Iroha Karuta 　いろはかるた

Karuta (かるた, Karuta, loaned from the Portuguese word meaning “card” (carta)) is a Japanese card game.
Card from the Japanese game obake karuta (monster cards), c. early 19th century. Each card features a monster from Japanese mythology and a character from the hiragana syllabary.

The basic idea of any karuta game is to be able to quickly determine which card out of an array of cards is required and then to grab the card before it is grabbed by an opponent. There are various types of cards which can be used to play karuta. It is also possible to play this game using two standard decks of playing cards.

There are two kinds of cards used in karuta. One kind is yomifuda (読札) or “reading cards”, and the other is torifuda (取り札) or “grabbing cards.” As they were denoted, the words in the yomifuda are read and players will have to find its associated torifuda before anybody else does.

The two types of karuta cards that are most often seen are the “uta-garuta” and “iroha-garuta”.

In “uta-garuta”, players try to find the last two lines of a tanka given the first three lines. It is often possible to identify a poem by its first one or two syllables. The poems for this game are taken from the Hyakunin Isshu and are traditionally played on New Year’s Day.

Anyone who can read hiragana can play “iroha-garuta” (いろはがるた). In this type, a typical torifuda features a drawing with a kana at one corner of the card. Its corresponding yomifuda features a proverb connected to the picture with the first syllable being the kana displayed on the torifuda.

Karuta is often played by children at elementary school and junior high-school level during class, as an educational exercise. Although several kinds of Karuta games are described below, in reality any kind of information that can be represented in card form can be used – including shapes, colours, words in English, small pictures and the like. One of the best games for children and adults to learn new vocabulary in a fun and exciting way.

かるた（歌留多、加留多、嘉留太、骨牌）は、絵札を使う競技の一種。その名称はポルトガル語で手紙、あるいは紙板状のもの、トランプなどを意味するcartaに由来する。

元々はトランプなどのカードゲーム一般を指した。現代日本では、花札か、後述する読み札にあわせた絵札をとってその枚数を競う競技を意味するようになった。

歌がるたともいわれる百人一首の場合、読み札には短歌が書かれ、取り札には下の句が書かれている。

Tags: hiragana, Iroha Karuta