I was recently watching the Higurashi anime series and there was a scene, which in Higurashi fashion we saw again later on, in which the main characters partook in a card game that involved grabbing them quickly when something was said. I recognised that I’d seen this game in other media and decided to take a look into it. Therefore, I thought I might explain what karuta is and as well as some of the history of these Japanese playing cards.
First off, let’s take a look at the cards themselves and, more specifically, the types of games you can play with them. Karuta cards are broken up into two groups, cards that are descended from Portuguese-suited playing cards and cards whose lineage hails from E-awase. The two most popular card games, Uta-garuta and Iroha karuta, come from the E-awase group while cards of Portuguese-suited playing cards descent continue to be used for gambling games such as Koi-Koi, Oicho-Kabu, Tehonbiki etc.
Uta-garuta consists of 200 cards split evenly into Yomifuda, reading cards, and Torifuda, grabbing cards. The yomifuda consist of a complete poem from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, poems from the 7th to 12th centuries. The torifuda are scattered face up while a reader reads the poem written on a yomifuda. The players must then search for the correct torifuda that pairs with the yomifuda with the torifuda containing the last few lines from the yomifuda poem. Upon finding the torifuda, the player must grab it before anyone else is able to with the player who has the most cards at the end of the game winning.
Iroha karuta is a simplified version of Uta-garuta aimed predominantly at kids. Instead of 200 cards, Iroha karuta uses 96 cards and, instead of poems from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, use the 47 syllables of hiragana as well as the kanji 京 which means capital. It’s also worth noting that this excludes the hiragana ん since no Japanese words start with it and that it includes two hiragana, ゐ and ゑ, that are considered obsolete. The yomifuda contains a proverb and the torifuda features art depicting that proverb alongside the first kana in the corner. Beyond that, the principles are the same as Uta-garuta with players collecting cards and the winner being the person who has collected the most by the end of the game.
The name Karuta comes from the Portuguese carta which means card in English and was introduced to Japan in the 16th century. While the games of Portuguese-suited playing cards descent are based off of this, the E-awase karuta trace their origins back to a Japanese game called Kai-awase which consisted of painted shells depicting the Tale of Genji that were matched up to complete the shell. This game itself eventually became E-awase which also involved matching paintings on shells but cards proved to be easier to handle and manufacture and became the way that E-awase would be played in the future.
Let me know your thoughts on karuta, what you think of these Japanese playing cards, any other games that you are aware of that are played with karuta, what you think about the history of karuta and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!