KABUKI PLAYING CARDS
I designed these cards with a Kabuki theme because I am inspired and intrigued by this ancient Japanese tradition of music theater and the symbology that Japanese art always contains.*
In my research, I discovered that playing cards vary from culture to culture. The Bicycle decks we use in the United States is based off of the French character themes and suits (club, spade, diamond, heart).
Each card has a different suit, however, I believe it would be a fun on-going project to create a different set of face cards for each suit. There are a lot of Kabuki characters to explore!
I created each of these cards from scratch using Adobe Illustrator.
*I understand that some of these images or characters are not exactly correct, however, I hope you enjoy my artistic license in creatively exploring Japanese culture with a twist!*
Thank you for viewing! I very much hope you enjoy this project!
This is the back of each card: the chrysanthemum, or kiku, is a symbol of longevity and endurance.
Historically, people would place a red chrysanthemum on the grave of a lost loved one.
The lantern is a symbol of good fortune and protection from evil -
I thought this would pair nicely with the Japanese character I chose for the ace, meaning "excellence"
For the King, I chose Aragoto.
He is a classic Kabuki character who can be described as the wild and heroic protagonist.
The Queen is Akihame.
In Kabuki theater, she would be an elegant princess.
After some research, I discovered that the Jack card is a knave, which can be translated to servant.
So, you see the Japanese character for "servant" and the role of
Iroaku, the handsome bad guy.
And, how convenient that Kabuki theater traditionally had a character for comedic relief during the show!
This is Dokegata, or, the Comedian.