Ukiyoe Tarot & Resources

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 May 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Cerulean	01 May 2003
I've only seen one other thread opened last year for someone related to their reading with it as a first time user. This thread will focus on books this tarot appears in and suggestions or if anyone reads with it and finds it a joy/challenge or is curious about it. So far, my book collection shows it appears with card descriptions as a comparison in the following general guides: Juliet Sharman Book's Tarot Companion/Illustrated Guide I (I'll edit the right title later) Rachel Pollack's New Tarot Rachel Pollack's Illustrated Guide (I believe there is a spread with this deck, but I may be mistaken). There are numerous other books that show cards from it, but I believe the above uses actual cards for comparison or has more discussion than just one sentence or title. I'll post an excerpt from the New Tarot and some suggested fun references later. It was the first tarot I bought in the 1990's and I have a fond memory of making certain that I bought an extra or two.

Macavity	01 May 2003
Well, not a resource (or anything of great significance) but just to remark that for EU Collectors, the deck is currently available from www.playingcardsales.co.uk under the "Japan" geographical category. It had long been on my wish list and indeed it does not disappoint. Since my collection will "saturate" at around twenty decks, it must now be up there among my top 20! Good things (imo) include: A unique card stock w/slightly textured, matt finish. 60 page LWB with DETAILED card descriptions (fairly standard US games divinatory info?) plus for botanists (not me!) references to the local FLORA depicted on the minors - A nice touch in a stylish deck. Thanks Mari, for the thread (The end of my contribution) Hopefully not to PREEMPT, but rather to encourage? Indeed, what a genuinely ATTRACTIVE and historic (1982!) deck? :) Macavity

HeidiAussie	02 May 2003
Hi all :-) The Ukiyoe is the first deck I ever owned, I was given it as a gift this last Christmas. I was probably the new user :+). Out of my 5 decks (since Christmas! you are all VERY BAD INFLUENCES on me!!) it is my favourite. It is a beautiful richly detailed deck, with well chosen colours (not too subtle or too loud) and very high production values, ie. no printers errors or scraggy bits.The cards are a bit narrower than the norm, which makes them that much easier to handle. It has unillustrated pip cards (LOL yeah right!) and gorgeous major arcana/trump cards, where the level of detail is high and the detail extends into the background of the cards. As Macavity mentions the LWB gives a detailed explanation of the Ukiyoe art style and detailed explanations justifying the choice of each picture for each card. I have found that for some reason when I do readings with this deck that the major arcana tend to combine in groups of 3, either 3 majors straight or 2 majors + 1 trump. Everything else is evenly distributed. Has this happened to anyone else? Cheers, Heidi Aussie

Cerulean	22 May 2003
I don't know about groups of threes in readings, but a nice cultural note is to think it's like an Ikebana (Flower Arranging) motif of Heaven, Earth and Sky in threesome design. You could do a three-card spread where Earth is the beginning of the Matter, Sky is current mood and day and Heaven is the final outcome. Any time I see a spread of three, such as a six card pull or three rows of three cards---it seems to read well.* ------------------------------- I forgot to mention "A Japanese Touch for All Seasons"--available from Amazon, used from $15.00 upward- the editions that I have seen have color pictures, a seasonal year orientation with pictures of food, plants, crafts and settings. It felt very much like my grandparents tastes and reaquainted me with that cultural bent. It may be less expensive on abebooks.com Another design-based book, the best that I've seen in black and white graphic motifs is The Elements of Japanese Design: A Handbook of Family Crests, Heraldry and Symbolism" for Japanese symbol design and cultural references. It's available from Dover books. Amazon has it for about 17.00 to 24.00, so it's probably better as a used bookstore find--again try abebooks.com ------------------------------ *Or just forget all these books, because the LWB in this tarot is really really good...have fun making or reading haiku, the three-line 5-7-5 syllable kind with this tarot.

The Ukiyoe Tarot & Resources thread was originally posted on 01 May 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.