Uta-garuta

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Uta-garuta" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Uta-garuta (歌ガルタ, lit. "Poetry Karuta") is a type of a deck of karuta, Japanese traditional playing cards. A set of uta-garuta contains two sets of 100 cards, with a waka poem written on each. Uta-garuta is also the name of the game in which the deck is used. The standard collection of poems used is the Hyakunin Isshu, chosen by poet Fujiwara no Teika in the Heian period, which is often also used as the name of the game.

Since early 20th century the game is played mostly on Japanese New Year holidays.^[1]