JP 100Poems：百人一首

This app consists of three parts.

Firstly, you could practice Japanese letters, such as Hiragana and extra Hiragana as well.

Secondly, you could practice Japanese words consisted of Hiragana letters.

Thirdly, you could learn 100 WAKA poems practicing reading and writing.

These 100 WAKA poems were carefully selected by teika FUJIWARA, who is a court noble as well as a poet, in the beginning of Kamakura period (from 1185 to 1333). As you see, I gave this app the name of 100 poems though; these WAKA poems are known as [Hyaku ninn issyu] in Japan. This anthology of WAKA poems are also known as [Ogura Hyaku ninn issyu], because he has been known to compile these poems at his cottage that was located in the mountain called Mt. OGURA.

Japanese not only enjoy reading WAKA poems but also enjoy playing with WAKA poems using KARUTA that is a Japanese playing card on which these WAKA phrases are written. The KARUTA card consists of two kinds of cards. The upper phrase is written on the one card and the lower phrase is written on the other card. To play KARUTA game, the first thing to do is put 100 cards, on which lower phrase is written, on a floor at random. And competitors sit around these cards. Then, the reader, who sits out a game, reads a upper phrase at first and then reads a lower phrase. The upper phrase is supposed to be read one time, the lower phrase is supposed to be read two times. During these phrase are read, competitors tries to find the card the reader has just read, on which the lower phrase is written. As you imagine, in order to find the right one faster than anyone, you must not only recall a lower phrase but also know where the right card is put on the floor as soon as an upper phrase is read by the reader. The winner is decided on how many cards you get. If you got a wrong card, you would be taken away a one point.

I hope that the app may help you to memorize 100 WAKA poems, so that you would be able to immerse yourself in Japanese literature and enjoy KARUTA game as well.

Enjoy drawing Hiragana letters and 100 poems !