Ukiyoe Tarot

In 1980 Stuart Kaplan of U. S. Games commissioned Koji Furuta to produce a tarot deck in the ukiyoe style. It took two years for this Japanese artist to create the 78 paintings that make up the Ukiyoe Tarot. Ukiyoe (pronounced ookee-yoh-eh) art began in the mid 1600s in Japan and is popular to this day. The word ukiyoe is a Buddhist term meaning "floating world." Paintings in the ukiyoe style reflect the transience of life in all its joys, sorrows, pleasures and beauties. Courtesans, samurai warriors, kabuki figures and wrestlers are popular subjects of this art form. The Ukiyoe Tarot expresses traditional tarot themes using Japanese cultural objects and symbols. For example, the wands are ceremonial scepters used by Buddhist priests, and the cups are hand-lacquered wooden bowls. The titles and numbers on the cards are given in both English and Japanese.

Number of
Cards Card
Size Copyright Publisher Card Back Design

78
22 major
56 minor
2 3/8"
x
4 1/2" 1983 U. S. Games [back design]

Number of Cards	Card Size	Copyright	Publisher	Card Back Design
78 22 major 56 minor	2 3/8" x 4 1/2"	1983	U. S. Games

Language of Card Titles: English and Japanese

Style of Suit Cards (2-10): suit symbols with evocative backgrounds

Also Included: instruction booklet, publisher card

Major Arcana:
Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant,
Lovers, Chariot, Strength (Card 11), Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice (Card 8),
Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon,
Sun, Judgment, World

Suit Names: Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles

Court Cards: King, Queen, Knight, Page

See Also:

Related Items: Asian decks

SAMPLE CARD IMAGES:

[Queen of Cups] [Four of Cups] [Hermit]

Reference - The Encyclopedia of Tarot: Volume 3 by Stuart Kaplan, pg 641, 644-645