Some of the card games played in the Japanese home use cards peculiar
toJapan.
one of the oldest such games is that of "one hundred waka poems."
These waka, which are representative of this form of poetry, date back
as early as the seventh century and were assembled together in the thirteenth
century to form this game.
To play the game, first the cards that have only the second part of
the waka printed on them are laid face up. A number of people sit around
these card, listen to one person read out the waka and try to pick up the
matching card. The winner is the one who picks up the most.
This game is played not only in the home but also in regional and factory
tournaments, with both adults and children taking part. It is mostly played
around New Year.
For children there are also similar games with cards that have proverbs
and saying on them, the cards to be picked up sometimes having the first
parts of the proverbs and matching pictures on them instead of words. There
are a also various other Japanese card games based on this same idea.