504 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



whicli the most popular is called <io chiuj or " trave]iii_j>" sngorol-n. It 

 is played upon a large sheet of paper, ou which are represented the 

 various stopping- places upon a journey; as, for example, the 53 post 

 stations between Tokio and Kiyoto, and resembles the games of " snake" 



and "steeplechase," familiar to 

 English and American children.* 

 Such games are much played by 

 the Japanese at the season of the 

 the Xew Year, when new ones are 

 usually published. In 18S9, Japa- 

 nese newspapers reported that two 

 new games oi sugoroku found much 

 favor in Tokio. 



Fig. 12. 



The same general name would 



JAPANESE CHILDREN PI-AYING SUGOROKD. * 



be given by the Japanese to the 

 following Chinese game, which I have occasionally seen played by 

 the clerks in Chinese stores in our cities. 



SHINCI KUN t'o. 



Shing kun fo, the "table of the promotion of the officials," is the 

 celebrated game which is best known through Dr. Hyde's account as 

 ''the game of the promotion of Mandarins,''' t 



It is played by two or more persons upon a large paper diagram, on 

 which are printed the titles of the different officials and dignitaries of 

 the Chinese Government. The movements are made by throwing dice, 

 and the players, whose positions upon the diagram are indicated by 

 notched or colored splints, are advanced or set back, according to 

 their throws. f 



The following story was related to me concerning the invention of 

 the game : 



* A paper diagram for a game of sugoroku is entitled, according to the characters 

 on the sheet, Hokkaido shin do ichi ran sufioroku. or "A glance at the Hokkaido new 

 road sugoroku." This game was published in 1873 ou the occasion of the opening of 

 a new road tlirough the sontheru part of the island of Yesso, from Hakodate to Sap- 

 poro, the capital. 



The diagram consists of an impression in colors, 32^ by 20 inches, and is divided 

 into 38 parts, exclusive of the goal and starting place. These contain pictures of 

 the scenery at the diffiereut stations ou the road, each division liaving a taljlet beside 

 it ou which the name of the place is written, with the distance to the next stopping 

 place. The game is played with 1 die, the players throwing in turn, and advanc- 

 ing from the lower right-hand corner to the goal at the center. Each spot of the 

 throw counts as one station on the diagram. If a player's move leaves him upon a 

 division having the character tomare, " stop over," he loses his next throw. When 

 a player near the goal makes a higher throw than is just necessary to take him to 

 the central space, he is set back; if he. has an excess of 1, to the fifth place from the 

 goal; 2, to the fourth place, and so ou. 



tDeLudis Orientalibus, p. 70, 



t A similar but much simpler game, with the titles of .Ia])anese instead of Chinese 

 officials, is played in .Tapan under the name of kiiwanroku. 



