‘Hanafuda’ means ‘Flower Cards’ and originated in 18th century Japan. Much like western playing cards, there is a whole variety of traditional card games which can played with Flower Cards. The most popular games are Koi-Koi and Sakura.
Our Flower Cards are inspired by fauna and flora of the British Isles and follow the same format as ‘Hanafuda’ so you’ll be able to play these popular games yourself.
Flower Cards is made up of 12x suits of 4 cards, giving a core deck of 48 cards. There is also an additional blank card. The cards of the month are made up for four types; Chaffs, Scrolls, Animals and Brights.
WHAT TO PLAY
Provided a choice of three games that you can play 'Flower Cards' with.
Rummy
This is a game for 2-6 players.
Sakura
This is a game for 2-7 players.
Koi-Koi
This is a game for 2 players.
FLOWER DETAILS
January Snowdrop
January is when the first flowers start to appear, usually towards the end of the month and the Snowdrop is one of the most recongisable first flowers. Always a beautiful sight when piercing a snow-covered ground while on a wintery walk. The cards for January also include a Poetry Scroll and we have chosen ‘Auld Lang Syne’ by Robert Burns. A traditional poem recited as we welcome the new year for Hogmany on 1st January each year and with Burns Night itself celebrated on Robert Burns’s birthday on 25th January each year, this is the perfect January poem. The Bright card shows the low sun rising in the East to recognise the shorter days in this winter month.
February Crocus
February is when we start to see the very early signs of Spring and a number of flowers start to appear. Crocus is one of those flowers and their deep purple flowers can be seen across woodlands and meadows throughout Britain. For our February Poetry Scroll we have chosen ‘A Valentine’ by Lewis Carroll, one of Britain’s most celebrated authors and poets. With Valentine’s Day itself on the 14th of February we felt this was a fitting poem for our February Poetry Scroll. February also sees our first Animal card. We have chosen the Heron, which while mostly spotted on their own standing still on the edge of water hunting for fish, February is the start of the Heron mating season so we thought a breeding pair would compliment this romantic month.
March Daffodils
While the earliest Daffodils may arrive sooner, huge displays of these beautiful yellow flowers show that Spring has arrived. The national flower of Wales cn be seen all over Britain, often in beautiful carefully designed displays. For our March Poetry Scroll we wanted to regonise the coming of Spring so have chose ‘Lines Written in Early Spring” by William Wordsworth, one of the most recognisable English poets. One of Wordworth’s Lyrical Ballads and a celebration of the beauty of nature in springtime, this poem urges readers to connect with the natural world. The Bright card for March is the only Bright to also include an animal and for the purposes of playing games should always be treated as a Bright. The inclusion of the Hares is to differentiate the Bright in the same was the March month includes the Curtain card in traditional Hanfuda. We have chosen Hares as they are at their most energetic in March during the mating season.
April Bluebell
April is the month when you will often see Bluebells in full bloom across ancient woodlands across Britain. Seeing these beautiful blankets of colour is one of the most stunning views in the British springtime. It is also the time when the majority of frogs have awoken from their winter hibernation and make their way back to ponds and lakes and frogspawn will become more prominent during mating season.
May
Forget-me-not
We have picked Forget-me-not as the flower for May as this is the main flowering time in the UK. A very prominent blue colour which we felt fit our colour palette for Flower Cards very nicely. We have chosen Blue Tit for May, one of the most regonisable birds in Britain. While they are common year-round, May is when eggs start to hatch so you’ll often see many busy Blue Tits collecting food to bring back to their hungry chicks in the nest.
June Hyacinth
Hyacinths are a really recongise flower in UK gardens which bloom in mid-to-late Spring. June is the end of the flowering season when you can see them in full bloom before they go dormant in the summer. Hyacinths are also a very popular flower for butterflies with a good quantity of sweet nectar to feed on. We have chosen the Common Blue for our butterfly which can be found throughout Britain in June.
July Barley
With the amount of farmland there is in Britan, the summer months often have bountiful crops ready for the harvest. The Winter Barley harvest starts in mid-July and runs through to August, so we have picked the month of July when you will see the fields full as the harvest starts. The Harvest Mouse we have included will take advantage of the full fields during this time and usually have a litter of pups in the mid-Summer.
August Thistle
Thistles are most prominent across the UK in the summer, with August being a month where you can see many in bloom. The summer is also dragonfly season and we have included the Golden-ringed Dragonfly with it’s distinctive yellow and black abdomen. August is also where we include the Moon Bright card, in line with the Moon card from Hanafuda.
September Blackberry
Towards the end of summer there are many fruits and berries ready for picking, so we have gone for the Blackberry in September when these can be foraged across Britain. We have picked the Pine Marten for our Animal card which is a difficult animal to spot in Britain as they are shy and mostly nocturnal, but can sometimes be spotted in woodlan areas. We have also included the Blackberry Basket on the Animal card in line with the Sake Cup card from Hanafuda.
October Daisy
We have picked the Daisy for our October flower, as despite being seen across Britain from Spring onwards the last Daisies of the year tend to bloom in October as we are in the Autumn season. We have chosen the Animal card for October as the hedgehog when they are preparing for hibernation. They may be more active as the are filling up on food in preparation and looking for a cosy place to hibernate.
November Oak
November is a little different with the card structure in that the Chaff card does not feature the usual flowers as in other months. In Hanafuda there is a Lightning card but as this features in November we have chosen a Fireworks card to represent Bonfire Night on 5th November. We have then chosen the Oak for our flower for the month, showing the leaves browning in Autumn as the leaves prepare to fall. For our Animal we have chosen the Fox which is very active in this month as cubs look for their own territory which can result in a lot of competition. For our Bright card it was important to differentiate as Hanafuda has the card known in English as Rain Man. It was important we kept rain as a key part of the card, so combining with the Bright sun it felt like a natural choice to include a Rainbow to differentiate the card.
December
Hawthorn
As the final month of December we wanted to show the cold winter month so we opted for the Hawthorn tree. In winter Hawthorn produces red fruits called Haws and can be a very helpful source of food for birds and small mammals during the cold winter. In line with Hanafuda, there are three chaff cards with one having a yellow bottom to the card. The Bright card shows a lower sun on the West to represent the winter solstice.
