Issued in a boys magazine, JK 25 includes sumo and non-sports cards as well as 15 baseball superstars of the era. It is one of the scarcest karuta sets ever produced. Each card has several perforation bumps along the edges, as the
cards were initially issued as a perforated sheet. The key to the set is the scarce Shigeo Nagashima, rookie, but in addition, every card but three depicts a Hall of Famer. Of the three non-HOF subjects, two are Hawaiian Andy Miyamoto and Cuban Chico Barbon. Here's the complete list: (left column, top to bottom) Shigeo Nagashima (rookie) (HOF), Chico Barbon (Cuba), Tetsuharu Kawakami (HOF), Yasumitsu Toyoda (HOF), Yusaku Akimoto (middle column, top to bottom) Wally Yonamine (Hawaii) (HOF), Katsuya
Nomura (HOF), Tetsuharu Kawakami (HOF), Tadashi Sugiura (rookie) (HOF), Andy Miyamoto (Hawaii), (right column, top to bottom), Masaichi Kaneda (HOF), Masaaki Koyama (HOF), Futoshi Nakanishi (HOF), Kazuhisa Inao (HOF), Noboru
Akiyama (HOF)/Kiyoshi Doi. Blank backed cards.
Size: Each card is 2 11/32" x 3 15/32".
Condition: Range--Ex to Nm/Mt. Nagashima is Ex/Mt.