Hyakunin-Isshu, The Sentimental Poems of The Ancient Japanese Becoming Popular

What is Hyakunin Isshu?

Hyakunin-Isshu is the name of the anthology of 100 poems selected by Fujiwara no Teika in 1235. Teika is considered one of the greatest poets in Japanese history. These are popular because of a traditional card game named “Karuta”.
The 100 poems cover famous poets and writers from the 7th to the 13th Century. The anthology is a concise representation of Japan’s early literature. Hyakunin-Isshu means ‘one poem each from 100 authors’. 
All poems in the Hyakunin-Isshu are in the style of Tanka , one of the principal Japanese literary forms.
Each Tanka consists of 31 syllables, or 5 lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, respectively.
The first 17 syllables of Tanka are collectively called Kami-no-ku (first half), and the last 14 syllables Shimo-no-ku (second half). 

It is impressive that a lot of them refer to their romance and express their sentiments.(Even modern people like me can feel sympathy with them.)

Each of the Hyakunin-Isshu poems are written on a card and used for the “Karuta” card game.
The cards consist of two sets of 100 cards. One set has the ‘Reading Cards’ or Yomi-fuda and the other set, the ‘Playing Cards’ or Tori-fuda.

As you can see on the picture below, the poems of Hyakunin-isshu are written on each card with a beautiful picture of the poet of Yomi-fuda.

Yomi-fuda and Tori-fuda

They show the features of ancient Japanese poets who were emperors, princesses, aristocracies, monks etc.

Principle of Karuta game

The reciter reads the Yomi-fuda of a randomly selected Tori-fuda (playing card) and each player tries to find the matching Tori-fuda.
If you touch the right card  among other cards put on floor faster than your opponent(s) you can get the cards.
The person who get the most cards is the winner of the game.
The existence of a reciter (called “Yomi-te) makes the game unique among other card games. The reciter does not play the game but is necessary for the game.

Karuta Games in Japan

The Karuta game became popular at the end of the 17th Century and had spread widely by the end of 19th Century (Meiji period). The game is played by about one million people in Japan today.
The game can be played by several people and is popular among families during the New Year holidays.
In my childhood memories, I remember that my relatives would gathered in a house on the New year’s holiday and play the Karuta game.
It was so impressive that the senior relatives could find and touch cards promptly after listening to just the first few syllables the reciter read. 
They remembered the contents and words of a lot of poems. While I couldn’t remember and I started to look for the right card after the reciter finished reading whole a poem. 

The game is also played as a one-on-one match. In 1904, the official rules and the standard cards for one-on-one match play were set. The one-on-one game is called Kyogi Karuta(Competitive Karuta).

This blog was written with reference to the web site below.
http://karuta.game.coocan.jp/index.html
The auther of the website has been working on disseminating  Kyogi karuta for a long time in many countries like the USA , the UK and many other countries.
Thanks to the such activities, the karuta game has become popular and has an international tounament. The popular movie and Manga of the karuta game named “Chihayafuru” might also be the reason why more younger people are atracted to the Karuta game or Hyakunin isshu.

(If you are interested in popular Manga “Chihayafuru” which I mentioned above , please click the banner link below.)