Holy Menko! The Story Behind the Holy Grail of All Menko!

All the years I’ve been collecting Menko, my focus has always been video game related. In particular, anything Mario and Nintendo related. I never really paid close attention to anything else...until recently.  I stumbled upon a listing of a Menko that I would have never thought in a million years would exist. It was a Menko of Jesus Christ!

Let me first start by telling you how this Menko was discovered. I have a friend named Mike in Colorado who is also a Menko collector. Earlier this year (2025) he found this Menko buried in a large lot of Menko on a Japanese website. He purchased the lot and I ultimately acquired the Jesus Menko from him. You never know what might be hiding in a large lot of Menko. Sometimes you get lucky, and most of the time you don’t. This was an instance that produced one of the RAREST Menkos ever discovered!

Next lets talk about who made this Menko. There was a company based out of Tokyo Japan named Kagome Toy Ltd that made Menko cards from the late 1940’s to the mid/late 1950’s (not to be confused with the Kagome Co. which was a juice and tomato food company). Kagome Menkos are easily identified by their 6 pointed star logo on the back of the card. Even though Kagome Toy Ltd primarily focused on sets of Baseball Menko, they also produced Menko of several different types of non-sports subjects. Japanese Baseball Menko has a bigger following than I realized. A gentleman named Gary Engel wrote a book logging most of these Baseball Menko sets called the “Japanese Baseball Checklist & Price Guide.” Almost all Japanese Baseball Menko sets were already low quantity sets. Some sets may only have 30-60 cards, while other sets may only have 6-12 cards. What most people don’t realize is he only logs the Baseball Menko in each set. He doesn’t expound into the much more rare non-sports Menko that was available in these sets. It’s kind of odd that there were non-sports cards in a Baseball set, but hey, that’s how the Japanese did it.  There was a 1949 set that included what was called “Who Am I” Menko. The set is part of a rare postwar educational series that featured historical and cultural figures. The back of these Menko usually has 3 clues of historical information of the subject. These Menko were literally 4 times the size of the standard cards in the set which earned them the name Large Format. These 1949 Kagome Large Format Menkos were made in much smaller quantities than the standard Menko cards in the set. The non-sports Menko only came in sheets and you would have to hand cut the cards out. One sheet of the non-sports Menko would have roughly 8 regular size Menko and only 1 Large format Menko.. Also, the Large Format Menko didn’t have a smaller standard card too. The image on the Large Formats only existed as a Large Format Menko. Some of the regular Baseball Menko in the 1949 set are already rare with some of them having a rarity rating of only 3-5 examples known to exist. This raises the rarity factor through the roof when it comes to the far less produced sheets of the non-sports, and then to beat all, only 1 large format on those sheets! In other words, the Large Format Menkos in the Kagome 1949 set are extremely RARE. 

Another important factor here is Menko was a childrens’s game and  religious themed Menko in Japan was pretty much non-existent, especially in 1949 when this Menko was made. To see Jesus on a Japanese Menko almost seems impossible. In 1949 Christians made up less than half of 1% of the total population of Japan. In 1587 the Bateren Edict was issued to expel Jesuit missionaries citing Christianity’s threat to Japan’s political unity and Shinto & Buddhist traditions. This started Christian persecution in Japan. Then after the US defeated Japan in World War II, Japan instituted a new constitution in 1947 guaranteeing religious freedom for all. For the first time in 360 years Christians would no longer be persecuted in Japan. Then 2 years later in 1949, Kagome produces a Large Format Menko of Jesus Christ. Imagine after 360 years of Christian persecution, not needing to hide being a Christian anymore, and actually being allowed to own a Christian image of Christ on a Menko without fear of persection. I can only imagine what this Jesus Menko might have meant to a Japanese Christian. It would have been a prized possession. On the other hand, most of Japan was not Christian with many deep traditional roots, and a Menko of Jesus Christ may have been viewed as a negative thing. Especially for children. I’m sure many of these Jesus Menkos were destroyed just because of the controversial subject matter. 

Lets look at all the rarity factors involved:

1)   Jesus Menko was made 76 years ago in 1949.

2)   Is part of the far less produced  rare non-sports Menko in a 1949 set of Japanese   Baseball Menko.

3)   Is a Large Format Menko, which only came 1 to a sheet of the more rare non-sports Menko sheets.

4)   Jesus Menko only exists as a Large Format size with no standard size examples produced.

5)   Subject is religious, which is almost non-existent in Japanese Menko, especially Christianity.  

6)   Subject is Jesus Chrsit, which is almost never seen on Menko from any period.

7)   May not have been well received in Japan which led to many of them being destroyed.

8)   These were played with roughly by children slamming them on the ground while playing the game of  Menko.

When we add up all of these rarity factors, to be honest, I’m surprised my Jesus Christ Menko even exists! The pictures of this Menko do absolutely no justice for it. It doesn’t hit you until you hold it in your hand how big it is compared to other Menko.  I have comparison pics below. On an odd side note, there are several "fake" websites that are offering this Menko at different prices. I know it is my Jesus Menko because they have used my pictures and the Menko has the identical wear & tear as  mine. I've never had this happen before. I just hope nobody gets scammed.

In conclusion....After looking at all of the detailed facts,  I realize Mr. Gary Engel did a lot of the homework in regards to the rarity of the 1949 Kagome Baseball set. If the Baseball Menko have some examples that only have 3-5 known to exist, and the Baseball Menko was the most produced & distributed cards of the set, then the less produced non-sports examples have to be much more rare from just the sheer aspect of numbers.  Then adding the fact of only 1 Large Format to a sheet of non-sports only adds to the rarity.  Then add the Jesus factor.

After all the research, It would be my opinion that the 1949 Large Format  Jesus Menko is not only the RAREST Menko of All Time, but may have the lowest number of surviving Menkos left in existence. This Jesus Christ Menko really does give a new meaning to the phrase "Holy Grail" of Menkos!!

If anyone owns or know someone who owns a 1949 Large Format Jesus Christ Menko, Please contact me at mariomenkocards@gmail.com  I would like to log any additional information I can find to my research.