Help with a Japanese Issue
 

Never done Japanese. Clueless. What is it? What is it worth? Thanks for the help.

Menko
 

Menko (めんこ, 面子), also known as Bettan or Patchin, 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, printed on one or both sides with images from anime, manga, and other works. 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.[1][2]

Value is hard to say. I'm sure there are some rarer, valuable ones out there but the commons aren't usually too expensive. Some 1930s ones were just listed on eBay recently at $15-$20 and drew no bids. I bought one at $15.

Thanks for the help!

The last two symbols mean "pitcher". I'm not sure what the hiragana (those first four symbols) are supposed to mean. Google says that "kui kui" means "a stubborn", but "A stubborn pitcher" doesn't really compute.


Anyhow, if you're interested we've got a thread on Japanese cards (including menko) over on the post-war side.

Thanks Nat

I'm looking at Gary Engel's guidebook and don't see anything that resembles it at first glance. What does the reverse look like?

here's the back:

I'm not finding an exact match in the Engel guidebook (not surprising, it's extensive but new sets are ID'd regularly) but the back certainly indicates a Marusan issue from the late 50s thru 1962 or so. The scanned page below shows similar backs but more traditional Menko fronts from that era. There are many other Mansuran sets in the book with slight variations of these backs.

Attachment 319704

What do the numbers at the bottom mean? (Back)

Engel never says specifically what those numbers mean. You'll see cards with 5, 6 or 7 digit numbers within the same set. It just seems to be the weird numbering system they used but there has to be some method behind the madness. Some sets have math equations/problems on them.

Some sets included popular music or movie personalities as well as well known cartoon/comic characters. That might be what you have.

BTW...the symbol at the top is typical...you see rock/paper/scissors on lots of the different sets.

The numbers on menko cards are not a card number. Much like the paper, rock, scissors symbol, the numbers were for use in a game.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

Edit to add:

Your card looks similar to 1960s menkos that don't depict actual players. They are cartoon characters.

Amazing information. Thanks for the help

That is a menko based on a manga comic book called Kuri Kuri Toshu (Kuri Kuri Pitcher), which is what the writing on the front says. The books were authored by Hiroshi Kaizuka, a popular manga writer from the late 50s - 60s.

You can see some of the comics here:

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/...8A%95%E6%89%8B

Unfortunately I don't think the menko has much value, only a few of the ones with comic characters on them sell for a lot here and I don't think that is one of them (though its not my area so I'm not 100% sure on that). Its an interesting piece though.

The back contains three games kids could choose from to play (assuming of course they had a stack of these). The top is a rock-paper-scissors one, pretty self explanatory. The middle one says "3 base hit" and was part of a baseball game. The number on the bottom is also part of a game, though I'm not sure how that was played, they are pretty common to see on menko.

Great info, thanks for sharing. And Andy, above, gets partial credit too :)