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Sakura and Higo Bana |
The Japanese cards known as "Hana-Fuda" are also used to play games of the "fishing" family in Hawaii. There, the name of the game is commonly "Sakura", after the cherry suit, or "Higo-Bana". As with many fishing games there are a number of different rules. I've drawn on my own knowledge of Hana-Fuda games, plus information from Bob Foster's Page on Sakura and the Digi Demon page on Higo Bana to identify three main variants, which build up to Oi-Bana, or chase: anyone familiar with the cards and with fishing games in general will doubtless be able to come up with other versions to suit their own taste.
Number of Players
The simple version of Sakura is for two players. Sakura with the special hands can be played by between two and seven players but is best with three, good with two and four and less interesting with five to seven because it is difficult to develop a strategy. Four players playing as two partnerships is a particularly interesting game. For four, five or six I'd recommend the oi-bana variant: this can also be played with seven, but again can become something of a lottery.
Cards and Points
The standard Hana-Fuda pack of 48 cards is used - if you're unfamiliar with it, The cards and points values are here. The Hawaiian points system is different from the Japanese and Korean schemes (naturally).
The most commonly quoted system is as follows. Tanzaku are worth ten points, Crane (Pine), Curtain (Cherry), Moon (Pampas) and Phoenix (Paulowia) are worth twenty, Other illustrated cards are worth five points each and the remaining plain cards - two in each suit other than Rain (which has one) and Paulowia (which has three) are known as "Kasu" or "trash" and worth zero.
As an alternative, to even the suits up, score the bird from the rain suit as five and the yellow paulowia as ten, but I prefer the common system.
In either case, the lightning card from the rain suit is the Gaji, a joker. It counts for zero points but, unlike an additional joker card, can be used to match any card from the table. If you're an experienced player of the Japanese system, note that the poet (rain) does not count as a twenty-point card, which takes a little getting used to. The blank card is not used - in the six player higo-bana variant, the Poet fulfils that purpose (don't worry, it's explained below).
Simple Sakura for Two
If you're unfamiliar with the deck, or with the general mechanism of "fishing" I recommend starting without the special combinations. This makes a simple - but still challenging - game for two players. If you've played before, this version is similar to "Fool Flowers" or "Honeymoon Hana-Fuda" from the Japanese system.
Deal
Select the first "Oya" (Dealer) by cutting the deck: the player who cuts the higher or highest point-card becomes the dealer. After this the Oya alternates (or rotates) except that in the case of a tied game, no points are scored and the same player is Oya again.
For Westerners, shuffling these cards is a learned skill: the traditional mechanism is to split the deck into three roughly equal piles, split the middle pile and stack half on each of the end piles, then stack the end piles in reverse order. Repeat until you feel they're thoroughly mixed.
After a shuffle and cut, the dealer distributes the cards, face down any number of cards at a time to each player in turn. For two players (recommended), deal eight cards into each hand and place eight face up in the centre. I shall refer to the cards which are face-up as "table cards". If the dealer accidentally turns over cards whilst dealing, these are used as table cards. Place the remaining cards face down in a pile - these form the "stock". For different numbers of players, use the deal numbers listed in the more complex version below.
Play
Starting with the Oya, each player takes one card from their hand and attempts to match it with any card of the same suit on the table. If there is a match, the cards are placed face up and visible in front of the player. If there is no matching card, the card from the hand is added to the table cards. Then, regardless of whether the hand card matched, the same player takes the top card from the stock and repeats the process - if it matches, both cards are taken: if it doesn't match, it is added to the table cards.
It is not compulsory to play a matching card from your hand - you may discard another card even if you have a match available. It is compulsory to match the stock card, but if there are two matches available, the player chooses which to make.
Apart from the Gaji, discard any zero point cards which are matched onto a face-up pile called the "Kasu", or rubbish.
Play finishes when the hands and stock are exhausted. If a hand is exhausted before the stock, the player simply attempts to match a stock card each turn.
Special Rules
If the Gaji is dealt as a table card, it is discarded into the trash.
If three cards of the same suit are dealt as table cards, a player matching the suit with either the Gaji or with the fourth of the suit takes all three.
If one or three cards are taken with the Gaji, leave the Gaji with them: if there are cards of the same suit face up on the table when both hands and stock have been exhausted, the player takes that card as well.
If all four cards of a suit are dealt as table cards ("Hiki"), the Oya takes them all.
Scoring
Each hand is individually scored - don't keep a running total. The winner is player with the highest score of point cards (as explained above) at the end of the hand. Play to an agreed number of games, rather than, say, best of seven. Either play the hand out completely for each game, or allow a player making a match to "stop" at any point, taking the points difference at that point. If the winner has thirty points more than the loser, this counts as one game, sixty points more as two games, and 120 points as three games.
Sakura with Yaku
The Yaku are the special hands in the game. The change the game considerably, because they become rather more important for making good scores than the point cards on their own. Traditionally, there are eight such special hands, each scoring fifty points. They are listed under scoring.Deal
Select the first Oya as before, shuffle and deal:- for two players: ten cards to each player and on the table.
- for three players: seven cards each and six cards on the table.
- for four players: five cards each and eight cards on the table.
- for five players: four cards each with eight cards on the table.
- for six players: three cards each with twelve cards on the table.
- for seven players: three cards each with six cards on the table.
Cards on the table are dealt face up. Play is exactly as the basic game described above.
Note that: written sources I found suggest eight cards to each player for the two player version. This is supposed to leave eaight cards on the table at the end, but in fact, combined with the wild-card rule it makes the end-game into a random Ten cards per player plays out to a finish and maintains the subtlety of the use of the wild-card from the original three-player version. In addition, note that the four-player game plays better as two partnerships of two, combining their captured cards.
Scoring
At the end of play, each player add the points value of all cards taken. The total score would be 240 points, but unlder all normal circmstances is slightly less because at least one card, probably from the Rain suit, will be "dead" at the end.. Then add fifty points for each Yaku: if a card counts in two Yaku, both score. If only one player has Yaku, the others also deduct the value from their score.
Oya Gachi - If there is a tie between Oya and non-dealers, the Oya wins. If there is a tie between among non-dealers, the "eldest hand", first from the Oya's left, wins.
Yaku:
with 20-points cards
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20-20-5 
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20-20-5
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with 10-point cards
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10-10-10 
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10-10-10 
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10-10-10 
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with 5 point cards
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5-5-5 
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5-5-5
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5-5-5
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Note that the addition of these hands changes the importance of some standard cards and suits:
Rain and Phoenix do not feature in any Yaku, making them less important, whereas the twenty point Curtain, and the five point cards Boar, Deer and Wine-Cup appear in two each, making them more important.
Basa double stakes (or triple stakes if Chu is also being played) are payable if the winner exceeds the next highest by 100 points after scoring Yaku (and potential deductions). Double stakes are payable for an excess of 100 points even if no Yaku are made: this is known as "Shira Basu".
Chu optionally, the winner takes a double stake if the score exceeds the opponent by fifty points. If this rule is played, Basa pays a triple stake.
Oi-Bana
The Oi-bana (chase) version is for three to six players. A bidding process of eliminates players until there are only two players left to play the game. Eight cards are dealt to each player and eight are placed face up on the table. If there are six players, all cards are dealt as hands and that containing the Poet (Rain) is placed face up on the table. That player takes no further part in that hand.
Starting with eldest hand (that on the right of the dealer) each player bids to play. The two highest bidders then play the hand, with the second highest bidder being "Oya". Alternatively, these two players keep the cards they had received and cards from the other players are put together and shuffled and expose eight cards on the table the rest cards for the stock.
The winner receives the amount of points bid, or, with Basa, Shiru Basa or Chu, twice or three times the bid.