The following deck is but the last survivor of one of the most amzing journeys in the history of cards: the introduction of cards into japan. as the story is quite long, I shall post it seperately. http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-cards-came-to-japan.html
Anyway, the important bit is this: When the portugese came to japan, the locals copied, and played with the portugese cards with gusto, developong the their own local versions. However, at some period of time, one bright spark decided to repeat one suit of the four-suited deck four times, for use with counting games, similar to baccarat. Some decks used the suit of coins , and others like the kabufuda here, the suit of batons.
The deck you see below consists of 4 series of 10 subjects, viz: ace-9 & a jack. , ( see caption on 1st pic)
in one of theese series, however, the ace and the 4 are more elaborate than the other 3 ( see second pic)
the game that is played with this deck is much like baccarat.
top , R-L ace, 2,3,4,5
bottom , R-L - 6,7,8,9, knave/ jack ( countas as 10)
the more elacorate ace ( far right) , and four ( middle), with what appears to be a medal on it.
the wrapper ( with a pic of Napoleon ) is on the fal left.
Any idea what the purpose of the special ace and 4 cards is?
ReplyDeleteI do not know. None of the games that use this deck attach special significance to them. Perhaps they had a special function in a now-forgotten game. But there is much unknown about these cards.
ReplyDeleteThe ‘medal’ on the 4 is a hōju (宝珠), also known as a “wish-fulfilling jewel” or Cintamani in India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cintamani
ReplyDelete