The "Original Deck" |
the challengeWhen I first discovered Hanafuda cards in 2010, I immediately searched for as many varieties as I could. As a playing card collector I saw so much potential in this classic Japanese deck.
However after so much searching I found barely anything. Over all these years no 'New' deck had really been made, that I could find, only variations of the same beautiful illustrations. As a student I embraced this as a challenge. I decided to try and create my own deck, one that respected the traditional deck and maintained all of it's iconography but had a unique aesthetic to it. One of the amazing things about Japan for me is it's ability advance and embrace the future while paying tribute and maintaining it's past. I wanted to used this inspiration to create a deck that was obviously Hanafuda, but was also obviously Moon Rabbit Hanafuda. When presented with a open final project for my Sophomore semester, I jumped at the chance to create this deck, which has become my favorite project I have ever done. |
The design
The first major aspect that I focused on to make this deck unique, was to make each month it's own image. Hanafuda decks are beautiful and illustrative. They have no type on them and the art is what make them. I wanted to focus on Hanafuda as art, and make each month it's own standalone image. These images would be successful enough to be hung on their own, but also could break into four separate cards. This makes the months easier to read and makes this deck stand out.
Along with this, I wanted the scenes to make sense. They all were plausible and real scenes, so the ribbons must be hanging from branches or plants and not just floating. The animals must be grounded or in action and not just pasted on top. Every version of the animal and flora were the Japanese variants of them. So the Japanese pine looks much different than the ones found in America, it was important that these cards represent their country, even if the art was by an American.
To tie it all together the deck needed to be easy to play with. This meant clear distinctions between all of the cards (while maintaining artistic cohesion). Making each type of card obviously a dreg, or a bright, or ribbon. The animal cards are the most vague in Hanafuda, and a new player may confuse them with the brights, so in this deck every animal point card has a cloud behind it.
Along with this, I wanted the scenes to make sense. They all were plausible and real scenes, so the ribbons must be hanging from branches or plants and not just floating. The animals must be grounded or in action and not just pasted on top. Every version of the animal and flora were the Japanese variants of them. So the Japanese pine looks much different than the ones found in America, it was important that these cards represent their country, even if the art was by an American.
To tie it all together the deck needed to be easy to play with. This meant clear distinctions between all of the cards (while maintaining artistic cohesion). Making each type of card obviously a dreg, or a bright, or ribbon. The animal cards are the most vague in Hanafuda, and a new player may confuse them with the brights, so in this deck every animal point card has a cloud behind it.
The deck went through multiple printings. Starting with full size cards. This didn't feel right and made for bulky game play so I went with the "mini size" to maintain that Hanafuda aesthetic.
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I had the cards professionally printed, but then was packaging them by hand. While unique and more personal, this wasn't realistic and I want to make my decks more accessible.
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The last two runs were hand stamped using a chop carved for me. The chop reads "Moon Rabbit Hanafuda" and this is when the deck name was created.
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