Collectors call it “Rainbow Rare” because of what it looks like. The card itself, printed in Japan, just says “HR.” Both names point at the same rarity — a full-bleed silver-foil card with a rainbow reflector finish running across the whole surface, Pokemon included — and it’s one of the most recognizable chase tiers in the hobby’s recent history, even though the printed abbreviation gives no hint of the nickname.
HR is not the same rarity as SA, SSR, or BWR, even though all four get lumped into “premium foil Japanese card” conversations constantly, and a single card can occasionally carry two of these labels at once. This guide sticks to what HR actually is: where it came from, how long Japan printed it, how to tell a genuine HR from a look-alike, and which HR cards we currently have listed as graded singles.
HR (Hyper Rare, commonly called Rainbow Rare) debuted in Japan’s first Sun & Moon-series sets in December 2016 and was discontinued when the Scarlet & Violet era began in January 2023. We currently list ten graded HR singles from that window, led by PSA 10 Umbreon GX HR (SM1M 069/060) at ¥405,080 and anchored on the budget end by PSA 10 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR HR (S10P 081/067) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) at ¥18,025.
Prices below are current samuraiswordtokyo.com listings in Japanese yen, as of August 2026. Graded singles move in and out of the lineup, so the linked prices reflect what’s listed right now rather than a fixed catalog.
What Is HR (Hyper Rare / Rainbow Rare)?
HR stands for Hyper Rare, the name Japan uses for the rarity on the actual card. “Rainbow Rare” is the English-language nickname collectors use for the same printing, describing its finish rather than its official label — the two terms refer to the identical rarity, not two different things.
Visually, an HR card carries the exact same artwork as its Full Art counterpart in the same set, but instead of a standard holo treatment, the entire card — including the Pokemon itself, not just the border — is rendered in a fully silver base with a rainbow reflector foil finish across the surface. That full-card rainbow treatment is what separates HR from a regular Full Art and is where the “Rainbow Rare” name comes from.
For a wider map of how HR sits alongside Japan’s other chase-card rarities, our Japanese Pokemon card rarities explained guide covers the full rarity ladder in one place.
Where HR Comes From: Sun & Moon’s Debut (2016)
HR was introduced with the very first Japanese sets of the Sun & Moon series: Collection Sun (SM1S) and Collection Moon (SM1M), both released in Japan on December 9, 2016. It wasn’t phased in later — the rarity tier was part of the Sun & Moon series from its opening set.
Researched checklists put Collection Moon’s full card count at 60 base-rarity cards plus six SR, four HR, and three UR — 73 cards total. We treat that internal breakdown as reported rather than independently confirmed, but it gives a sense of how tightly rationed HR was within a launch set: only four HR slots across the entire release.
The set’s headline HR is Umbreon GX, numbered 069/060, and it remains the highest-priced HR we currently list — more on that in the cards section below.
How to Identify a Genuine HR
Because HR shares its artwork with the set’s Full Art version of the same card, the two are easy to mix up in a listing photo. A few things separate them:
- Full-surface rainbow foil. On a genuine HR, the rainbow reflector finish covers the entire card face — the Pokemon illustration included — not just the border or background the way a standard Full Art card handles foil.
- Silver base color. The card is built on a fully silver base rather than the color palette of the underlying artwork, which is the visual tell even under indirect lighting.
- The printed card number. HR and Full Art printings of the same character sit at different fractions within a set — check the full number on the card, not just the character name, the way you would with any Japanese rarity claim.
- The “HR” mark itself. Japanese cards print the rarity abbreviation directly; a genuine HR card will show that mark rather than SR, SA, or SAR.
Some HR cards share a set with a closely-related printing a few digits apart — our own Mew VMAX listings are a good example, with an HR-only 118/100 sitting right next to an HR:SA 119/100 at a very different price. Always match the full number, not just the character.
The HR Era: Sun & Moon Through Sword & Shield
HR stayed in continuous use across Japan’s Sun & Moon series and into the following Sword & Shield series, giving it roughly six years as an active rarity tier. It was discontinued when Japan’s Scarlet & Violet era began.
The transition point is Japan’s Scarlet ex (SV1S) and Violet ex (SV1V), released January 20, 2023. From that point forward, the Scarlet & Violet rarity system introduced AR and SAR as the new premium foil tiers, and the rainbow-finish HR format was not carried forward.
One widely used breakdown of Japan’s Scarlet & Violet rarities describes SAR as carrying “a layer of glitter foil, similar to HR Special Art cards from last generation” — framing SAR as the closest thing to an HR successor in the current system, even though it’s a structurally different design rather than a direct continuation. If you’re comparing eras, our SA Special Art rarity guide covers the pre-SAR full-art naming conventions that ran alongside HR during the Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield years.
Ten HR Cards We Currently List
These are the graded HR singles in our current lineup, ranked by price:
| Card | Set / Number | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Umbreon GX HR | Collection Moon (SM1M) 069/060 | ¥405,080 |
| Sylveon VMAX HR SA (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | 093/069 | ¥284,543 |
| Mew VMAX HR SA (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | 119/100 | ¥261,352 |
| Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX HR SA | 084/070 | ¥112,270 |
| Glaceon GX HR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | 073/066 | ¥51,500 |
| Reshiram & Zekrom GX HR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | 071/049 | ¥39,470 |
| Mew VMAX HR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | 118/100 | ¥33,741 |
| Marnie HR | 072/060 | ¥28,428 |
| Duraludon VMAX HR SA | Skyscraping Perfection (S7D) 083/067 | ¥24,205 |
| Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR HR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) | Space Juggler (S10P) 081/067 | ¥18,025 |
Umbreon GX HR (SM1M 069/060) is the set-defining chase card from Collection Moon and the highest-priced HR we currently carry. Its number and rarity check out consistently across the commercial sources we cross-referenced, and as a 2016-era HR in PSA 10, it’s genuinely one-of-one stock — when it sells, it’s gone, and there’s no predictable restock cycle for a card printed nearly a decade ago.
Three of the ten — Sylveon VMAX, Mew VMAX (119/100), Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, and Duraludon VMAX — carry both an HR and SA label at once, since HR and the SA naming convention overlap on some Sword & Shield-era full-art prints. If you’re focused specifically on that naming history rather than the rainbow-foil visual side, our SA Special Art guide covers it from that angle.
Note the two Mew VMAX listings sit only one digit apart — 118/100 (HR only, ¥33,741) and 119/100 (HR:SA, ¥261,352) — nearly an 8x price difference for a single-digit number change, which is exactly the kind of gap the identification checklist above is meant to catch.
What HR Is Not
HR gets mixed up with a handful of other Japanese premium rarities because they all occupy the same “expensive foil chase card” territory. Worth separating clearly:
- Not SA. SA (Special Art) is an unofficial community shorthand for full-art SR and HR cards printed before Japan’s SAR rarity was introduced in December 2022 — it’s a historical naming convention laid over existing SR/HR cards, not a separate printed rarity. Some HR cards, including several in the table above, carry both labels at once. See our SA guide for that distinction in full.
- Not SSR. SSR (Shiny Super Rare) is a separate rarity built around shiny-colored Pokemon on an SR-style layout, used in dedicated sets like GX Ultra Shiny and Shiny Star V. It doesn’t use HR’s rainbow-foil full-art treatment. Our SSR Shiny Super Rare guide covers that rarity’s own history.
- Not BWR. BWR (Black White Rare) is a newly introduced 2025 rarity, unrelated to HR beyond both being premium foil-finish tiers separated by roughly nine years.
- Not UR. Ultra Rare is a differently defined rarity whose meaning has itself shifted across eras; it isn’t interchangeable with HR even where both look like gold-tier chase cards. Our Gold UR guide breaks down that rarity separately.
Where to Buy Japanese HR Cards
We ship graded Japanese singles out of Tokyo with tracked delivery worldwide. For the HR cards covered in this guide:
- PSA 10 Umbreon GX HR (SM1M 069/060) — currently listed at ¥405,080
- PSA 10 Sylveon VMAX HR:SA (093/069) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) — currently listed at ¥284,543
- PSA 10 Duraludon VMAX HR:SA (S7D 083/067) — currently listed at ¥24,205
- PSA 10 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR HR (S10P 081/067) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) — currently listed at ¥18,025
Looking for a different HR number, a raw copy, or want to build a mixed order across several of the cards above? Our Quick Order page is the fastest way to request it directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does HR mean on a Japanese Pokemon card?
Hyper Rare — the printed rarity abbreviation used on the card itself in Japan. English-speaking collectors commonly call the same rarity “Rainbow Rare” because of its full-card rainbow reflector foil finish. Both names describe the identical printing.
Is Rainbow Rare the same as HR?
Yes. “Rainbow Rare” is a nickname describing the card’s silver-base, rainbow-foil visual finish. “HR” is the abbreviation actually printed on Japanese cards. They are not two separate rarities.
When was HR discontinued?
HR ran from Japan’s first Sun & Moon-series sets (Collection Sun and Collection Moon, released December 9, 2016) through the Sword & Shield series, and was discontinued when the Scarlet & Violet era began with Scarlet ex (SV1S) and Violet ex (SV1V) on January 20, 2023.
Is HR the same as SA or SAR?
No. SA is an unofficial community label applied to full-art SR and HR cards printed before December 2022, and some HR cards do carry both an HR and SA label. SAR (Special Art Rare) is the newer, structurally different rarity that replaced HR-style full-art printings from the Scarlet & Violet era onward.
What’s the most valuable HR card you currently list?
PSA 10 Umbreon GX HR, numbered 069/060 from Collection Moon (SM1M), currently listed at ¥405,080. It’s the headline HR from the rarity’s debut set.
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