Iroha Karuta is a Japanese card game. The word “karuta” is from the Portuguese word “carta”.
There are two kinds of cards used in karuta. One kind is yomifuda or “reading cards”, and the other is torifuda or “grabbing cards.” Each torifuda has a hiragana character on it and a picture to illustrate the appropriate “kotowaza” – Japanese proverb – that begins with that character.
At the beginning of a game one player is chosen to be the reader. That player will read the yokmifuda while the other player or players will search for and grab the appropriate torifuda cards.
The winner is the player who grabbed most cards.
Anyone who can read hiragana can play Iroha Karuta. This game is a great way for students of Japanese to learn to recognize hiragana characters and also to become familiar with some of the most popular Japanese proverbs.
| Edo Iroha Karuta Deck | Details |
|---|---|
  | The Edo Iroha Karuta set is very nicely illustrated with delicate water colour pictures of the proverbs. In the Edo era, cards were printed in black and hand painted with water colours, so this deck continues that tradition, although the cards have been printed and are not hand coloured. Another nice feature of this deck is that the reading cards have "furigana" beside the kanji to make it easier to read the cards. The set comes with a Japanese guide to the proverbs. $25.00 (+ S&H) |
