An unusually fine example of the Japanese board game sugoroku, which translates literally to “double six,” as in a pair of dice. Sogoroku games and can be traced back to the twelfth century. They are similar to “snakes and ladders,” involving numbered squares that players navigate from bottom to top using dice, with “ladders” allowing a climb ahead or “snakes” causing a fall behind.

Originally for adults, over time the game became more oriented towards children. The sheets on which the game is played have become rare, due to their fragile nature, and examples with the accompanying pieces are almost non-existent.

The author of this sugoroku game board is identified as Ema Tsutomu 江馬勉 (1884-1979), a renowned folklorist and cultural anthropologist who was a professor at Kyoto University. Tsutomu dedicated his career to the study of Japanese customs, traditions, folklore, and ethnography.

A classic Japanese board with colorful illustrations