Back in 1941, right before World War II started (or at least between the U.S. and Japan), an unknown Japanese company produced this Math Back menko set in order to entice kids to buy them in hopes that they would not only play with them, but use them as a learning tool as well. There are numerous examples throughout the 1940s and 1950s of Japanese companies doing this. They are the precursors to flash cards it seems. These three menko that recently came up for auction are the only three of this set I have seen in my close to 20 years of collecting sumo menko making them extremely rare. This small lot features the great Yokozuna Futabayama (75/5=), the weak Yokozuna Minanogawa(27+5=), and the even weaker Yokozuna Akinoumi shown here as an Ozeki (50+4=). Amazingly, these menko survived the air raids and destruction of the city they resided in starting 79 years ago.
Take care and good luck with all the home schooling and online learning!!
Wow, those are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAnd as someone with two pre-school aged kids at home, I agree completely with your sentiment!
Thanks....beautiful and rare!
ReplyDeleteI'm stunned that there were cards issued in 1941 - maybe even more stunned about that than that they've survived for nearly 80 years. I thought I remember reading (of course I don't remember where) that the Japanese government had instituted restrictions on the use of paper in the late 30's and there weren't any cards being made - at least there aren't any cataloged baseball cards from the late 30's until 1946.
ReplyDeleteSumo menko had the golden era between 1933 and 1941. So many great sets during this time. The silver era was from 1953-1962. World War II took a toll with the bombings and paper drives. In fact, there must have been so many printed for so many of the golden era menko to survive.
DeleteThe difference is... teachers get to send the kids home at the end of the school day. Right now parents are stuck with them 24/7. But I will say this... the transition to "distance learning" has been my biggest challenge in recent years. Man I can't wait until we're able to get back into the classroom with actual warm bodies sitting in desks.
ReplyDeleteP.S. These are awesome buddy! Wish I had these flashcards as a kid ;)
I bet, there are a ton of kids too that are probably ready to go back to school. Yeah, these math-back menko are pretty cool. You can guess they were really aimed at the younger kids with the simple math equations.
DeleteI guess it depends on what we're calling young. 75÷5 is pretty challenging for a first or second grader. Heck... I bet that some of my 7th graders would have trouble with this mental math problem ;D
DeleteHa, true...all about perspective!
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