The flowers of Hanafuda

The hanafuda card deck has twelve suits, each named for a month and an associated flower (or flowerlike plant). The seasonal flowers have long histories in poetry and art, often tracing back to Heian Japan or Táng China, and are rich in folklore and trivia. A large part of the appeal of hanafuda for me is the contrast drawn by such poetic themes in a gambling game of the yakuza. The cards pop now and then in popular culture, as in the moveset of Kibagami Genjūrō from the fighting game Samurai Spirits, or the protagonist of female yakuza sexploitation flicks Inoshika Ochō, or in the Ino-Shika-Chō team in Naruto, &c.

January: 松 matsu, pine

Being a winter-resistant evergreen, the pine is an auspicious symbol of longevity. The Chinese grouped it with two other plants that endure beautifully in winter, bamboo and plum blossoms; together they make the Three Friends of Winter (歲寒三友 suìhán sānyǒu/saikan-no-san’yu). In Japanese culture this combination of pine, bamboo and plum (松竹梅 shō-chiku-bai) became an important decorative motif; they’re also auspiciously tied to gates in the New Year festivities, and they’re used as a grading system (as symbols for high-, middle- and low-rank). The crane of the first card has a similar set of associations: longevity and New Year. Cranes often rest atop high pines in Japanese painting, but they can’t climb trees in real life; they probably were confused with tree-loving storks.

The red poem doesn’t say *anoyoroshi but akayoroshi; the second character is a hentaigana character for “ka”. The meaning, however, is disputed (Nintendō’s website says, perhaps in jest, that it’s currently under research). One possible derivation is 明らかに良い akiraka ni yoi, “clearly good”.

February: 梅 ume, plum

Prunus mume, the Japanese apricot or Chinese plum. Another of the Friends of Winter loved in Chinese art. The fruit is used for umeboshiand umezuke pickled plums (often dyed with red shiso) – and also umeshu, the delicious fruit liquor. Being the first flower to blossom still during winter, it’s a symbol of perseverance, strength, and of the arrival of spring. Often pictured as red, though the real flowers range from white to pale rose to a lush pink. Long associated with the bush warbler (uguisu) (depicted in the animal card), the cry of which was also considered to be a sign of the arrival of spring.

March: 桜 sakura, cherry blossoms

A symbol of the transience of things (mono no aware) since they die (fall) while still beautiful. A standard symbol of spring, and often called a symbol of Japan. Very similar to the peach flower; cherry blossoms can be distinguished by distinctive cuts in the petal tips. The cultivated flower tree doesn’t produce edible fruit, devoting all its energies to blossoming. In the Nara period the word hana “flower”, by itself, indicated the plum blossom; tastes shifted progressively, and by the Middle Ages the cherry had won the word. Hanami, the custom of “flower viewing”, changed accordingly. The curtain of the first card is hiding a flower-viewing party. The poem strip says “Miyoshino”, thought to refer to a place in Nara famous for its cherry blossoms.

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