‘Karuta is a card game that you probably won’t know about unless you delve into Japanese culture or watch Chihayafuru, the anime that revolves around this Japanese card game. Ever since I started watching this anime, I got hooked not only with the show, but with the game itself, because it’s a rich, meaningful, and fun activity for lovers of poetry and literature.
Karuta has different types of card sets depending on the nature of the game: whether it’s for a casual session or a competitive environment. I will be focusing on Competitive Karuta, which is what Chihayafuru demonstrates.
The story behind karuta cards dates back to the early tenth and thirteenth centuries when Japanese emperors wrote poems about love, nature, power, or loneliness. Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is a compilation of these poems. The Hyakunin Isshu consists of 100 traditional Japanese poems written by emperors and passed on throughout the centuries.
Because of the 100 poems, Karuta has 100 cards written in tanka (a Japanese poem consisting of five lines). In Competitive Karuta, there are two sets: reader cards and player cards. Each of the reader cards has a complete poem. The player cards only have the second half of each poem. Why is this? A player participates in the game one on one with 25 cards each, lined up on both the opponent and the player’s side. In each game, there needs to be a reader. The reader’s task is to read the first half of a poem, and the players have to try and pick the card that has the second half on it. The other 50 cards that are left out are called “dead cards,” and they’re not used in the game.
The reader could read any of the cards, so if a dead card is read and any of the players touches a dead card, that is known as a “fault.” The opponent then gets to send one of their cards to the other player. By the end of the game, you’re supposed to have zero cards, making that player the winner. There’s a trick to winning: memorize the 100 poems so you can spot the card that’s being read before your opponent.
In Japan, there are national competitions of Competitive Karuta that are usually dominated by high school girls. There are various ranks in Karuta when you play individually: Class A is the highest all the way through Class E in which the person is considered a beginner. There are various competitions where people go to raise their rank to become even better, with the final goal of being able to compete in the Master and Queen Matches, where people can face off against the best female Karuta player (Queen) and the best male Karuta player (Master). The championships are always held annually at Omi Jingu in Otsu, Shiga. People from around the world come and participate in these annual championships.
Chihayafuru demonstrates how fun Karuta can be with an engaging storyline of three childhood friends that strive to be the best karuta players of all time. The anime show appreciates the history and the poems in itself, immersing the viewers into the Japanese culture. It’s definitely a must-watch if you haven’t seen it before.
All in all, don’t hesitate to try out the karuta game yourself. I promise you will have an enjoyable time finding out more about the history, hearing the Japanese poems out loud, and playing against your opponent to win a victory. I just got my pack of karuta cards through Amazon. Can’t afford them yet? Try out the Competitive Karuta Application and kick some butt online or with friends!