Mainichi Hanafuda: crane

There's a wide difference here between my original design (right) and the final card with my snowy pine branches. This card has an animal on it, but it's not an "animal" card; it's a "bright."

In Korea, there are cards similar to hanafuda called "hwa-tu." There are a few differences on the Korean hwa-tu cards; notably the Chinese character "gwang" is printed on the five "bright" cards (gwang is the Korean reading; it would be hikari in Japanese I think). As you may have guessed, the symbol means "light" or "bright." The crane is one of the five brights, and the moon is another example.

I originally drew a version of the moon card with a gwang, but I felt that it marred the elegance and simplicity of the design, so I took it out. But, there might be a good case for leaving it in the deck. Gwang symbols were originally printed on Korean decks to help newcomers more easily identify the cards. I may find the cards more handsome without them, but they would make the scoring combinations a little easier to remember.