Introducing a set of 50 oracle cards featuring representative gods from Japan’s mythology, as depicted in the “Kojiki” (Record of Ancient Matters).
Artworks
The cards include illustrations of 24 gods, with two cards for each god.
和魂: harmonious soul. orange border cards.
荒魂: rude soul. dark blue border cards.
Harmonious soul cards (和魂) have overwhelmingly positive messages, while rude soul cards (荒魂) offer advice that is easy to accept and are not entirely negative. Rude souls provide insights, so they may be more useful for breaking through the status quo situations.
In terms of design, many of the cards have almost identical illustrations for two souls, with only differences in color. However, some cards intentionally have different illustrations, as in the example below.
Amaterasu Omikami has 4 cards
Amaterasu Omikami has four cards, each with a different image.
Back design of cards
Overview / Features
The cards measure 87 x 125 mm in actual size, which can be a bit large for shuffling, but is a typical size for oracle cards.
The card stock is thick, no sense of luxury.
Impressions
What I like
In addition to the card descriptions, the accompanying guidebook provides detailed explanations of each god and a list of related shrines. For those interested in shrines, it’s a two-for-one deal.
What I don’t like
The price may be a bit high.
Also, if each of the 50 cards had a different god depicted, it would be even more useful.
While it would be more fun to have 50 different gods, having two cards for each god reminds us that everything has a duality. So it might be intentionally designed in this way.
If you want to learn about more gods, it is recommended to pick up the “Kojiki” or “Nihon Shoki” (Chronicles of Japan).
Where to buy
You can purchase the cards from online shopping sites, etc. The prices vary depending on the store, so please be careful.
Wrap up
If you’re interested, there’s also a simple introduction video that shows all the cards being flipped over.
