Karuta Kai” at Oji Community Welfare Center, Kobe: 90-Year-Old Serves as a Major Reader

　On January 23, a karuta-kai was held at the Oji Community Welfare Center (7 Nakahara-dori, Nada-ku, Kobe), with 90-year-olds serving as readers of the Hyakunin Isshu, a Japanese 100 poems. The event was organized by the Oji Fureai no Machizukuri Council.

A group of four playing “Hyakunin Isshu” (100 poems)

　The meeting has been held as an annual New Year’s event for the past 15 years as the only “karuta-kai” in the community, where 100 cards are read out using the Hyakunin Isshu (one hundred divisions of the Japanese playing cards), in contrast to the nearby community welfare centers, which use plain karuta such as crime prevention karuta. This year was the first time in four years that the event was held.

　On the day of the event, the participants were divided into groups of four at each table, and the reader, who will be 90 years old this year, read out the songs in a rousing voice. The audience was encouraged by the singer, who was 90 years old this year, with such words as, “This is a local (Hyogo Prefecture) song, so you have to take it. The participants competed with each other for the number of sheets amid cries of encouragement. During the contest, there was an accident when the remaining number of cards fell apart at each table, but the event ended without a hitch. Afterwards, the participants enjoyed playing “Bohu Mekuri” while eating light refreshments, and the event proceeded in a friendly atmosphere from start to finish.

　In her closing remarks, Noriko Izawa, chairperson of the council, called on the participants to “get through February safely without contracting corona or influenza,” and expressed her hope that the event would be held again next year.