“Fighting sport on the tatami” Heated karuta competition in Japan

Speaking of
“fighting sports on the tatami”
will you think of Judo?
It is an olympic event and one of a sports played on the tatami.

But on the other hand, there is another heated game on the tatami in Japan.

It is a competition called
“Kyogi-karuta (competitive karuta)”.
“Karuta” is a Japanese traditional card game.

At first, cards written a waka (Japanese poetry) should be separated to
“Yomi-fuda (reading cards)” and
“Tori-fuda (getting cards)”.
Tori-fuda should be separated randomly on the tatami.

Players should sit around Tori-fuda.
When a Yomi-te (reader) read a “Yomi-fuda”, players should find and
get a paired “Tori-fuda” with a read “Yomi-fuda”.

“Karuta” is often played with family members and friends at home and school.
But “Kyogi-karuta” is a serious game.

Players need a sense of speed and an instantaneous force to get cards faster than others, so that this is called
“fighting sport on the tatami”.

On January 2017, a “Kyogi-karuta” competition was held in Morioka,
a northern region of Japan, and there were heated fights.

Since ancient days, Japanese people have been with the tatami.
On the tatami, there isn’t only a relaxing place, but also a fighting place sometimes.

Tags:tatami karuta fightingsports cardgame speed competition