Hanafuda (Japanese: 花札) are playing cards of Japanese origin that are used to play a number of games. The name literally translates as "flower cards".[1] The cards appear in Anthony Horowitz's 2015 James Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis, where SMERSH operative Sin Jai-Seong uses a customised deck of Hanafuda to select methods of execution for his victims.
History[]
Trigger Mortis[]
- "I have cast myself in the role of death ... The mechanism is in some respects a slightly clumsy one but I could think of no other way to marry the unpredictability of death with its inescapable certainty."
- ― Sin Jai-Seong[2]
Used by Sin Jai-Seong a child, Hanafuda are popular playing cards in Korea, used for playing Hwatu, which means, literally, "the battle of the flowers", as well as other games such as Koi-Koi and Go-Stop. Their backs are decorated with images of birds, trees and flowers, painted in the Japanese style. There are 48 in a deck. The suits are represented by the 12 months of the year and each suit has 4 different flowers. Sin had a deck of Hanafuda customised into a means of randomly selecting execution methods for his enemies. On the backs of 45 cards are printed different ways to die; some of which are fast and painless, but others are prolonged and unpleasant. All are selected randomly by the victim and some methods demand their cooperation. Among the deaths are: poison, starvation, strangulation, slitting wrists, decapitation, bullet to the head, electrocution, drowning, hanging, and buried alive. 3 cards are blank, ostensibly providing the victim with a 1 in 16 chance of escape.[3]
Confirmed victims include Sin's head of security, Mr. Luther, who hung himself in front of Sin at his opulent German castle residence, and two unidentified individuals who had been buried alive at Blue Diamond's heavy plant storage compound just outside Paterson, New Jersey.[4][5] James Bond had almost been another victim. Dining with his helpless prisoners, Sin tries to force 007 to select the means of his execution from the deck of Hanafuda, but is frustrated when the spy picks one of the three blank cards by sleight of hand. Sin is sent into an uncharacteristic rage and chooses a random death for him - to be buried alive. He and his men carry out the deed, nailing 007 into a coffin-sized wooden box and lowering him into the ground. Bond narrowly escapes from his claustrophobic tomb.
References[]
- ↑ Games played with Flower Cards. Retrieved on 20 December 2017.
- ↑ Horowitz, Anthony (2015). "Chapter 18: ... any Card", Trigger Mortis (in English). Hachette UK, p.231. ISBN 9781409159155.
- ↑ Horowitz, Anthony (2015). "Chapter 10: Pick a card...", Trigger Mortis (in English). Hachette UK, pp.130-132. ISBN 9781409159155.
- ↑ Horowitz, Anthony (2015). "Chapter 16: The Lion's Den", Trigger Mortis (in English). Hachette UK, p.193. ISBN 9781409159155.
- ↑ Horowitz, Anthony (2015). "Chapter 24: Travelling Time", Trigger Mortis (in English). Hachette UK, p.295. ISBN 9781409159155.