The Meiji government legalized hanafuda playing cards,In 1886, after the country opened up to the West. The shogunate eventually banned gambling and foreign playing cards in 1663. The European cards quickly gained popularity, and gambling rose alongside it. When Portuguese missionary Francis Xavier arrived in 1549, his sailors brought with them the 48-card hombre decks. In the 1500's when nobilities started playing card games with hanafuda flowers. JAPAN: To understand the context, we'd have to go back in history.
