Maeda Tamon . - [Seiyo Karuta no Kyoshi].

Tokyo, Kamikataya 1886 (Meiji 19). 15x10cm publisher's illustrated wrapper (some small edge tears and chips); 48pp, a few small illustrations. As said, a bit ratty but pretty good for such a delicate little handbook. ¶ Western card playing taught to Japanese, beginning with the proper way to split the deck and riffle the cards together. 1886 was the year the sale of western playing cards (karuta) was officially permitted. I don't know whether Japan went straight into the smoke filled saloons and gambling dens with exotic dancers promised by the cover but I'm sure it wasn't long. I have taken the liberty of naming the young woman on the cover Lola Yamada.I learn from the Japan Playing Card Museum that the games here are "Twenty-one," "Dashijimai," "Tentori," "Napoleon," and "Another Method of Fortune Telling." All but Twenty One are trick taking games.Worldcat finds no copies outside Japan and I can't find many inside.

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