New Year postcard (1957)
In Japan, there is a tradition of sending New Year’s greeting cards, called “nengajo” (年賀状), to relatives, friends and colleagues.
This postcard is a so called nengajo, sent at the beginning of 1957, so it is assumed that it was produced towards the end of 1956.
Size: 14.4 x 9.4 cm
The front of the postcard shows playing cards, with the Nintendo ace of spades in the foreground and a red back, which corresponds to the deck No. 77, as shown in the photos with a card taken from the deck 77.
On the front of the postcard it says:
賀云 = “Happy New Year”
元旦 = “New Year’s Day”
The back of the postcard has numerous writings, which must be read from right to left.
Starting from the top, the postcard has written (from right to left):
郵便はがき = postcard
For privacy reasons I’ve blurred the two columns of handwritten Japanese text, which I am unable to translate. If there is someone who understands Japanese well and is available to translate it I can pass the text on to him.
The postmark at the top left on the back of the postcard shows the date “32 1 5” or 昭和32年1月5日, which means January 5, 1957 (the 32nd year of the Showa era is 1957). Below the date there is the time the postcard was accepted at the post office (6.12pm).
The text printed at the bottom left, reading from the right column is the following:
- 京都市東山区福稲上高松町六O = “60 Fukuinekamitakamatsucho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto”
This is the address where the “Nintendo Kyoto Research Center” is currently located - (京阪鳥羽街道駅北) = Indicates that the address in the previous column is “north of Tobakaido Station of the Keihan Railway”
- 任天堂骨牌株式會社 = “Nintendo Karuta Co., Ltd.”
- 電話柢園(6)四九一一。四九一三。四九一四番 = Telephone: 4911. 4913. 4914
After that there are 6 other smaller columns that say this:
- 本社 京都市下京区正面通加茂川西入鍵屋町三四二 = Head Office: 342 Kagiyacho, Nishiiru Kamogawa, Shomen-dori, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
- 電話下(5)二四七O。五七四O番 = Telephone: below (5) Number 2470, 5740
- 東京店 東京都千代田区神田須田町一丁目二二 = Tokyo store: 1-22 Kanda Sudacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
- 電話神田(25)七五七O番 = Telephone: Kanda (25) Number 7570
- 大阪店 大阪市南区長堀橋筋一丁目三二 = Osaka store: 1-32 Nagahoribashi-suji, Minami-ku, Osaka
- 電話南(75)二入入O番 = Telephone: South (75) Number 2880
As a final note, the round postmark has 東山 written at the top, which is “Higashiyama”. “Higashiyama” is one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, and it is the same ward as the address in the previous point ‘1.’! Therefore it may be that the sender of the postcard received it directly from the Nintendo factory.
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