Susuki Grass [芒 or 薄, susuki] is the name of a suit in traditional hanafuda decks. It is generally taken to be the eighth suit, representing the month of August [8月, hachigatsu] or the number 8. In Korean, this suit is commonly known as ‘Empty Mountain’ [공산, 空山, gongsan] instead.
The cards in this suit all feature a hill with stylized reeds of susuki grass in the foreground, sometimes reinterpreted as a hilly landscape or a mountain top. There are two Chaff cards, one Animal, and one Bright. The Animal card of the Susuki Grass suit features a flock of (usually three) geese [雁, kari] flying above the hill. The Bright card features a large, white full moon [月, tsuki] in front of a red sky.
In Japanese, this suit is also called ‘Shaven Head’ [坊主, bōzu][1] or ‘Mountain’ [山, yama].
¶ Cards
¶ Moon
Susuki Grass with Moon [芒に月, susuki ni tsuki], or simply Moon or Full Moon, is the Bright card of the Susuki Grass suit.
Alternative Japanese names include ‘Susuki Grass with Full Moon’ [芒に満月, susuki ni mangetsu, or 芒に望月, susuki ni mochizuki] and ‘Mountain with Moon’ [山に月, yama ni tsuki].
¶ Geese
Susuki Grass with Geese [芒に雁, susuki ni kari], or simply Geese, is the Animal card of the Susuki Grass suit.
¶ Chaff
The Susuki Grass suit, like most, has two Chaff cards.
¶ External links
For examples of traditional art with the same motifs as this suit of hanafuda, see also the following category on Wikimedia Commons:
¶ Bibliography
- Ōishi Tengudō, “花札の謎シリーズ！8月札『芒に月』（山に月）,” blog post, XXX.
- Rin & Char, “各月に描かれた絵柄の意味,” りんとちゃーの花しらべ, blog post, September 2019.
- Hanafuda Hawaii, “Symbols and Motifs in Hanafuda,” March 2025.
¶ Footnotes
Bōzu [坊主] literally means Buddhist monk, but it’s also short for bōzu-atama [坊主頭, lit. ‘monk head’], a word for a short buzz cut or a bald head (more commonly shaven rather than naturally bald), in reference to how Buddhist monks shave their heads. The name is used in hanafuda because the black hill on Susuki Grass cards resembles the top of someone’s head with black stubble or short black hairs. ↩︎