Read on Twitter
Many of you know that I have been studying (and designing) hanafuda for the last 2–3 years. In addition to being part of a fairly-active (!!) Discord server for hanafuda, I have saved searches for “hanafuda” on Twitter, and look around for hanafuda on auction sites a lot.
One thing I often see in my saved searches for “hanafuda” on Twitter are people talking about “hanafuda earrings.” This is because a character (Tanjiro) from a series called Demon Slayer wears “hanafuda earrings.”
(This clutters up a lot of my searches for actual hanafuda.)
(This clutters up a lot of my searches for actual hanafuda.)
There is intense discourse online about how these earrings feature imagery of Japan’s “Rising Sun” flag, which many associate with imperialism and colonialism. Specifically, people in South Korea and China see it as offensive. Suffice to say: there are strong feelings about it.
Since this has been such a volatile issue, the earrings in the series have been altered *only* for different regions (three horizontal lines instead of radiating lines). Though the modified version is also known among fans, the “Rising Sun” version is immensely more common.
As you can imagine, these earrings are very popular items on Etsy. Fans of Demon Slayer openly wear and show them off in their feeds, which reignites conflict about the Rising Sun imagery.
The shaky defense from fans is: “They’re hanafuda earrings,” and “It’s a flower.”
The shaky defense from fans is: “They’re hanafuda earrings,” and “It’s a flower.”
I’m not an expert in Demon Slayer or WWII.
But I can confidently talk about hanafuda.
The attached image shows every card in hanafuda.
...where are Tanjiro’s earrings?
But I can confidently talk about hanafuda.
The attached image shows every card in hanafuda.
...where are Tanjiro’s earrings?
Of course, Tanjiro’s earrings are not any card found in hanafuda.
However, if we are to assume they are merely “hanafuda-inspired,” then I can narrow it down to these cards:
• January pine with crane (and sun)
• August susuki suit (with a full moon)
However, if we are to assume they are merely “hanafuda-inspired,” then I can narrow it down to these cards:
• January pine with crane (and sun)
• August susuki suit (with a full moon)
The general composition of Tanjiro’s earrings appears to be borrowed from the August Moon card in hanafuda.Further modifications are conscious and deliberate choices to make it appear like a sun above a hill:
• the red and white are inverted
• radiating lines are added
It’s very frustrating (as a hanafuda enthusiast) that people suggest these earrings are hanafuda without knowing what hanafuda is. Fans want to justify what they like, so they search “hanafuda” and post an image of scattered cards (like this) in an attempt to “prove” something.
It’s doubly frustrating to me that people use “hanafuda” to defend perpetuating an image that many people are so rightly offended by. Even *if* the claim is that it’s “inspired” by hanafuda, that doesn’t make this *not* visually similar to the Rising Sun flag.
(I see that right-wing accounts found this, who are all too excited to come in here defending the design of these damned earrings in any way they can.)
