Hanafuda cards ("flower cards") are a 48-card Japanese deck with twelve months and four cards per month, and every month is a different flower or plant. The meaning of each card comes from seasonal poetry and folklore: the crane on the pine, the bush warbler in the plum, the full moon over the pampas grass. This guide lists all twelve months, what each card shows, and what it is worth, so you can read a hanafuda deck at a glance.
In this article
What is in a hanafuda deck?
Unlike a Western deck with four suits and thirteen ranks, hanafuda has 12 suits (months) of four cards each. Instead of numbers, each card has a picture. What matters for play is its type, which sets its value:
- Bright (Hikari) - 5 cards, the highest value. Crane, Curtain, Full Moon, Rain Man, Phoenix.
- Animal (Tane) - 9 cards, a creature or object that is not a Bright: the warbler, cuckoo, bridge, butterfly, boar, geese, sake cup, deer and swallow.
- Ribbon (Tan) - 10 cards. Three have red poetry text, three are blue, four are plain red.
- Plain (Kasu) - 24 cards of just the plant, the "chaff".
That adds up: 5 + 9 + 10 + 24 = 48. Once you can sort a card into one of those four buckets, you can read the whole deck.
The 12 months and what each card means
The flowers follow the traditional Japanese seasonal calendar, so some of them feel "early" or "late" compared with the Western months. Scroll sideways on a phone to see the full table.
| Month | Flower | The four cards | The meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. January | Pine (Matsu) | Pine with a crane (Bright), red poetry ribbon, 2 plains | Pine stands for long life and the New Year. The crane is a symbol of good fortune. |
| 2. February | Plum blossom (Ume) | Bush warbler (Animal), red poetry ribbon, 2 plains | Plum flowers open while it is still cold, so they signal the first hint of spring. |
| 3. March | Cherry blossom (Sakura) | Curtain (Bright), red poetry ribbon, 2 plains | The curtain is the one used at flower-viewing parties. Cherry blossoms are the famous picture of fleeting beauty. |
| 4. April | Wisteria (Fuji) | Cuckoo (Animal), red ribbon, 2 plains | The cuckoo is a classic early-summer bird in Japanese poetry. |
| 5. May | Iris (Ayame) | Eight-plank bridge (Animal), red ribbon, 2 plains | The bridge refers to a scene in a famous old tale where irises grow beside a zig-zag bridge. |
| 6. June | Peony (Botan) | Butterfly (Animal), blue ribbon, 2 plains | Peonies are lush and showy, long seen as flowers of wealth and honor. |
| 7. July | Bush clover (Hagi) | Boar (Animal), red ribbon, 2 plains | Bush clover is a flower of early autumn. The boar rushes through it. |
| 8. August | Pampas grass (Susuki) | Full moon (Bright), geese (Animal), 2 plains | Moon viewing is an autumn tradition. The geese flying across a night sky complete the scene. |
| 9. September | Chrysanthemum (Kiku) | Sake cup (Animal), blue ribbon, 2 plains | Chrysanthemum wine was drunk on the ninth day of the ninth month for health and long life. |
| 10. October | Maple (Momiji) | Deer (Animal), blue ribbon, 2 plains | Red maple leaves are the signature of Japanese autumn, and the deer is a classic partner for them. |
| 11. November | Willow (Yanagi), the "Rain" month | Rain Man (Bright), swallow (Animal), red ribbon, 1 plain | The Rain Man is a poet walking under an umbrella, said to be Ono no Michikaze watching a frog jump at a willow. |
| 12. December | Paulownia (Kiri) | Phoenix (Bright), 3 plains | The paulownia is a noble tree, and the phoenix traditionally perches only on it. |
Two cards, two jobs. The Sake Cup (September) is both an Animal and half of the Moon Viewing and Flower Viewing combos. The Rain Man (November) is a Bright, but it is the odd one out: it is worth less in several Bright combinations.
Reading the symbols
- Red poetry ribbons (January, February, March) carry hand-written poem text. Collect all three for a yaku called Akatan.
- Blue ribbons (June, September, October) are the Aotan set.
- Animals are not all animals. The Eight-plank bridge (May) and the Sake cup (September) count as Animal cards.
- The Boar, Deer and Butterfly (July, October, June) make the famous Inoshikacho combo.
Those sets are the reason the deck was designed this way: the pictures hide a scoring system. If you want to see them in action, our how to play Koi-Koi guide has the whole yaku table.
A quick history
Hanafuda grew out of card games that Portuguese traders brought to Japan in the 16th century. When playing cards were banned during Japan's long period of isolation, designers disguised the suits as flowers, and the flower deck stuck. Nintendo began life in 1889 making hanafuda cards. Most decks you can buy today still follow the same twelve-month layout.
Learn the cards by playing
Looking up a card is one thing; recognizing it fast is another. Moonlit Hanafuda uses the real 48-card deck and a built-in yaku book, and you can learn the Brights, Ribbons and Animals by actually chaining them into big scores. It has a roguelike mode with yokai bosses and a classic two-player Koi-Koi mode, and it runs free in your browser.
Meet the real 48-card deck
See the cards, learn the combos, and play a round in minutes. Free in the browser, phone or PC.
FAQ
What do hanafuda cards mean?
Each of the 12 months has a flower or plant tied to the traditional Japanese seasonal calendar, plus symbols from poetry and folklore, such as the crane, the full moon or the Rain Man. The pictures also encode a scoring type: Bright, Animal, Ribbon or Plain.
How many cards are in a hanafuda deck?
48 cards: 12 months with 4 cards each. That is 5 Brights, 9 Animals, 10 Ribbons and 24 Plains.
What are the 12 hanafuda flowers?
January pine, February plum, March cherry, April wisteria, May iris, June peony, July bush clover, August pampas grass, September chrysanthemum, October maple, November willow and December paulownia.
Which are the Bright cards in hanafuda?
The Crane (January), the Curtain (March), the Full Moon (August), the Rain Man (November) and the Phoenix (December).
What games can you play with hanafuda cards?
Koi-Koi is the most popular. Others include Hachi-Hachi and Hana-Awase. All of them use the same 48-card deck.
Are hanafuda cards the same as Western playing cards?
No. They have no numbers or suits. The deck has twelve flower months with four cards each, and each card's value depends on its type rather than a rank.
Can I play hanafuda online for free?
Yes. Moonlit Hanafuda lets you play with the real 48-card deck in your browser, with a Classic Koi-Koi mode and a roguelike mode.