百人一首かるた [Hyakunin Isshu card games for beginners]

初級！「百人一首」かるたの遊び方

[English] 

 Contents:
① What is Hyakunin Isshu Karuta?
② How do you play with this karuta?
③ Can I play even if I don't understand Japanese?
④ How many cards are there for each kind?
⑤ Summary

① What is Hyakunin Isshu Karuta?

Hello.  I am going to talk about Hyakunin Isshu card games in this video, because I had a comment on Hyakunin Isshu card games the other day. That person has a set of Hyakunin Isshu cards and asked me how to play it. 

Even Japanese children have difficulties with learning classical Japanese (古典 Koten).  There is an introductory karuta game without language barriers.  It’s called Bōzu Mekuri (坊主めくり).  So, I'll talk about it.

Before we find out about Bōzu Mekuri, I will explain about Hyakunin Isshu briefly.

Do you know Hyakunin Isshu?

Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese waka (和歌) by one hundred poets.  Waka is a traditional Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables (5-7-5-7-7).

The most famous version was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家 1162–1241), or alternatively Fujiwara no Sadaie while he lived in the Ogura district of Kyoto. It is therefore also called Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.  We can find his poem in the 97th poem [Acting Middle Counselor Teika/Sadaie (権中納言定家: ごんちゅうなごんていか／さだいえ)].

By the way, karuta is derived from the Portuguese word "carta". 

② How do you play with this karuta?

In a set of Hyakunin Isshu, there are the reading cards and the playing cards, 100 cards each.  Many forms of playing games with these cards exist in Japan, such as Uta-garuta, the basis for competitive karuta.

The reading cards are used by the reciter and playing cards are used for the players.

On the reading cards, the whole poem is written (5-7-5-7-7) along with the author's name and portrait. The reading cards are also called the picture cards. 

On the playing cards, only the second half of the poem is written in Hiragana (7-7).

In uta-garuta and competitive karuta, it is necessary to memorize waka poems,  and also compete for the speed at which the player’s hand reaches the matching card.

The principle of kyogi karuta is to match the audio information of the first half of the poem and the playing card, as it is recited.

③ Can I play even if I don't understand Japanese?

Yes, you can. We can enjoy a simple game.  That is called “Bōzu Mekuri (坊主めくり)”.  It is a game that competes with the number of cards taken.

The rules are like this:

Take out 100 of the picture cards, Shuffle them. and make a stack face-down.

Two or more people sit around the stack and take a turn drawing the top card from the stack.

Depending on what kind of card a person gets, one of three things will happen:

1. If the card is a picture of a nobleman (殿 tono), add it to your personal pile. 
2. If the card is a picture of a Buddhist monk (坊主 bōzu), you lose all your personal cards.  Add them to a second stack next to the original stack, but face up.  If there are cards already there, just add to the pile.
3. If the card is a court lady (姫 himé) then you get all the cards from the second throw-away pile. 

When all the face-down cards are taken, the player who gets the most is the winner.

④ How many cards are there for each kind?  

I have a set of Hyakunin Isshu cards published by Nintendo.

Nobleman (tono) ・・・・・・・・64 cards

Buddhist monk (bōzu) ・・・・・・15 cards

Court lady (himé)・・・・・・・・21 cards

⑤ Summary

If you have a karuta at hand, you are lucky.

Hyakunin Isshu is also an advanced learning material for classical Japanese. The poem "5, 7, 5, 7, 7" is called tanka in modern times. I think it's fun to spend some time learning 31-character literary works.

Even today, there are many literary works and slogans that are expressed in the number of characters of 5, 7, 5. I think it is not well known that the comfort of 5, 7, 5 is at the root of Japanese rhythm.  I mean, the rhythm of 5-7-5 has been engraved deep in the heart since ancient times, and even now, the phonological comfort of 5-7-5 is the source of the beautiful sound of Japanese.  

Also, if you take a closer look at the portraits on the picture cards, you can see the classical Japanese culture there.

By the way, Hyakunin Isshu Karuta memorization and card games are also possible using the apps. Whether you don't have karuta or are tired of the "Bōzu Mekuri" game, enjoy the world of Hyakunin Isshu with the apps.  Also, if possible, it would be interesting to compose a tanka by yourself.

Let me compose a tanka, or a 31-letter  poem.

かるた取り　坊主か姫かと　浮き沈み

仲良き友と　過ごす喜び

Joining the karuta game 

Bōzu or himé is such an emotional roller-coaster

It's the joy of spending time with friends together

失礼いたしました。

<m(__)m>ペコリ

This content is also on You Tube.

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

Thank you for joining me(^_-)-☆

References:

Rules of Kyogi Karuta 競技かるたのルール

http://karuta.game.coocan.jp/simplerule-e.html

Bozu Mekuri: Karuta for Beginners

https://100poets.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/bouzu-mekuri-karuta-for-beginners/

初心者への百人一首の遊び方。競技かるたのルールや遊び方の紹介、無料の暗記カード

https://research-labo.com/howto-hyakuninissyu/

小倉百人一首アラカルト

百人一首とかるた大会

　小倉百人一首は今から約800年前に、鎌倉時代の歌人である藤原定家（ふじわらのていか）がまとめたものだという。

　小学校や中学校でかるた大会を行うこともあり、最も有名なかるたであろう。そういう私自身も学校で取り組んだことがある。

　百首を覚えるのはかなり大変なことだったが、何度もかるたをしていると耳から覚えてしまった。

　兄弟で競ってかるたをすると、覚えた歌が同じで、よく取り合いになったりした。

　なぜ、小倉百人一首は長い間親しまれてきたのか、改めて考えてみた。

　まずは、その和歌が優れたものだということ。有名な和歌集から集められた百首とあって、どれもその貴族や歌人の最高傑作と受け取れる。

　次に、かるた遊びとして広く受け入れられたこと。貝合わせを楽しんだ宮廷の文化と融合し、かるたになったのだ。

　付け加えるならば、いつの世も変わらぬ恋の歌が43首もある人間味も人気の一つなのではないだろうか。

愛知のPTA新聞「読者のまど」令和2年1月号に掲載

テーマ「かるた」

※掲載された原稿の加筆・修正あり

百人一首の遊び方いろいろ

「競技かるた」「ちらし取り」「源平合戦」といった遊び方がある。

また、読み札のみを使用した遊び方として、「坊主めくり」がある。

百人一首の「決まり字」

「決まり字（きまりじ）」とは、百人一首で競技かるたなどを行う際、百枚の札に書かれている和歌が読み上げられ札の取り合いをするのだが、その和歌がそこまで読まれればその札だと確定できるという部分のことをいう。

和歌を読み上げる読み手用の読み札には一般的に、彩色された歌人の肖像、作者名、和歌が記されている。字札（取り札）には和歌の下の句のみが平仮名で印刷されており、上の句は記されていない。

札を取る人が、和歌の決まり字を記憶していれば、下の句を早く確定できるので、スピード勝負の競技かるたなどでは特に、有利に札を取ることができる。

決まり字の単位は、仮名文字単位で、1字決まり、2字決まり、～６字決まりと数える。

例えば、1字決まりの札は７枚あるが、上の句の最初の一文字はそれぞれ「む・す・め・ふ・さ・ほ・せ」である。「むすめふさほせ（娘房干せ）」と覚えよう。

また、6字決まりの札は、3組6枚ある。５字目までではどちらか確定できない。なので、６字目で区別する。ただし、かるた取りではこれらの組のどちらかがすでに取られしまって札が残っているのが片方だけという場合は、もちろん、さらに早く札が確定してくるので注意が必要である。

「きみがためは」

「きみがためお」

「わたのはらや」

「わたのはらこ」

「あさぼらけあ」

「あさぼらけう」

百人一首かるたは、読み札と取り札がそれぞれ100枚ある。読み札と取り札は裏から見ても同じなので、区別がつかない。大きさは約74mm×53mm。

(English)

On YouTube, there is a video about Hyakunin-isshu.

(English only)

"Ogura Hyakunin-isshu, known as Hyakunin-isshu, is the traditional Japanese card game."

Please check it and you will see how we play the card game.

Fujiwara-no-teika was a poet, who collected 100 famous tanka. Hyakunin-isshu contains 100 poems of each poet.