Karuta in Washington DC Area!

I just finished playing karuta for two days in the Washington DC area with Mutsumi Stone-san, the founder of the karuta club in that area. It was an absolute blast, and hopefully we will be able to set something similar up again for more members from the KCL to come out!

Break

Okay, the club's on break until next Thursday. Finally got around to updating the site, so go on ahead and use that to your advantage! Seeya Thursday!

Monday's Meeting

For everyone that could make it, thanks for coming out Monday! We've now learned the first 70 poems, and are only a few weeks away from knowing all 100! Look forward to seeing everybody Thursday!

The most recent meeting proved not to be too productive, as everybody (myself included) was tired. However, we did practice through poems 51-60, and that's all we really needed to do.

As a side note, we have decided to start our own little mini KCL Anime Club. So far we've set the time as every Monday following club activities, so from around 8pm-9pm. We watched the first episode of three shows: 男子高校生の日常 (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou), アクセルワールド (Accel World), and Free!, and will watch one episode from each of those series every week.

Tournament Finished!

Thanks to everybody that came out for the tournament! Andrew ended up winning the whole thing, with Jodie in second and Christen in third. Can't wait for next month's tournament! As a note, the next meeting is Wednesday, July the 3rd, from 1:00pm-3:30pm becuse of the holidays. I'll see everybody then!

Tournament Day Change

Just as a note, the tournament's date and time has been changed to Monday, July 1st, from 5:30pm-9:30pm. Hopefully more people can attend during those times!

First Tournament on Sunday!

Don't forget that the first monthly Karuta Club of Lansing tournament is being held this Sunday from 1:00pm-5:00pm! Location is currently tentatively set for the usual area, and I'll let you know if that changes. There will be prizes! Hope to see you there!

Sixth Meeting

Held our sixth meeting yesterday and learned poems 41-50. With that, we can now have full 100 card games, and we did just that! We had our first-ever full game yesterday, and while it dragged on for some people, it turned out to be a rather fun event. Looking forward to the Thursday meeting, and don't forget that Sunday is the first-ever KCL monthly karuta tournament! See you all tomorrow!

Fifth Meeting

Only a couple of people showed to the fifth meeting, so hopefully more are able to come Tuesday. A few important announcements:

1 - The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, the 25th. It will not be Monday because I have MSU AOP all day that day. The times will still be the same (5:30pm-8:00pm).

2 - Next Sunday, the 30th, is currently set as the tentative date for the first karuta tournament. All are welcome to participate! Prizes will be given to first and second place. Time for the event is currently set from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. We will be playing full games (50 cards in play and 50 dead) and no study sheets will be allowed during the game. I'll explain more of the rules during the Tuesday and Thursday meetings next week. As a note, though all 100 cards will be read, only the cards for poems 01-50 will be in play.

Hope to see you Tuesday!

Fourth Meeting

The fourth meeting went great today! Studied poems 31-40, and now we almost know enough poems to have a full proper game! For everybody that didn't make it, I'm sorry we couldn't see you there, and I hope we see you next time! In addition, for everybody not present, we agreed on a few fairly big (and exciting!) new changes:

1 - There will now be two meetings a week instead of one. Meetings will be Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30pm-8:00pm. However, the two meetings will differ slightly from each other. During the Monday meetings, we will focus on introducing new poems, strategies, rules, and the sort (for now, we'll just be working on memorizing the poems). During Thursday meetings, however, we will focus on practicing and honing our skills by studying and playing practice matches. No new material will be introduced during Thursday meetings, it's just intended to help people better themselves at karuta. The Thursday meetings will be optional, but I highly recommend that everybody come out for them! (For the time being, both Monday and Thursday meetings will be at my house. If this changes, I'll make sure to let everybody know).

2 - In addition to the extra meetings, there will now also be a monthly karuta tournament held for club members! More than likely it will be a weekend day, and everybody is implored to participate in it! Prizes will be handed out to two people: The person who places in first and the person whose rank improved the most from the previous tournament (for the first tournament, prizes will be given to people that finish first and second). The first monthly tournament will be held about three weeks from now, and I look forward to the day that it comes!

3 - Due to the club urgently needing more material (such as more tatami mats and more quality torifuda/yomifuda decks) I humbly ask for club members to donate however much they can and are willing to donate to the club for the purchase of new club equipment. 100% of donations will go towards buying stuff for the club, and I hope that we can get enough money to buy all of the material we need! However, I don't want to make club fees and dues required in any way, so it is totally optional and up to you if you want to donate any money. However, all donations will be greatly appreciated.

4 - On the Karuta Club of Lansing's website (this webpage) I'll begin implementing a calendar that details the meeting times, events, and other such things that all club members are invited to attend!

5 - A few club members and I are trying to figure out a time that all interested club members can get together for a couple hours a week to watch anime. Right now we're thinking Mondays a few hours before club meeting. For anybody interested, please shoot me an e-mail!

And those are the many exciting changes that we will be phasing in. Again, thanks to everybody for coming out and showing their support!

Third Meeting

We had our third meeting on Monday, and it went well. Learned up to the 30th poem in the Hyakunin Isshu, and progress is being made. Not many people were able to make it out due to various issues, but I hope to see everybody at the 4th meeting this Monday! For anybody that missed and wants to catch up, all of the club documents are uploaded to the club's Dropbox folder (located in Useful Videos and Links). So you next time!

Second Meeting

Today was the day of our second meeting, and it was great! Learned poems 11-20, and had fun playing! In addition, earlier today the San Francisco karuta (San Franciso MURASAME-KAI) posted a blog article about us! http://sfkarutaclubeng.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/new-karuta-club-in-michigan/

So again, thanks to everybody for coming out, and see you next week!

First Meeting: Success!

Thanks to everybody who came out to tonight's first club meeting for the Karuta Club of Lansing! It turned out to be a great meeting, with everybody learning karuta while also having a lot of fun with it. Hopefully next week's meeting will be equally entertaining! For all those that didn't make it out but are curious about playing karuta, feel free to send me an e-mail at mercerp@mail.lcc.edu, and I'll be sure to let you know how to attend the next meeting! Next week's meeting will be at the same time and place (5:30pm - 8:00pm at my house). I look forward to seeing everybody again!

First Club Meeting!

The Lansing Karuta Club will be holding its first meeting on Monday, May 27 2013. All those interested in attending are more than welcome to come! The meeting will be held from 5:30pm until 8:00pm. The meeting will be held at my house near the Capitol City Airport in Lansing. For directions or any more information, feel free to contact me at my e-mail address (mercerp@mail.lcc.edu). I check my e-mail at least twice daily, so I'll make sure to respond as soon as I can!

Welcome to the webpage for the Lansing, Michigan (United States) area karuta club! The Karuta Club of Lansing was formed in March of 2013 in hopes of spreading interest in the traditional Japanese card game of karuta. Specifically, the Karuta Club of Lansing plays hyakunin isshu karuta (百人一首かるた), the same type of karuta that is played in the popular anime/manga Chihayafuru. While karuta has a small population of players in Japan, it is almost non-existent in other countries. However, karuta is an extraordinary game that can be enjoyed by not only Japanese people, but from people from all different walks of life! The goal of this club is to showcase how fun karuta really is, and to immerse more and more people in it.

The Karuta Club of Lansing is currently looking for new members!

Novices and experienced players alike are more than welcome to join! Even if you aren't yet able to read hiragana, we'll be more than willing to help you learn so you can enjoy playing karuta. If you live in the Lansing area and have at least a little interest in perhaps learning how to play karuta, feel free to contact me at mercer@mail.lcc.edu. I look forward to hearing from you!