The characters in the To Tom card set wear Edo period clothing. Many images feature distinct Japanese characteristics. However, the Japanese have no knowledge of this game.
There is an interesting story involving both Japan and Vietnam, which is the To Tom card set. Many people from Northern Vietnam and some intellectuals are familiar with this game, which consists of 120 cards featuring 30 illustrations, with each illustration appearing four times, and notably, seven of these illustrations have a red mark…
To Tom Card Set.
The To Tom game requires four players, with many rounds and relatively high stakes. Those unfamiliar with the game can play using the Chắn style (which requires five players) or count points like “Xì Dách (a maximum of 21 points, similar to Blackjack)”, referred to as Đánh Bất (with a maximum of 11 points), accommodating various numbers of players. New players who cannot read the numbers in Chinese characters can ask someone who can read the Latin numbers on the cards.
Interestingly, this card set is exclusively played by Vietnamese, with neither Japanese nor Chinese players (except for a few Chinese expatriates in Vietnam). However, the inscriptions on the cards are a stylistic form of Kanji, somewhat resembling Reisho script with strong, bold strokes, comprising four types of characters: “văn, vạn, sách, thang,” leaving one to wonder if there is a connection to Mahjong, known in Japanese as “majan”? The illustrations are distinctly Japanese, likely originating from a woodblock print style (Mokuhan, derived from China but having reached a unique artistic peak in Japan) that is now commonly printed and sold by the Chinese.
The most apparent Japanese characteristic is that all the figures are dressed in “Kimono” (traditional Japanese clothing) from the Edo period, featuring 18 male figures (with eight having bound feet), four female figures, and four children. Images of koi fish (Koi), peach (Momo), castles (Shiro), and boats (Fune) also represent Japanese themes.
To date, a few individuals have raised questions regarding the origins of the card set and its mysterious legacy. However, there has yet to be a satisfactory explanation.
On November 1, 1999, Professor Yumio Sakurai (Ying Ting Do Gong Hung) from the University of Tokyo presented the “mystery” of the To Tom card set in the program (Rekishi De Miru Sekai, The World Viewed Through History) on NHK channel 3.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh addressed this issue in his book “Le To Tom, L’Annam Nouveau,” 1932, vol. 125 – vol 143.”
Professor Kim Vĩnh Kiện (possibly of Korean descent) became aware of To Tom through the aforementioned book and mentioned it for the first time in Japan in the book (Indochina – Japan Relations) published by Fuzanbo, Tokyo, in 1943. The professor attempted to investigate further but found no additional information beyond confirming that the characters depicted are traditional Japanese customs.
Professor Yumio Sakurai introduced the To Tom cards in his book “Nihon No Kinsei 1, Japan’s Modern Era, Volume 1”, published by Chuo Koron Sha in 1992. According to the professor, the writing on the cards is peculiar, not entirely standard Chinese characters; some may even be Nôm characters? In reality, they are simply stylized Chinese characters.
When asked to read some of the characters on the To Tom cards, some Japanese individuals struggled or had to guess. Notably, the card labeled “nhất thang” (with the character for “one” written in an archaic style) depicting a mother nursing her child has a very unique stroke structure (the three dots forming an “8” and the archaic character for “one” being difficult to recognize), making it almost unreadable for most.
Another interesting point is that Vietnamese players of cards and chess seldom know Chinese characters, yet they can accurately identify pieces from Xiangqi, Mahjong, and To Tom written in Chinese characters.
The Mekong Center store in Japan often sells To Tom cards to Vietnamese (youth from Northern Vietnam) and Japanese customers, who may not know how to play but purchase them for research into their origins.
