Amano Tarot

Amano Tarot
Yoshitaka Amano, 1991

This book and deck set is by the Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano, and was published in 1991 by SeimidouShuppan. The book is in Japanese, and includes black and white reproductions of every card in the deck. The cards themselves are printed with gorgeous colors on a thick, glossy cardstock. The quality of the entire package is excellent.

Amano is a Japanese-born artist with a renowned list of achievements. These include fifteen years at Tatsunoko Productions creating some of Japan’s finest animation; assignments for numerous book illustrations including a recent collaboration with author Neil Gaiman; creation of the Japanese cult hit animated film Angel’s Egg; several commissions for video game character designs, most notably for the Final Fantasy; set and costume designs for productions of Nayotake, Yokihi, and Kaijin Beso, commissioned by director and kabuki actor Tomasaburo.

Though there is a strong oriental flair to these drawings, they are far from the category of Manga. The forms of Amano’s figures are more natural, the facial features are elegant. I think the strongest element here is Amano’s fluid and organic linework. The lines are like those of calligraphic brush strokes. This is also true of the larger forms themselves. For example, look at the figural shapes of The Fool, Justice and Temperance, which have the movement of Japanese word-characters. The publisher has reproduced Amano’s variegated linework in crisp detail. Some of these details are so fine that they disappear in the screen resolutions above, though they are there in the printed deck.

The Aces and court cards are as intricate and beautiful as the Trumps. The remaining numbered cards are done in a style common to many Japanese decks, which is to say they are not fully illustrated but use a repeating design derived from the Ace of their suit. Though simple in comparison to the rest of the deck, they are nonetheless beautiful.

This deck is generally not distributed to the American market, but I believe it has been extremely popular in Japan because there has been at least one reprinting as far as I can tell. I say this because I have one set which is dated 1992 on the outside of the box (which is illustrated with the image from The Fool), and another set dated 1999 with a different box design (illustrated with the image of the Queen of Pentacles). The contents are otherwise identical, including the books which each have a copyright date of 1991.

Review by Mark Filipas, 6/24/00