How to play "Kyogi-Karuta" ?

Notes : "Kyogi-Karuta" is "Competitive Karuta".

If you want to play "Kyogi-Karuta", you need a card-set of "Ogura-Hyakunin-Issyu".
A card-set of "Ogura-Hyakunin-Issyu" has two hundred cards. One hundred cards are called Yomifuda that mean card for reading. Another one hundred cards are called Torifuda that mean card for target.
Each Yomifuda has one Tanka-poem. We can read one Tanka-poem on one Yomifuda. Each Torifuda has a second half of one Tanka-poem. A second half of Tanka-poem is called Shimo-no-ku. We can see 14 or 15 or 16 Japanese-Hiragana-letters of Shimo-no-ku on one Torifuda.
Let us suppose you play "Kyogi-Karuta" with me.
We play "Kyogi-Karuta" on Japanese-Tatami-mat. We sit down on Tatami, face each other. We select each twenty-five cards from 100 cards of Torifuda, at random. We place 25 cards on own field of Tatami as our likes. But we have to place 25 cards at field of Width:87cm x Length:24.5cm, in three line of cards. My field is called Jijin by me, and Tekijin by you. Your field is called Tekijin by me, and Jijin by you. By the way, the nearest own cards-line is called Gedan, a middle cards-line is called Chuhdan, and the furthest cards-line is called Johdan.
We have to place and remember cards where place on both fields, in fifteen minutes.
If we start to play game, we need the third person. This person is the reader of Yomifuda. The reader is called Yomite or Dokusyu. Yomite read aloud a Tanka-poem of Yomifuda in 100 Yomifuda-cards. If we have a Torifuda written Shimo-no-ku of a Tanka-poem read by Yomite at our field, we have to get this Torifuda faster than another player.
If you touch this card faster than me, you get this card. And,if you push away this card out of field faster than me, you get this card.(Fudaoshi) This card is called Defuda. Defuda is removed from our field. If you get Defuda from your Tekijin (i.e. my Jijin), you can give a card of your field to me.
If you touch a card of a field that not place Defuda, you must be given a card from me. This mistouching is called Otetsuki.
Yomite read Yomifuda at random, but one card is read for once in one game. If you have no card at your Jijin-field earlier than me, you win. If I clear all cards at my field earlier than you, you lose.

YOMIFUDA
TORIFUDA
OPENING
FUDAOSHI

Sample Picture of "Playing a Game"

The essence of the competitive "Karuta" *
***  What is "Ogura-Hyakunin-Issyu" ?  ***

Written by Hitoshi Takano
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