Oishi Tengudo (大石天狗堂) is a Kyoto-based Japanese manufacturer of playing cards and other traditional games, including go, hanafuda, and other karuta. With a handful of exceptions, all their cards are still made by hand. The company logo is a tengu mask with a long nose. The company itself states they were founded under the name Minatoya in 1800 by an Oishi Kuranosuke, during the Edo period, when both selling and using hanafuda and many other karuta for gambling was illegal. To get around this, their cover business was that of a rice merchant, and the production and selling of hanafuda and other karuta happened strictly under the counter. If the official founding date of 1800 could be independently verified, this would make Oishi Tengudo the oldest card manufacturer continuously producing cards in the world, though since the production was illicit at the time, there is only scant evidence for this founding date. More information...
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