Menko can be traced back to the Edo period of the
1700’s when they were small, circular disks made of clay. Clay menko eventually started having designs
of famous actors and local heroes imprinted on them by toy manufacturers and
sold at cheap sweet shops (Dagashiya)
and their popularity soared. Clay menko
were eventually replaced by solid lead menko in 1879, but in the early 1900s Japan banned
the use of leads in menko due to poisoning cases in Osaka of kids licking their menko. Subsequently, the lead menko era ended, but the
paper menko era was already starting to replace lead menko in popularity and
were printed for the next 60 years or so.
The making of paper or cardboard menko began at the end of the 19th
century. Although the exact origins for
paper menko are unknown, three references point to Tokyo, Osaka,
and Nagoya as the birthplace of the modern paper menko. According to Report of Children’s Culture by Shiho Irie and Noriko Onishi, a man
named Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-96), who was a famous Japanese novelist and owner of
a local dagashiya in Tokyo, bought a
stock of paper menko in September 1893 as noted in his purchase book. This indicates menko were already being sold
in Tokyo by 1893. Additionally, a man
named Isaku Miki started to manufacture paper menko on Matsuyamachi Street in Osaka and created a big menko boom. In fact, because of this boom, other traders
came into the area to start their own businesses (History of Higashi-ku Ward, Osaka).
Lastly, the second volume of Japanese
Children’s Games, published by Hakubunkan around 1901, describes the origin
of paper menko as being recently created by Taro Naruse. These menko, according to the book, were 5.5
cm in diameter and had faces of actors, historic heroes and animals. Children rushed to buy them and at the same
time the rules of the game were established.
The book also states that the menko craze spread throughout the
prefecture as well as to neighboring prefectures. This indicates that the birthplace of paper
menko was Nagoya City.
If these references are correct, then we can assume paper menko were
first created in Nagoya
along with the rules probably around the mid to late 1880s and then spread to
other major cities across Japan.
These early paper menko were woodblock-printed because
the halftone and silver bromide processes hadn’t been refined yet for mass
production. Before the 1920’s, menko
typically had traditional Japanese pictures on them such as samurai, sumo
wrestlers, and popular war generals or soldiers. However, after the 1920’s all sorts of new
pictures began to appear on menko such as religious subjects, cartoons, exotic
animals, Japanese theater stars, and sports figures. Menko also took on
new shapes during this time due to advanced manufacturing techniques.
Some were long rectangular strips so kids could take them to school to use as
bookmarks. Others were die-cut into the shapes of sumo rikishi or animals,
and later planes, which could be flung or shot through the air with rubber
bands. These were known as “flying menko” and had notches cut into them
for the rubber band.
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Besides Tochinishiki and Wakanohana I, a couple
of other interesting facts shaped why the majority of menko survive today only
from these 7 to 8 years. Before the mid-1950’s menko were made and used
for battle. Printing and production quality was generally poor and kids
would more often than not destroy their menko in battle. Even if a menko survived, it was usually in
poor condition. Toward the mid 1950’s
printing quality went up and many kids would actually collect menko instead of
battling with them. Most companies
switched to the halftone bromide menko and used actual photographs instead of
the hand drawn pictures which were used in the earlier sets. Then in the mid 1960’s Japan fell onto
economic hard times and many kids were devoting more time to their school
studies in order to get ahead and the role of menko took on lessoning
value. Additionally, Japan
was emerging as a world power and becoming more technologically advanced and,
unfortunately, menko were being replaced by television. Menko were
produced on a much smaller scale throughout the 1970s and early 1980s and only
a few sumo sets were produced.
Menko are barely known outside of Japan except for avid collectors of
Japanese baseball memorabilia. Now there is growing interest in menko in Japan and in
the United States
as people are becoming more aware of their historical and artistic appeal. According to sources such as the Antiques
Roadshow (USA) and other web sources, menko will only grow in value with
continued exposure to the market. Pre-WW2 menko are hard to find and
menko with unique, interesting or popular themes from the 40’s 50’s and 60’s
are highly sought after. In my opinion,
menko are great pieces of Japanese art and outstanding pieces of Japanese
history. Fortunately, we are seeing a
revival in popularity in Japan
which only adds to the availability in the United States.
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