In 1889, the Japanese entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi founded ‘Nintendo Koppai’ in Kyoto. It was a company that produced and marketed hanafuda, a type of Japanese nature-themed playing card.
As a result of its enduring popularity, Nintendo began to diversify and entered the video game market in the 1970s. But do you know the relationship between Nintendo and the notorious Japanese criminal organisation Yakuza?
Japan banned most forms of gambling in 1882. However, hanafuda cards, being picture cards, were tolerated. The yakuza, members of Japanese organised crime syndicates, soon started using the hanafuda cards for gambling.
While other playing card manufacturers opted out of the market, not wanting to be associated with criminality, Nintendo used this opportunity to mass-produce the cards. It went on to become the leading hanafuda manufacturer within a few years.
Certain members of the Yakuza were drawn to Fusajiro Yamauchi's designs on the hanafuda cards and began tattooing themselves with his artwork. To the public eye, hanafuda thus came to be closely associated with Yakuza and illegal gambling.
This led to the 1907 Japanese ban on gambling unless it was used for ‘momentary entertainment’.
Nintendo has expanded beyond manufacturing playing cards. Since the 1960s, it has produced toys, arcade games, and video game systems that have been marketed globally.
Its mascot is Mario, a player character that first appeared in the 1981 Nintendo platform game Donkey Kong.
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