Mainichi Hanafuda: plum "junk" #2

This is the other junk card from this suit. Notice how it's similar to yesterday's design, but a different pattern. You can also see a "full-on" blossom in this image. Variations on a theme are what make this type of work interesting; the changes in each card must be subtle enough that they can still be recognized as a piece of the whole suit. That's a particular challenge with hanafuda, since they don't use identifying numbers or symbols like a Western deck of playing cards. That's part of what appeals to me about the look of hanafuda. But, it makes hanafuda games a little trickier to learn, since first you have to learn what each of the cards mean!

Each suit is dedicated to a particular flower, but also represents a month of the year (thus 12 suits of 4 cards each). February is the plum suit because, you may know, the plum trees bloom in or around the month of February. Except in Minnesota where I live, February is the darkest and coldest month of the year. February is also the month of my birthday, and therefore a fortuitous one for me to start out with.