Uta Garuta box
Description
The box used for cards played in the game Uta Garuta
Uta-Garuta literally means "poem cards," and is played in the first few days of the New Year. It consists of a deck of 200 cards that show 100 different five-line poems (from an anthology called the Hyakunin Isshu, which is around eight hundred years old). Each poem is split across two cards - the first three lines are printed on one card, and the last two on another. A hundred cards with the poems' openings are the reading cards; the cards with the ends of the poems are the grabbing cards. Traditionally the players try to remember a hundred short poems while occasionally trying to grab something off the floor as quickly as 1 can.
Collection
Japanese Art
Object Type
Box
Material
Lacquer
Schools/Culture/Period
--
Technique
Takamakiye
Date
Late 19th - early 20th century
Location
Japan