CARDS IN JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

CARDS IN JAPAN.

A PACK OF TWO HUNDRED,

Japanese card' games call for no sustained mental effort Buch as that required by the auction bridge of the West, and somewhat resemble our games of authors or flags, tho object generally being to match certain sets of cards. The word "card" is believed to have been taken from the Spanish "karta," and thus Spain gets credit for the introduction of card playing into some countries. But as card playing was known in China in the twelfth century, as cards are often called "fuda" (ticket) in Japan, and as their games vary widely from those of Europe, it is, surmised that they came to the Orient from some other source.

In the Japanese gamo of "poem cards" (uta garuta) there are 200 cards. One hundred are decorated with portraits of poets and the first two lines of famous verses. These must be matched with the corresponding 100, on which the remaining two lines of the poems are written. The cards bearing the last lines of the poems are laid on the floor. Those with the first lines are held by the reader, who reads them aloud one by one. The other players try to select the corresponding card', and the one who obtains the moet is the winner.

The "flower cards" (huna garuta), used in a very popular game, are small, with black backs, decorated on the face with .flowers and emblems belonging to the twelve months. A set consists of 48 cards, and the values vary. The game consists of drawing, playing and matching in suits or groups. ! The game of "shell matching" (kai awase) is somewhat similar to the "poem card" game, with 300 bivalve ehells used instead of cards. The two sides of the ehells are separated and a portrait of a poet is painted on the upper half. On the mated' shell are the lines of one of his poems. Other sets have only the poems inscribed, the first two lines being on one half of the shell and the remaining lines on the other. The shells are divided among the players and the object is to match the shells according to the poetic lines. This gamo, as well as uta garuta, is played largely by the cultured classes, and is used to help the learning of classic poetry.