Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

Other packs have different totemic marks, but all agree with each other in general appearance. It is said that there are a number of games that are played with these cards, but they are difficult for a foreigner to understand or learn.

A close connection exists between the Korean pack and the lots used by the Chinese to divine the lucky numbers in the game called Pak-Kop-Piu, as these cards retain the feather device, and the names of both are nearly identical with the word for arrows.

The most common packs of Chinese cards are narrow, like those of the Koreans, but are less than half the length, sometimes only about two and a half inches long by a quarter of an inch wide. These packs generally have plain red or black backs with no designs on them, and are printed with black ink on white paper. There are at least twenty-five different kinds of Playing Cards common in China. Some of them are intended simply for divination, others are for gambling, and some for the amusement or instruction of children.

Some are very primitive in their markings; others closely resemble dominos, having similar spots on them denoting their value; while the cards in common use have distorted emblems that are clearly derived from the Sword, Stave, and Money pips of the Tarots, although the Cup of Hermes is not retained. It is noticeable that the Money emblem has a design upon it, and is not the simple ring of primitive times. This leads to the suggestion that these particular cards were devised from those of Mercury. Since there are Court cards and a Joker, it would seem as if the Chinese had adopted part of a pack of Tarots, omitting the Cup suit, since it had no meaning for them, but copying the other emblems in their own peculiar way; but this is only a guess as to the origin of this particular set of cards, and only those used for divination bear these devices.

The Chinese also have Actors’ cards, bearing portraits of the heroes and heroines of certain favourite plays. These have three Jokers, that in China bear the name of “Blessings.” Then there are flower packs and educational packs, Proverb cards, and cards to teach writing, so that the Chinese have in their own original way marched step by step with Europeans, but on parallel lines that have not met. The Chinese declare that they have known and used Playing Cards for two thousand years, in which statement they are probably correct, as certainly the Rod, the Sword, and Money emblems were known and used by the Babylonians in their religious rites two thousand five hundred years before Christ.

Owing to cards having been introduced into Japan by Portuguese traders, the packs are called by the Portuguese name of Karta, as has been mentioned. But the resemblance to European cards stops there, for the “shut-in nation” invented designs and games for themselves, keeping them distinct from divining instruments, of which they have a full share, some of them being identical with the Chinese rods for divination.

One Japanese game is historical, and the packs are beautifully painted in miniature, with gold backgrounds and gold backs. The cards are three by three and a half inches in size. Two sets always come in one box, and the game is played by matching cards. They far surpass European ones, for they are most carefully designed and painted. The two sets in the writer’s possession resemble dainty miniatures, and the small figures might almost be taken for likenesses of living people.

Then there are other sets of cards of the same size as those described, but differently marked, as they have three suits indicated by the colour of the emblems, blue, green, and red. There are two emblematic Court cards, one of them the picture of a house, the other one showing a stream over which a bridge is thrown. The pack in the writer’s collection is rare, for none like it has been described, and there are none in the foreign museums.

Another set of cards is called Bakuchi-No-Euda, or gambling cards. Those in common use are of cardboard about two to two and a quarter inches square, with black backs and flowers painted or stencilled on them, representing the weeks of the year. The game played with them is called “flower matching.” January is represented by a Matsu or Pine tree, followed by the Plum, Cherry, Wistaria, Iris, Peony, and Clover. The eighth suit has a sketch of a volcano, representing August, which is the sacred month; during it pilgrimages are made to the mountain. The card which follows represents a Chrysanthemum; then comes a Maple for October. November is represented by rain, sometimes with a little man scampering through the driving storm with a half-opened umbrella over his head, his shoes flying off in the mud, with the symbol of thunder and lightning placed in one corner of the card. December has the flower sacred to the Mikado, the Kiri.

Each card shows the flower representing it in different stages of development, according to the four weeks in the month. Each has a definite value, and the game is played by three persons, who match cards to make different combinations. The Joker is blank, so these cards were never intended for divining, but were prepared solely for amusement.