Karuta – A Japanese Card Game

In karuta, one player reads the writing on a card, and the others try to be first to spot the card with the picture that matches. This game has long been enjoyed by families and friends, but it gained a new face with the recent popularity of competitive karuta. Competition cards feature 100 famous poems from an ancient collection called Hyakunin Isshu. It’s a contest of speed as well as memory, and we’ll watch a national champion spot her card in just 0.2s. The old poems also provide an introduction to Japanese culture, another attraction for the growing number of players who are now taking up this game around the world.