Uta-garuta

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Uta-garuta
歌ガルタ
Playing uta garuta.jpg
A photograph of the game being played by a group of women, c. 1900
Named variant
  • Chirashi-dori
  • Genpei-gassen
Type Karuta
Cards100
Deck2

Uta-garuta (歌ガルタ, lit. "Poetry Karuta ") is a type of a deck of karuta , Japanese traditional playing cards. A set of uta-garuta contains two sets of 100 cards, with a waka poem written on each. Uta-garuta is also the name of the game in which the deck is used. The standard collection of poems used is the Hyakunin Isshu , chosen by poet Fujiwara no Teika in the Kamakura period, which is often also used as the name of the game.

Contents

Since early 20th century the game is played mostly on Japanese New Year holidays. [1]

How to play

Basic rules [2]

The game uses two types of cards.

The game is played with the players seated on the floor. At the start of a game, 100 torifuda are neatly arranged on the floor face up between the players. When the reader starts reading out a poem on the yomifuda, the players quickly search for the torifuda on which the corresponding final phrase is written.

There are two ways to play the game based on the rules above.

Chirashi-dori

One reader, three or more players:

  1. Mix up the deck of torifuda, and lay them out on the floor. Players sit around the cards.
  2. The reader draws a yomifuda and starts reading it out loud. Players attempt to recognize the poem being read as soon as possible, and race to find and take the corresponding torifuda as soon as they do.
  3. When a player has taken the corresponding torifuda, the reader moves on to the next yomifuda.
  4. When all the cards are taken, the player with the most cards wins the game.

Genpei-gassen

This playing style takes its name from the Genpei war.

One reader, two teams of one or more players each:

  1. Divide the players into two groups. The two groups are called Genji and Heike .
  2. Mix up the torifuda, and give 50 cards to each side.
  3. Genji and Heike sit face to face. Lay out 50 cards in front of each group in three lines facing the group.
  4. Gameplay is the same as in Chirashi-dori. Players can take cards from either side.
  5. If a player takes a card from the opponent's side, they can move one card from their own side to the opponent's side.
  6. If a player takes a wrong card, the opponent can move one card to the player's side as a penalty.
  7. The side that has no more torifuda on their side wins the game.

Strategy

The odds of winning increase if one knows the phrases. One even may be able to take a card immediately after hearing the reader read aloud only the first letters of the yomifuda poem. Technique in reading is also very important, having to know how to correctly space out the words and the seconds of the pause.

Competitive karuta

In Japan there are national conventions for the competitive format of the game. [1]

The manga, anime series and live action movie Chihayafuru portrays the story of a group of young people who competitively play Hyakunin Isshu karuta with the aim of becoming best in the world. The series debuted in 2007, and its popularity has boosted the popularity of competitive karuta in Japan and abroad. [3] [4]

In the manga and anime series Nanbaka , uta-garuta is the 3rd Event of the New Year Joint Cooperation tournament.

The 21st movie of the Detective Conan anime series, Crimson Love Letter , features a uta-garuta competition as the main storyline. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Tanka</i> Genre of classical Japanese poetry

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.

<i>Karuta</i> Japanese playing cards

Karuta are Japanese playing cards. Playing cards were introduced to Japan by Portuguese traders during the mid-16th century. These early decks were used for trick-taking games. The earliest indigenous karuta was invented in the town of Miike in Chikugo Province at around the end of the 16th century. The Miike karuta Memorial Hall located in Ōmuta, Fukuoka, is the only municipal museum in Japan dedicated specifically to the history of karuta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emperor Juntoku</span> Emperor of Japan from 1210 to 1221

Emperor Juntoku was the 84th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1210 through 1221.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playing card suit</span> Categories into which the cards of a deck are divided

In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated by the color printed on the card. The rank for each card is determined by the number of pips on it, except on face cards. Ranking indicates which cards within a suit are better, higher or more valuable than others, whereas there is no order between the suits unless defined in the rules of a specific card game. In most decks, there is exactly one card of any given rank in any given suit. A deck may include special cards that belong to no suit, often called jokers.

<i>Hanafuda</i> Japanese playing cards

Hanafuda are a type of Japanese playing cards. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, only 5.4 by 3.2 centimetres, but thicker and stiffer. On the face of each card is a depiction of plants, tanzaku (短冊), animals, birds, or man-made objects. One single card depicts a human. The back side is usually plain, without a pattern or design of any kind, and traditionally colored either red or black. Hanafuda are used to play a variety of games including Koi-Koi and Hachi-Hachi.

Fusajirō Yamauchi, originally born as Fusajirō Fukui, was a Japanese entrepreneur who founded Yamauchi Nintendo, later known as Nintendo. Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a wife and two daughters—one of whom was Tei Yamauchi, who later married Sekiryō Kaneda, the successor and second president of Nintendo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face card</span> Playing card depicting a person

In a deck of playing cards, the term face card (US) or court card, and sometimes royalty, is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to the pip cards. In a standard 52-card pack of the English pattern, these cards are the King, Queen and Jack. The term picture card is also common, but that term sometimes includes the Aces. After the American innovation of corner-indices, the idea of "pictured" cards from tarot trumps was used to replace all 52 cards from the standard deck with pictures, art, or photography in some souvenir packs featuring a wide variety of subjects that may garner interest with collectors.

<i>Ogura Hyakunin Isshu</i> Classical Japanese anthology

Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首) is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese waka by one hundred poets. Hyakunin isshu can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem [each]"; it can also refer to the card game of uta-garuta, which uses a deck composed of cards based on the Hyakunin Isshu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts and Culture</span> Museum in Kyoto, Japan

The Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts and Culture is a museum in Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan, centered on the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu anthology of waka poems compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the 13th century. The museum was founded by former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who invested more than $20 million in the facility. Shigureden's Autumn Shower Palace hall was designed by Nintendo game producer Shigeru Miyamoto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fujiwara no Kanesuke</span>

Fujiwara no Kanesuke, also known as the Riverbank Middle Counselor, was a middle Heian-period waka poet and Japanese nobleman. He is designated as a member of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals.

<i>Bleach Trading Card Game</i> Out of print card game based on Bleach

The Bleach Trading Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game from Score Entertainment, and is based on the manga and anime series of the same name. The game received a nomination for Origin's "Game of the Year" and earned a semi-finalist position.

Competitive karuta is an official Japanese card game that uses a deck of uta-garuta cards to play karuta, within the format and rules set by the All Japan Karuta Association.

<i>Chōyaku Hyakunin isshu: Uta Koi</i> Japanese manga and television anime series

Chōyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi is a Japanese historical Josei manga written and illustrated by Kei Sugita, and published by Media Factory. An anime adaptation by TYO Animations began airing in July 2012.

<i>Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter</i> 2017 Japanese film

Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter, known as Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter in Japan, is a 2017 Japanese animated film directed by Kobun Shizuno and written by Takahiro Okura. It is the twenty-first installment of the Case Closed film series based on the manga series of the same name by Gosho Aoyama, following the 2016 film Case Closed: The Darkest Nightmare. The film was released in Japan on April 15, 2017.

Oishi Tengudo (大石天狗堂) is a Kyoto-based Japanese manufacturer of playing cards and other traditional games, including go, hanafuda, and other karuta. With a handful of exceptions, all their cards are still made by hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cups (suit)</span> Playing card suit

The suit of cups is one of the four card suits used in Latin-suited playing cards alongside coins, swords and batons. These suits are used in Spanish, Italian and some tarot card packs.

<i>Goita</i>

Goita (ごいた) is a traditional Japanese game from Noto, Ishikawa played with 32 tiles or cards similar to Shogi pieces. Unlike actual Shogi pieces, the tiles are the same size and have blank backs. It may be a descendant of an earlier Meiji period game played with 40 or 42 cards. It is related to Iro Kammuri played with uta-garuta.

References

  1. 1 2 Bull, David (1996). "Karuta: Sport or culture?". Japan Quarterly. 43 (1): 63. ProQuest   234910473 via ProQuest.
  2. "How to Play Karuta". wikiHow. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  3. Ueda, Masafumi (29 July 2011). "Rising popularity of 'kyogi karuta' in the cards". Asahi Shimbun . Archived from the original on 31 July 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  4. 息のむ 緊迫の1秒 競技かるた(2/3ページ) [Breathtakingly intense competition for a second, karuta (2/3 pages)] (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 11 December 2010. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  5. "「名探偵コナン」青山剛昌先生×「ちはやふる」末次由紀先生スペシャルコラボ". Archived from the original on 2017-08-26.