Maiko playing onigokko (“devil catch” game), c. 1920. (Gift of J. Harper Brady Sr.)

See also:
Uta-garuta (“Poem cards” game), c. 1930.
Hanetsuki (Japanese Badminton), New Year’s cards, 1910 & 1939.
Three playful, smiling maiko, c. 1910.

“Onigokko is a game wherein one is a devil and tries to catch the others. The one caught must in turn become devil, the former devil joining the rest of the crowd.

“In some forms of the devil-catch game the one who catches does not join the ranks but makes devils of all they catch and in this way soon rounds up the whole crowd. The boy or girl who succeeds longest in not becoming ‘devil’ is best.”

– “Some Children’s Games”, by F. Yamazaki, The Japan Magazine, September 1915

“Playing tag”, c. 1920. Maiko playing onigokko (“devil catch” game).