Though the game should theoretically be continued till the board is completely filled with stones, it is seldom pursued to that extent; for where there is a great inequality of skill, the issue can be seen long before the finish and the game given up, or where camps have been formed, the vacant space need not be filled in. In most cases, therefore, plenty of stones remain in hand. When the game is finished, the number if points enclosed by the camps, if any, is counted and reckoned as so many stones gained; and the difference between it and the number of prisoners in the enemy’s hands is one’s net gain or loss according as the former is greater or less than the latter. And the one with the larger net gain is naturally the winner. Neither _shōgi_ nor _go_ is a lively game. The latter, especially, calls for patience and hard thinking; it may take hours or even days to conclude a single game. Besides, it does not lend itself to betting. The great gambling game is that of the cards known as “flower-cards,” which is rapidly played and depends more upon chance than upon skill. The pack is made up of forty-eight cards, about an inch by an inch and a half, which are in twelve sets, each set representing a month of the year. The first set has a picture of the pine-tree, which, being the principal part of the New Year’s outdoor decorations, symbolises the first month. It is followed in order by the plum-tree, cherry-tree, wistaria, sweet-flag, tree-peony, and lespedeza, which flower in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh months respectively. The eighth month is represented by the eularia, the ninth by the chrysanthemum, the tenth by the maple-tree, the eleventh by the willow-tree, and the last by the paulownia. It may be stated in passing that these months follow the old lunar calendar and are therefore some weeks later than the corresponding months of the solar calendar. All the cards are not of the same value. The highest, which is twenty points, is assigned to the pine-tree with a crane in the middle and a red sun above, the cherry-tree in bloom with a curtain underneath for a picnic party, the eularia under the full harvest moon, the willow under which a great scholar is learning perseverance from a frog which succeeds after many hours’ vain attempts in reaching a branch, and the paulownia with the phœnix flying over it. Ten points each are given to nine cards, namely, the plum-tree with the bush-warbler, the wistaria with the cuckoo, the sweet-flag beside a plank path, the tree-peony with butterflies, the lespedeza with the wild boar, the eularia with wild ducks, the chrysanthemum with a wooden cup for the chrysanthemum-_sake_, the maple-tree with the stag, and the willow-tree with the swallow. Five points are the value of the cards with a _tanzaku_, a long strip of paper for an ode; there are ten of them, that is, all the sets except the eularia and paulownia. The remaining twenty-four cards are worth only a point each.