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Japanese New Year Tradition: Playing Karuta
A very popular, traditional Japanese New Year game is karuta – a card game that emphasizes bonding and togetherness. The name karuta originates from the Portuguese word for “card” – carta. This is because Portuguese traders introduced playing cards to Japan sometime in the 16th century. One player reads out a poem or well-known proverb, and the player who correctly identifies the card with the corresponding picture or character the fastest, gains a point.
The oldest version of this game in Japan is called Hyakunin Isshu karuta, which is karuta played with the Tanka, a collection of Hyakunin Isshu, which translates to one-hundred poets, one poem each. This well-known collection is comprised of 100 poems, each only 5 lines and 31 syllables. The first three lines are called kaminoku, and the last two lines are called shimonoku. Elementary and junior highschools usually teach the Hyakunin Isshu to students, so most Japanese people are quite familiar with these poems.
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During Hyakunin Isshu karuta, one player reads out the first half of the poem, and the other players must scramble to identify the card with the correct second half of the poem written on it. A more intense version of this game is competitive karuta, where two players race head-to-head to identify the poems. Competitive karuta requires players who are incredibly well-versed in their Hyakunin Isshu! Often the players need hear only one syllable before they identify the correct corresponding card.
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