The History of Karuta's Card
Karuta's card chronological table
The History of Karuta's Card >> Karuta's card chronological table
Circa 1892 The students of Tokyo Imperial University established the “Midori Club” and the “Yayoi Club”.（Almost Genpei competition）
1904 Standard karuta cards for official game produced by Shinbashi-Do.It is called ”Hyojun-karuta” which is invented by Manchoho-yugi-bu.Also the club standardize Rules of Kyogi karuta at the same time.
Feb.11,1904 Held “1st Tokyo Karuta Competition” sponsored by the Tokyo Karuta kai. President of Tokyo Karuta kai is Kuroiwa Ruiko.
Jan.5,1905 They held the 3rd Tokyo Karuta Competition which the players place their 25 cards inside their territory.
Nov.23,1920 Kuroiwa Shuroku (Ruiko) Memorial Competition held. Second president is  Kuroiwa Hideo.
1925 “Kotei-karuta” by Tokyo-zuan Printing (Miyako-dori is designed) is made a big change from “Hyojun karuta”.
1930 “Kotei-karuta” is made a change again.
1934 Renamed Tokyo Karuta kai and established Dainippon Karuta Association.President Ito Hidekichi.
1940 Omi Shrine is built.
Circa 1941 The so-called "Misugakure ( Hidden by Sudare) karuta" was recommended.
1942 "Aikoku (Patriotic) Hyakunin Isshu" established.Ogura Hyakunin Isshu karuta is prohibited for war period.
Feb.11,1943 The first Aikoku-Hyakunin Issyu Championship is held at Kashihara Shrine.
1946 Established Japan Karuta Association. The first President is Ito Hidekichi.Standard karuta cards for official game produce by Seibun-Kan spread gradually in east area.
　 The President is Nishida Naojiro who is established West Japan Karuta Federation.Standard karuta cards for official game produce by Oishi-Tengu-Do in west area.
Sep.1946 National Language Council notice new kana orthography.
　 Tokyo Karuta kai devise “Shinsei-karuta” by new kana orthography.
Jan.13,1952 The early Meijin Title Match is held at the Japanese Art Club in Siba. The winner is Suzuyama Toru Meijin.
　 The discussion which is adopted the proposal between“Shinsei-karuta”by new kana orthography and standard karuta cards by old kana orthography. 
1954 Established All Japan Karuta Association who is President Ito Hidekichi.
Jan.15,1955 The first Meijin Title Match begins at Yasukuni Shrine. Masaki Ichiro is the first Meijin.
Jan.4,1957 The first Queen Title Match begins at Mainichi Shimbun Auditorium. Amano Chieki is the first Queen.
Apr.1,1962 The first All Japan Championship held at Heian Shrine. Winner is Kobayashi Mitsuo.
1966 Ito Hidekichi, the president of the All Japan Karuta Association, has passed away. Second president is Ito Hidefumi.
Aug.18,1979 The first National High School Championship held at Omi Shrine. Winner is Fuji high school
Feb.23,1986 The first National selection tournament start at Meiji Shrine. Winner is Ito Takao.
1987 Ito Hidefumi build Ito Karuta Hall from his own expense.
Sep.14,1990 Mr. Ito Hidefumi donate his Ito Karuta Hall to Bunkyo City. Now the Hall change the name as the Karuta Memorial Otsuka Hall which is open to the public Bunkyo City. 
JP
EN
CONTENTS
In 1925, the "Standard Revised Official Karuta" was created to standardize "karuta cards". The following article is an explanation of why standardization was necessary, which was published in the annexed instruction manual of that karuta card.

 

Reasons for revising the Kyogi karuta card

To be fair in the competition, the letters on the Karuta cards must be exactly the same on all cards. Until now, the Karuta cards have been used in a mixture of types that use normal typefaces and types that use "hentai-gana". It was an unfair situation in the competition.

The revised competitive the Karuta cards are based on the standard "Hiragana typeface", and the original version is produced using characters using a brush. In the revised version, the text is slightly larger and bolder than the previous version, making the cards easier for competitors to read and take.

The reason why the backing paper of the card is green is to make the existence of the card clear and to reduce irritation to the eyes. We have also thoroughly studied the original text of the "tanka" (poem) to ensure that there are no errors in notation. This is how we created our club's "Kotei Karuta(Official Karuta cards)".

This is not to say that this Karuta card is perfect. However, it is at least better than the various Karuta cards that have been used in the past.

September 1925 <Tokyo Karuta Kai>

 

Features of the "Kotei Karuta" (Standard Revised Official Karuta)

Make the lyrics accurate

In the past, there have been quite a few errors in the reading of the lyrics and the names of the poets on the "Karuta cards". In this "Karuta card", all those errors have been corrected.
All "kanji" characters in the "Yomifuda(Reading cards)" are marked with "furigana".
In addition, we have made it easier to understand the reading by adding a diacritic mark to the letters that have a voiced sound.

Make the reading cards easier to read

The text displaying the poet's name is smaller than the text in the poem section, making it easier to read the text in the poem section.

We lowered the "Shimonoku" (the last two lines of the poem) by two characters from the "Kaminoku" (the first two lines of the poem). This makes the distinction between the " Shimonoku " and the " Kaminoku " clear.

Make it easy to pick up the "Torifuda"

Characters such as which were previously used as "hiragana" characters, have been unified as "か", "は", and "ゆ". In addition, the "hiragana" character "む," which was previously written as "ん," has been unified.
The font is slightly larger and thicker to make it easier for competitors to read the text on the cards during the competition.

Being elegant

The size of the top and bottom of the card is larger than that of conventional karuta cards, and the color of the edge is green.
On the backing paper of the cards, we put a pattern of the letters of karuta on the bird of Tokyo so that people can imagine "Tokyo Karuta Kai".
The typeface for the cards has been changed from the traditional typeface to a special typeface for this Karuta cards, based on characters written by a calligraphy master.

Being robust

Both the backing paper and the core paper of the cards are made of a special product specially designed for "Kotei Karuta" in cooperation with a paper company. Also, the karuta card packaging is so robust that it will never be broken until the Karuta cards are damaged and can no longer be used.

 

Distributed by Tokyo Zuan Printing Co.

PageTop