Japanese traditional games

HANETSUKI

Hanetsuki is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badminton except there is no net, and is played with a rectangular wooden paddle, called a hagoita, and a brightly-coloured shuttlecock. Often played by girls at the New Year, the game can be played in two fashions, by one person attempting to keep the shuttlecock aloft as long as possible, or by the two people batting it back and forth. Girls who fail to hit the shuttlecock get marked on the face with India Ink. Traditionally, the longer the shuttlecock remains in the air, the greater protection from mosquitoes the players will receive during the coming year. Although Hanetsuki is not as popular as it used to be, decorative hagoita are commonly sold throughout Japan.

Hanetsuki sometimes has pictures of Kabuki theatre performers on it.
FUKUWARAI

Fukuwarai, or in English, “Lucky Laugh”, is a Japanese game played around new years (“shogatsu”). The game is usually played by children,but adults may sometimes play
also. The game is similar to that of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, whereby the players pin different parts of the face (such as the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth) onto a blank face and laugh at the humorous results.






Karuta


Karuta is a Japanese card game. Card from the Japanese game obake
karuta (monster cards), c. early 19th century. Each card features a
monster from Japanese mythology and a character from the hiragana
syllabary.
The basic idea of any karuta game is to be able to quickly determine
which card out of an array of cards is required and then to grab the card
before it is grabbed by an opponent. There are various types of cards
which can be used to play karuta. It is also possible to play this game
using two standard decks of playing cards.
There are two kinds of cards used in karuta. One kind is yomifuda or
“reading cards”, and the other is torifuda or “grabbing cards.” As they
were denoted, the words in the yomifuda are read and players will have
to find its associated torifuda before anybody else does.
The two types of karuta cards that are most often seen are the “utagaruta”
and “iroha-garuta”. In “uta-garuta”, players try to find the last two lines of a tanka given the
first three lines. It is often possible to identify a poem by its first one or two syllables. The poems for this game are taken from the Hyakunin Isshu and are traditionally played on New Year’s Day.
Anyone who can read hiragana can play “iroha-garuta”. In this type, a typical torifuda features a drawing with a kana at one corner of the card. Its corresponding yomifuda features a proverb connected to the picture with the first syllable being the kana displayed on the torifuda.
Karuta is often played by children at elementary school and junior highschool level during class, as an educational exercise. Although several kinds of Karuta games are described below, in reality any kind of information that can be represented in card form can be used including shapes, colours, words in English, small pictures and the like.


Kendama
Kendama is a Japanese toy that consists of a hammer like object with a ball connected to it by a string often called in English ring and pin.
Kendama play consists of catching and spearing the ball in various ways or performing various juggles, balances or position sequences. A book published by the Japan Kendama Association describes 100 “wazas” and an article in a JKA publication diagrams over 2,000. A Japanese
maker of competition kendamas says that 30,000 exist.
Most people play with kendamas for personal satisfaction, but competitions take place, especially in Japan, in which lists of wazas must be performed in sequence, wazas must be performed repeatedly for as long as possible or
wazas must be performed head to head with a rival until one fails to complete a waza.
A variant game, cup-and-ball, is played in many parts of the world, particularly Latin regions, and is known by names including bilboquet, and balero.


Menko

Menko is a Japanese card game played by two or more players. It is also the name of the type of cards used to play this game. Each player uses Menko cards made from thick paper or cardboard, with one or both side printed with images from anime, manga, etc. A player’s card is placed on the hardwood or concrete floor and the other player throws down his card, trying to flip the other player’s card with a gust of wind or by striking his card against the other card. If he succeeds, he takes both cards. The player who takes all the cards, or the one with the most cards at the game’s end, wins the game.
Menko has been popular from the Edo period. Its quick and simple rules has made it popular among children of all age groups. Because technique is just as important as power in this game, smaller kids have a fair chance of winning.
The pictures on these cards reflect the popular culture of their time, and Menko cards from the past reflect important information about their era. In the Edo and early Meiji period, images like ninja and samurai were popular. Before World War II, the most popular images were of the military, like fighter planes and battleships. After the war, characters from anime and manga were popular, as well as baseball players. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Menko cards were decorated with holographs and sparkles.