How to play

What you need to play Hyakunin Isshu karuta are karuta cards and a minimum of three people – one reader and two players.

There are two kinds of cards – yomifuda (読札) or “reading cards” and torifuda (取札) or “grabbing cards.”


Left: Yomifuda; Right: Torifuda



Each poem consists of five lines words, with each line following a pattern of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables. The first three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables are termed the kami-no-ku (上の句), or the “upper poem”. The remaining two lines of 7 and 7 syllables the shimo-no-ku (下の句), or the “lower poem”. While the yomifuda ("reading cards") have the entire poem printed on them, torifuda ("grabbing cards") only show the shimo-no-ku (lower poem).

 

 To play the game, first lay 25 torifuda face up on the floor facing you in three different rows(your opponent will do the same), listen to the reader reading out the poem, then try to pick up the matching torifuda.

The trick to pick up the correct card faster is to memorize kimari-ji (決まり字), which is the minimum set of syllables in the beginning of the poem to determine the shimo-no-ku (lower poem). For example, there are seventeen poems that begin with a syllable “あ” ("a"), while only two with “あき” ("aki"), then only one with “あきの” ("akino"). So, it means that if you only hear the first three syllables of “あきの” ("akino"), you would be able to recognize that the matching shimo-no-ku is "わがころもでは つゆにぬれつつ" ("wa-ga-ko-ro-mo-de-ha-tsu-yu-ni-nu-re-tsu-tsu").

Because of this, while recommended it is not necessary to memorize the entirety of all 100 poems. For example, one could recognize that the starting syllables "akino" match with one particular torifuda. Many players do this rather than memorize the entirety of the poems as it proves to be faster and generally easier for most players.