Jomo Karuta (Card game)

Last Friday, I did a Japanese workshop at the library. First I talked about the Japanese New Year (Oshogatsu) and then we played Jomo Karuta (Card games). After playing the normal way (taking the drawing card as a result of reading the text card), we also had fun composing words with our favorite cards or talking about our favorite cards. Some participants wrote words in their own way, such as Samurai, Niku (meat in Japanese) etc.

These are my favorite cards.
す SU/ Susonoha Nagashi Akagiyama (Beautiful mountain)
せ SE/ Senkyo Ozenuma Hananohara (Very beautiful flower)
ふ FU/ Bunbukuchagama no Morinji (What a cute badger)
み MI/ Minakami Tanigawa Suki-to Tozan (One person in white)
よ YO/ Yo no Chiri Arau Shima Onsen (Nude!)


By the way, “Jomo” is the old name of Gunma Prefecture. I bought the card game when I went home to my parents house at the end of the year. It was my first time looking at these cards carefully. The drawings are very beautiful and on the back of a card, there are explanations on each drawing. And I noticed again that this game is nice!

cf. list of Jomo Karuta

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *