This article is under construction. This article is most likely a work in progress, adding a little bit or a large amount at a time. Thus, excuse the informal look of the article while it is being worked on. We hope to have the article completed sometime. Yes, I know, that's pretty vague but I'm not too sure how long it'll take. Just hold on tight - this is going to be a VERY big page. Probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, on the site. If you wish, you may also help out by clicking here.
Fusajiro Yamauchi purchased this building which became Nintendo's first headuqarters in 1889.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan.
The beginning (1889)
The Japanese government had placed a ban on all gambling in Japan, and subsequently cards with numerical symbols on them were taken out of circulation. The government, however, did allow for Hanafuda cards, mostly because they weren't generally associated with gambling and had illustrations in lieu of numbers. Still, by the time Hanafuda had been introduced they had relatively little appeal to the Japanese populace. It could be said that they were expected to run their course just as quickly as they arrived. A man by the name of Fusajiro Yamauchi, however, saw the potential in the market and came up with a plan to re-introduce the game to Japan by crafting hand drawn illustrations on cards made of mulberry tree bark. Consequently he opened up a new company named at the time Nintendo Koppai on September 23, 1889. The company was based in Kyoto, Japan and had a small building which was deemed the headquarters of Nintendo Koppai (upper right image). In Japan, the name Nintendo is typically translated as "leave luck to heaven", though it is also said to mean "heaven blesses hard work", "in heaven's hands", "work hard, but in the end it's in heaven's hands", or even "The Hall of Entrusting Heaven".
Nintendo's Hanafuda cards had began to increase in popularity, eventually even being used for gambling which the government had opposed. The Yakuza even began to use Nintendo Koppai's Hanafuda cards. Fusajiro had no choice but to hire more employees so that they could keep up with the demand for his cards. Over the years Nintendo started to manufacture more and more styles of cards, the most popular of which was the Daitouryou, or Napoleon, deck. The Miyako No Hana Hanafuda deck, which was more traditional in style, was also very popular.