What is Kyogi Karuta?
The History:
Kyogi Karuta or Competitive Karuta is a card game and sport based on the Hyakunin Isshu poetry anthology. Its origins date back to the Heian period (794-1192), where people in high society would play a matching game with beautifully decorated clamshells. This matching game, known as kai-ooi (貝覆い), is played with several dozen shells, and works because only a natural pair of clamshells will fit together in a perfect match. It is thought that at some point, tanka poems were combined with this game format, with the first half of a poem being written on one shell, and the second half written on its match. Players would then have to correctly match the corresponding first and second halves of each poem, so this game would also serve also as a way for players to study those poems. 
Playing cards did not exist in Japan until Portuguese traders introduced them in the 16th century. They used the Portuguese word for the playing cards, Carta, which in Japanese became Karuta. Eventually, these playing cards would replace painted shells, since it was far easier to produce many sets of cards quickly using woodblocks.
Cards with poems printed on them became known as Uta-karuta (歌かるた) and since the Edo period other Karuta sets have been produced, including ones that include poems from The Tale of Genji （源氏物語）and The Tale of Ise （伊勢物語）. However, it was the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu which outlasted all other forms of uta-karuta. 
Modern History:
Karuta as a recreative card game had spread widely across Japan by the end of the Meiji Era (19th century) and different regional versions of the game had developed with different rules. It was in 1904 that a standard set of rules for one-on-one games was set by the Tokyo Karuta Association, and Kyogi Karuta was born. Rules for the game are now set by the All Japan Karuta Association, which also deals with hosting official tournaments and registries of ranked players
In, 1955 the first annual tournament to choose the top men's player, known as the Meijin, was held in Shiga Prefecture, and two years after that the first Queen match was held to find the top women's player. Aside from these matches, and an annual Joryu- sen (all women's tournament), most games are not separated by gender. Most official tournaments also do not separate players by age, but by rank. The current ranks go in order from E-kyu, which is a beginner player, to D-kyu, C-kyu, B-kyu, and finally A-kyu. Players can only move up a rank by placing in an official tournament, but in some cases can move up a rank through the recommendation of their Karuta group.
Most people in Japan have played some version of Karuta, since it is popular to play recreative versions of the game around New Years. However, Kyogi Karuta still remains a somewhat niche sport, even in Japan. There are estimated to be around 1 million players, and we are currently in what some would call a "Karuta boom", where the number of new players has increased sharply in recent years. There is little doubt that this is due to in large part to the popularity of the manga, anime, and movies of "Chihayafuru", a story which revolves around this game. This not only inspired more Japanese people to start playing, but gave foreign people an introduction to the game and lead to the creation of more Karuta groups overseas.
Wondering what it takes to become a competitive Karuta player? Learn more in my post about the rules of Kyogi Karuta!
References:
I drew heavily from the "World of Kyogi Karuta" website as my main resource on the history of the game. For even more history on the game and detailed information on the rules of Karuta, please visit their website:
I drew heavily from the "World of Kyogi Karuta" website as my main resource on the history of the game. For even more history on the game and detailed information on the rules of Karuta, please visit their website:
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