Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set

Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set

$450.00
$450.00

Title: Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, 19th Century. Undecorated Box, With Original Card Wraps, Hand Painted Set
Condition: Very Good 

An undated 19th century edition of the Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.

A type of uta-garuta card game, Hyakunin Isshu is a game with 200 cards, with a poem written on 100 of them. One person will read out the first half of the poem, and the other players must then quickly attempt to match the poem with the corresponding poet’s image who penned it.

This card game utilizes illustrations and poems of the poets from Fujiwara no Teika's popular anthology, the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Roughly translated, it means One Hundred People, One Hundred Poems. 

Teika has long been renowned as one of the greatest poets in Japan and dominated the poetry scene for centuries from the Heian period to the Meiji period. It's no surprise that he would eventually create an anthology of poetical works, including one poem of his own. The full name of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu comes from the fact that he had arranged these poems for Utsunomiya Yoritsuna, the father-in-law of Teika's son Tameie, who was working near Mount Ogura at the time.

All of the illustrated cards have been woodblock printed and hand painted by hand.

There are 100 cards containing poems, and 100 cards depicting their respective poets, making for a complete set.

One box of cards, 200 cards. Box Size, 13 x 9.4 x 18 cm

This card game is in very good shape, with minor rubbing wear to the box. Most of the cards have some rubbing and wear to them, with a couple of corners bent. A few of the woodblock illustrations have faded from age.