==History== In 1549, the 18th year of Tenbun, a missionary Francis Xavier landed in the country and the crew of his ship had carried a set of 48 Portuguese Hombre playing cards from Europe, and eventually card games became popular, along with their use for gambling. When Japan subsequently closed off all contact with the Western world in 1633, for... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda
(Japanese: `flower cards`), deck of 48 cards divided into 12 suits of four cards. Each suit is named for a month of the year and pictures a flower ... Found on http://www.britannica.com/eb/a-z/h/12