Mekuri

Mekuri (めくり, meaning “to turn” or “to flip”) refers to a category of traditional Japanese card games defined by their method of play rather than by a fixed deck or suit system. In Mekuri games, cards are revealed, compared, or captured, with outcomes determined by rank or symbolic hierarchy.

Mekuri-style play was common during the Edo period and is associated with early Japanese karuta decks such as Unsun Karuta and Tenshō Karuta. As gambling restrictions increased, these games continued using visually disguised decks—most notably Akahachi and Kurofuda—whose abstract designs concealed their foreign origins.