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About Karuta
Unsun Karuta
The Unsun Karuta deck was invented during the time that Japan was closed
to the world by the Shogunate. Playing cards were outlawed in part because
they had been introduced by the Portuguese and in part because they were
used for gambling. The Unsun Karuta is one of a large number of different
decks that were made to get around the laws. Others were the
Hanafuda, the Kabufuda and the Mekuri Karuta decks.
The ranks of the courts used in the Pysol III Unsun games are Samuri, Hatamoto,
Okugatasama, Shogun, Emperor and Dragon. The pips are Ace and two through
nine. The Dragons were originally the Aces of the Portuguese l'Hombre deck.
The four suits of Batons, Coins, Cups and Swords correspond directly to the
suits of the l'Hombre deck and decks used in Portugal and other European
countries today. The fifth is Drums and is also known as Tomoe or Guru.
Mekuri Karuta
The Mekuri Karuta cards were a Japanese implementation of the deck
introduced into Japan by the Portugese in the mid 16th century. The
Portugese cards were used to play the game "l'hombre" (the man) and
the Japanese cards kept the same suit and rank pattern of four suits
of 12 cards each.
Uta Karuta
The Uta Karuta cards are known as the Japanese anthology of one hundred
Japanese waka by one hundred poets. Hyakunin isshu can be translated to
"one hundred people, one poem [each]", it can also refer to the card game
of uta-garuta, which uses a deck composed of cards based on the
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. The one hundred court (face) cards of the deck
are split into five suits of twenty cards each to make the Hyakunin Isshu
deck used in the Uta Karuta games in Pysol III.
The full deck of 200 cards is actually not used to play traditional
"Western" style card games. For more information check out
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu on Wikipedia.
Contemporary decks of Mekuri Karuta bare little resemblance to the originals.
Golden Unsun Courts
Mekuri 21st cards
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, first 25 cards
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