Tujeon (Korean: 투전;Hanja: 鬪牋;RR: tujeon;MR: t'ujŏn, literallyfighting tablets) are the traditionalplaying cards ofKorea used in the latter half of theJoseon dynasty.[1] They are also known astupae (Korean: 투패;Hanja: 鬪牌, literallyfighting cards).
A deck typically contains forty, sixty or eighty cards: nine numeral cards, and one General (jang), to each suit. In a full eight-suited deck, the suits and their generals are as follows:[2][3]
Yu Deuk-gong (1749–1807) wrote in hisSeoul Miscellany (Korean: 경도잡지;Hanja: 京都雜志) that in the suits of stars, horses, roe deer, and rabbits, the ranking of the numeral cards are in inverted order with nine being the lowest rank and one being the second highest, outranked only by the general. This ranking can also be seen in archaic games such asGanjifa,Madiao,Triomphe, andUnsun Karuta.
The physical cards are very long and narrow, typically measuring about 8 inches (200 mm) tall and 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) across.[2] They are made of oiled paper or leather.[1][2] The backs are usually decorated with a stylized feather design.[4]
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In his 1895 bookKorean Games, with notes on the corresponding games of China and Japan, ethnographerStewart Culin suggested that tujeon originated from the similarly shaped symbolic bamboo "arrows"used for divination in sixth-century Korea.[2] This hypothesis, however, is supported mainly by visual similarity and remains unsubstantiated.[2][1]
Seong Daejung (1732-1809) claimed thatJang Hyeon (b. 1613) brought the Chinese card game ofMadiao back to Korea.[3] Seong also claimed Jang simplified the cards to create tujeon while in prison and taught the game to prisoners and guards. Jang himself is believed to have died in prison. KingJeongjo (r. 1776-1800) issued several ineffective bans against tujeon after gambling was causing serious social problems.
By the early 19th century, tujeon evolved somewhat from its original form: decks were typically only forty to sixty cards in size, using four or six of the eight suits; and the numeral cards were no longer marked to distinguish their suit, being used interchangeably. Only the generals kept their suits.[4] The cards were replaced byhanafuda during theJapanese occupation but some tujeon rules were transferred over to the Japanese cards.[5][6][7]
By far the most popular game wasgabo japgi, so much so that the name was used interchangeably with tujeon.[8] Also known asyeot bang mangyi (엿방망이, "sweetmeat pestle"), it is abaccarat-like game similar to theChinese domino gamekol-ye-si (골여시).[2][9] It is played with the 60 card deck and the object is to reachgabo orkapo which is gambling slang for 9. The game seems to be derived fromKabufuda games where the goal is to reachkabu orkaho which is also slang for 9. Bothkabu andkapo are possibly descended from the Portuguesecavo which was slang for a stake or wager.[10] Another similar game is Komi, played withGanjapa cards, fromOdisha, India along Portugal's old trade routes.[11] Baccarat did not appear in Europe until mid-19th century France and was preceded by a simpler game calledMacao, further hinting at a Portuguese connection.[12] The rules for all these games are likely derivative of the 16th centuryMing game ofSanzhang (三長) which was originally played withMadiao cards[13][14] but modern players prefer using theFrench deck.[15]
Another popular game wasdong dang (동당), an earlyrummy game similar toKhanhoo.[2]
Playing the Tujeon cards is a theme used in several period drama series. Among them:
Playing card packs by geography | ||
|---|---|---|
Historical patterns are shown in italics | ||
| Austria |  | |
| Austria - Germany | ||
| Austria-Hungary | ||
| Belgium - Italy | ||
| Bohemia | ||
| China | ||
| Denmark-Norway | ||
| France | ||
| Germany | ||
| India | ||
| Israel | ||
| Italy | ||
| Japan | ||
| Korea | ||
| Southern Netherlands | ||
| Persia | ||
| Phillipines | ||
| Poland |
| |
| Russia | ||
| Spain | ||
| Sweden | ||
| Switzerland | ||
| United States | ||
| Uruguay | ||
| Vietnam | ||
| Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand | ||
