious if there's much of a sinophile community
or if one might be up-and-coming?
Greetings from Game Developers Conference!
Tom
Iain Cheyne
news:6944b6a1.04032...@posting.google.com:
> The usual term (I should know because I am one and have hung around
> with numerous others) is "nippophile." Perhaps your search will turn
> up more references on that term?
Still nothing on Onelook. Only 76 mentions of Nippophile on Google, so I
suppose Japanophile is the accepted term.
:o)
--
Iain Cheyne
Jesse
better than a worthless blue book called "Hanafuda: The Flower Card
Game", and this is the only site and first time i heard of all the
"poka" variations. In addition to clear and consise rules on several
hanafuda variations. Good work, i just book marked your site.
--- this is now just random information pertaining to other posts ---
In Japan (at least in and around Tokyo and Saitama), nobody really
plays any version of hanadfuda, if they do its a half remembered
version of koi-koi, so i have to teach everyone ;) Mostly people think
the game's only for blue collar types or gangsters, of the two people
who I met who knew how to play (HachiHachi) one was a hardcore
gambling nightclub owner and the other was an ex-yak casino worker.
Neither would play without money.
In Korea though, damn, you cant walk a block without seeing a "Godori"
machine, and pretty much everyone i talked to knows the game and plays
(of course korean style which was called "Godori" or "Go-Stop"). In
Seoul it is common to find gambling machines where you can play,
normally for as little as 100 won (10 cents US) a game. If you go to
the internet cafes you can find half the computers playing a form of
Godori.
On a side note, Godori is definitely more exciting than koi-koi, easy
to pick up and crazy addictive. Go to www.hangame.co.jp (i dont know
the korean site off hand beings im in japan) and you can play that
version, a version of hana-awase, and two player godori. (my name is
xhype by the way and im on every night about). The only difference
between korean godori and the hangame version is that hangame uses the
"boar butterfly deer" combination (famous japanese yaku), instead of
the "Godori" (5 bird) yaku which are the 10 point cards of february,
april, and august.
Anyone in japan looking for a deck and doesnt want to spend 20 US can
go to the hundred yen stores and find them in the kids and game
section normally.
----- end random information
again nice site, thanks for looking out
ccker...@hotmail.com (Graham Leonard) wrote in message news:<dd7f3312.0403...@posting.google.com>...
Iain Cheyne
@posting.google.com:
> I absoulutely love hanafuda and found your site to be perfect. Much
> better than a worthless blue book called "Hanafuda: The Flower Card
> Game"
I just bought it.
:-o
--
Iain Cheyne
Jesse
Maybe as a reference its okay, but when trying to learn to play from
scratch, never even playing a trick taking card game before, the book
is worthless. English is either the authors second language, or hes
trying way to hard to sound poetic and thus complicating the
instructions. My favorite line in the book is this (pg 65) "... does
not invalidate the holding players original bonus combination,
although this mistaken notion is sometimes entertained." A more
logical reason for the verbosness is that the publishers required a
fixed page amount and writing in plain conciese english just didnt do
it.
The scoring for Hachi Hachi is also too high when compared with the
scoring chart in the Japanese decks of hanafuda, esspecially if you
are starting with 250 points like he recomends normally a player is
gone within several rounds.
The hachi hachi study has some useful tibits, but its so filled with
prose its hard to weed them out.
My recomendation for everyone is this, if your going to learn to play,
use this guys web page, perfectly written, clear concise and many
variations. If you want a book, and can read japanese, the book the
web page other used is also my recomendation. The 20 dollars for the
blue book isnt really worth it in my opinion, although it is pretty.
(i send my apoligies to Japan Publications for ripping on their book,
but it has to be fixed.)
Tom Sloper
[regarding 'worthless blue book called "Hanafuda: The Flower Card Game"]:
>Maybe as a reference its okay, but when trying to learn to play from
>scratch, never even playing a trick taking card game before, the book
>is worthless. English is either the authors second language
Yes! (^_^) Gotta be.
> The scoring for Hachi Hachi is also too high when compared with the
> scoring chart in the Japanese decks of hanafuda
These card games are the sort of games passed along mostly by word of
mouth - they aren't "invented/documented" or "regulated" games. I'm not
saying this very well. What I'm trying to say is... Every part of the
country of Japan surely uses variations in rules and scoring, for just about
every hanafuda game. And within a locale, every house that plays likewise
uses variations. It's like that for mah-jongg too. You cannot expect the
scoring or rule details given in a book to match precisely with every other
written set of instructions for the game described in the book.
I don't think I've said that very well. Not enough coffee this morning!
Tom
Iain Cheyne
@posting.google.com:
> The 20 dollars for the
> blue book isnt really worth it in my opinion, although it is pretty.
I bought it from eBay for £4.67 incl. p&p, so I think I got a good deal.
:o)
--
Iain Cheyne
Graham Leonard
corrections/clarifications and the rules for a game that is played in
Hokkaido. It won't get done until I finish travelling, though, so
it'll be about a week.
I've met a number of people who know how to play (including a number
of my junior high school students), but never anyone who knew any
games other than Mushi ('futsu no hanafuda' as they call it around
here).
I'm in an internet cafe in Osaka at the moment that has Hangame, so I
think I'll give Godori a try.
----
Graham Leonard
Tom Sloper
> I'm in an internet cafe in Osaka at the moment that has Hangame, so I
> think I'll give Godori a try.
Tanoshinde kudasai, as they say in them parts.
Tom
Graham Leonard
>
> Tanoshinde kudasai, as they say in them parts.
>
> Tom
Thanks. I played on Hangame a few nights with mixed success. It was
fun, but I found the names for the games and the games themselves a
little confusing until I realized that all of the rules are altered
and the games themselves are mostly variations of the Korean game. But
still, it was fun. I might add some of their variations to my site
(once I actually understand the rules).
----
Graham Leonard