Cutting Style

Menko were also cut in a variety of ways as well. The first and most common was pre-cut menko.  These menko came from the factory cut and packed in boxes or taba which were then sold to to Dagashiya.  These are similar to the way trading cards are made today.  You can usually find these menko with sharp corners and straight edges(See photos below). These menko also are the best centered and the most dimension consistent of all menko. This was the common style of cutting prior to about 1956.

The second style of menko were die-cut menko.  These were stamped out and this style of production was common on the "human-shaped" menko.  It's common to find these menko off-centered as the cutting press didn't always get the menko sheets lined up when they were stamped out.

The third type of menko came in sheets or winner and children had to separate the menko themselves with a pair of scissors or a knife.  As you might expect, it is difficult to find menko of this style without some sort of crooked or wavy cut. 

The last style of menko came in sheets, but had perforations for the children to tear along. On these menko you can still see the perforation marks, but the edges are usually straight.  This type of menko, however, has the most cards offset as the perforations didn't give a nice centered border around the menko.