Hyakunin-Isshu JapaneseKaruta

Play the card game of the on hundred famous poem

Hyakunin-Isshu is the traditional Japanese collection of one hundred poems by one hundred poets.

The title can be translated as “One hundred people, one poem each”.

All the poems in Hyakunin-Isshu are made in Tanka style, consisting of 31 syllables. The first half of a Tanka poem (17 syllables) is called Kamino-ku and the second half is called Shimono-ku . （Note: Some poems consist of 30 syllables or 32 syllables.）

Two different types of Karuta cards are used for the game. One is the Yomi-fuda (reading card) and the other is the Tori-fuda (playing cards).

Each set has 100 cards.

This game shows Kaminoku (The first half of a Tanka ) on the upper area.

So, You select Shimono-ku card in the bottom area.

You can learn traditional Japanese poem and hiragana letters on this game.