The origin of hanafuda
Among friends, we know hanafuda as "that card game that made Nintendo what it is today". But like tempura and samurai using muskets, it finds its origins with the Portuguese and had a rather complicated birth in Japan. Oh, and just to flex, it provided the yakuza with their name.
The word yakuza comes directly from a hanafuda-based gambling game called Oicho-Kabu. In this game, the goal is to reach 9. If you are dealt an 8 (Ya), a 9 (Ku), and a 3 (Za), your total is 20. In Oicho-Kabu, only the last digit counts—meaning your score is 0. An “8-9-3” hand is literally “worthless” (Ebashi, 2005).
Originally, the term yakuza was used by card sharks to describe themselves as the “worthless” outcasts of society. The cards themselves were designed for this rough environment. Unlike thin, flexible Western cards, hanafuda are small and stiff, made by pasting multiple layers of paper and clay together.
Extremely interesting article for games minded people by Unseen Japan. Probably doing to dig up my own hanafuda set over the weekend now.