The Samurai was Japan’s first major ninja export to the English-speaking world, bringing the adventures of invincible sword-slinging detective Shintaro and his shinobi-sidekick Tonbei the Mist to millions of fervent fans in Australia in the mid-1960s and generations of followers … Continued
The somewhat physical card game of Menko (aka Bettan or Patchin) — wherein players ‘fwap’ cardboard rectangles or circles down on each other then claim whatever flips over — isn’t the most conducive to collectible items surviving the decades. These things … Continued
Super pressed for time lately, but I will leave you all with another nice selection of vintage Menko cards. These seem to be Fujimaru-themed, with plenty of the loose dot patterns, off register color and dodgy third-party artwork that make … Continued
Love this Menko card portrait of either Kurozukin (The Black Hood) or Kurama Tengu. Artist and date unknown, cardstock and discoloration from age is consistent with other stuff I have from the 50s and 60s.
Scored a few more menko cards, these feature some surprisingly ON-model art and photo collage work.
Dunno when the original art for these was done – either a century ago or last month to emulate a century ago – but you can still pick them up in grocery stores and gift shops in any big city’s … Continued
Thought a good follow-up to my anti-Ninja Assassin / pro-Shinobi-no-Mono rant last week would be a look at some rather strange S-n-M related merch – colorized menko cards. Released contemporary with the 60’s series, these ‘cigarette cards’ used stills from … Continued
Now these are some awesome menko cards! Watari the Ninja Boy, Sasuke, Tange Saezen and more, represented by original art from the card company – hence the slightly off model illos. And do we really need that male nudity??? This … Continued
I absolutely adore the Japanese equivalent of our “cigarette cards” – menko. These collectible cards featured all sorts of popular media, celebrity actors and athletes, historical and nature subjects, etc. I scored a pile of these in 2006 and 2007, … Continued