In the past I have discussed my affinity for Japanese
culture and in some ways has affected what I collect as related to certain
players or cards.
In November 2013 I won a 2013 World Stars Toreka 24k Gold Kogei Shadowbox Koji Uehara autograph card from a Beckett contest. The card
came from Brothers Inc, a Japanese company that creates the World Stars sets
which are some of the most unique cards available.
One thing they do has become quite common in certain
products, purchasing cards on the secondary market and creating a new card. In
this case they are purchasing Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poem cards which are used
for a playing card game called Uta-garuta for their 2015 World Stars Toreka release.
Hopefully I have this information correct, if not I
appreciate any help so I get things right. The Oguara Hyakunin Isshu is one
hundred poems by one hundred people and was organized into a book in the 1200s.
The poem cards are now used based on a card game called Karuta that was created
in the 1700s, but I don’t believe that the actual game Uta-garuta was created
until later and even now they still play the game and have a National
Championship every year. When Nintendo was founded in 1889 they created similar
cards but for a card game called Hanafuda.
As for this specific poem card I have no information
about age because the back only says “Classic Japanese Card”. Looking closely
at the card it looks to be hand colored, the bottom red border above the gold
foil border is definitely water color and looking at the samurai’s right eye
and right shoulder appear to be drips of red water color paint. The paper of
the card is aged and has been played before with some areas looking
like there is staining from oil, most likely from the skin so I assume it has
been held before. I believe this card is most likely pre-war but I would love
to actually have a time frame.
