Pokémon Hanafuda

After having discussed the "something completely different" related to Nintendo and how it may also be part of the roots of the company most intimately connected to Pokémon as much as it is for me, I'm reminded of something else that becomes the roots of Nintendo, one that also has a modern Pokémon connection. Before Nintendo dealt with video games, it dealt with playing cards, and one of the kinds of cards they dealt with is hanafuda, which in English can be described as "flower cards" because many of the cards contain images of flowers. It's a Japanese thing, just like the origin of Pokémon.

While I don't know hanafuda in and out, I know just enough of the basic design of the cards. The 48 cards of a deck of them are themed after the months of a year and certain botanicals, and the themes of the cards interact in specific ways in the card game in which they are used. Typically, the design of these cards traditionally conform to a standard set of images, much like how there are traditional images of French cards, and more so since the "flower cards" are unlabeled much like, say, mahjong tiles. However, in modern times, the images might accept modifications, for example including Pokémon.

That is exactly what happened a number of years ago, when a deck of hanafuda cards decked out with Pokémon imagery was made and offered for sale. The traditional illustrations were complemented with a selection of first-generation species on each of the cards. Not only that, a host of merchandise was also created based on the images on the cards, including straps, plastic file folders, and even wall scrolls. The cards themselves look quite neat in blending the traditional and the modern images; the former remains recognizable and the latter looks rather distinct.

Of these cards, I'm taken with a few of them. The first "January" card, which traditionally has a crane with the moon, becomes a Moltres looking at a completely red Poké Ball (Cherish Ball, rather). The fourth "March" card has a pair of Nidoran of both genders nestled beneath a branch full of flowers. The second "August" card has a flock of Spearow and Fearow flying over a sleeping Snorlax visible only from its foot end. Finally, the third "December" card has the full first-generation Eevee family neatly placed within the plant. Among the 48 cards, these images seem to be among the most expressive.

The cards of hanafuda aren't part of my roots, but they're part of the roots of some Japanese people and entities, one of them being Nintendo. It's something that had become part of them in a previous era. Meanwhile, today, things like Pokémon can become a root or a full-fledged part of people like me. The combination of them, as with Pokémon and hanafuda, can still be an impressive thing that inspires a person to appreciate one by interest in the other. That seems to be the highest regard that any person can give for anything that people or entities are linked with, then and now.

One year ago: Limited Research Methodology

Two years ago: The Spirit of Giving

Three years ago: A Faraway Tournament and a Charitable Spirit