On January 8th, my class had a Karuta Party. It was the first time that we had seen ?irohagaruta?, with all the different pictures on the cards, but it is apparently a common New Year?s game for kids.
To start off, the teacher taught us about ?irohanihoheto? and ?karuta?. We learned that even before the ?aiueo? alphabet that all students start their Japanese studies with, there are the 48 ?irohanihoheto? sounds. When these were paired with the ?karuta? that came from Portugal, the game of ?irohagaruta? was created.
After this history was explained, we split into 4 teams of 3 and started the tournament. The teacher read from the ?reading cards? while we tried to pick up the corresponding ?grabbing card?. If you took one of the other team?s cards, you would have to give them one of yours. The team that got rid of all their cards the fastest was the winner.
At first the room was pretty quiet as everyone sat around the tables and calmly looked for the cards. But as the game went on, people became more and more excited so that finally everyone was standing up and yelling as they tried to get to the cards first. It was very different from how everyone normally acts in a classroom!
Although it was the C Team that ultimately won the tournament, we all felt that it was a great way to glimpse a little Japanese culture with traditional New Year?s entertainment.