Children in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912) #1: Pacchi/Buchiko
1964 - 1967

Meiji Chuki no Yama no Kodomo #1: Pacchi/Buchiko
[Children in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912) #1: Pacchi/Buchiko]
25.4 x 35.5 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

The shown cards called pacchi or buchiko [used for games very similar in play style to pogs in America] were thick paper cards with printed pictures pasted on top. Each player flung one of his buchiko at the side of his opponent's one to cause a slight wind enough to flip it over. When there were three players, they also played games called nose and hazushi. Another game involved scoring points based on the numbers written on the cards.
They were about 20 mm in diameter. The biggest one was about 130 mm.

[Translator's Notes: Probably, in nose, each player placed some or all of his buchiko except for one at a point, piling them up, and a player who flipped over a card on the pile by flinging one of the cards in his hand could take all of them. Probably, in hazushi, a player who knocked out one of the cards placed inside a circle drawn on the ground by flinging one of the cards in his hand could take the excluded card.]

Lettering on the Pacchi
Top Right
Minamoto Yoshitsune: Yoshitsune Minamoto
[Translator's Notes: He is one of the most popular samurai commanders in Japan and was tragically killed in 1189, after he destroyed the Taira Clan, by his elder brother Yoritomo Minamoto, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate.]
Teppo: Gun
sen nihyakuten: 1200 points

Bottom Right
Kato Kiyomasa: Kiyomasa Kato
[Translator's Notes: He was one of the strongest feudatories of Hideyoshi Toyotomi who reigned over Japan from 1585 until 1598 as the chief advisor to the emperor, and later served Ieyasu Tokugawa, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, after Hideyoshi died.]
Kitsune: Fox
sen hyakuten: 1100 points

Top Middle
Shoya: Village Chief
sen hachijutten: 1080 points

Top Left
Kusunoki Masashige: Masashige Kusunoki
[Translator's Notes: He was one of the commanders during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (1336-1428), who has been famous for his loyalty to the latter court.]
Shoya: Village Chief
sen sanbyakuten: 1300 points

Bottom Left
Kitsune: Fox
sen happyakuten: 1800 points


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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