NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

There is a shrine which people call “ the village of The 100 Poems ” in Ohtsu City, Shiga prefecture. And The World Karuta Competitions, which I wrote about in the previous blog, is held there. The official name of this shrine is “Ohmi Shrine”. The shrine is located between Mt. Hiei on which Enryaku-ji Temple is and Biwa-ko Lake, and the shrine is built on the foot of the mountain. So you have to walk up on the long stone-stairs to visit it. When you arrive at the entrance gate from the foot of the mountain, you must be sweating. But yet an upward cool wind from the lake may stop you sweating and the air in the shrine will softly wrap you. Secondly, you will walk to the inner sanctuary on the way across the small-white-stone yards. On entering the sanctuary you may feel the subtle change of the air, the air outside of the sanctuary is naturally clean but the air inside of the sanctuary is sacred. You may not believe that, but it’s true. And it is said that each good shrine has

I saw on TV news that many young foreigners competed karuta competitions by the 100 Poems. I was surprised at that, as well as I was interested why they played karuta competitions and why they knew how to play. Because karuta competitions are so difficult that the number of those who play the game isn’t large even in Japan. Eventually, I never have played karuta competitions. Incidentally, the 100 Poems, “hyakunin-issyu” in Japanese, are familiar with Japanese People. Japanese people in most cases learn the 100 Poems in their junior high-schools or high-schools, and they sometimes play a game of competing accuracy and quickness with several people that players grab a card written with the only second phrases of a poem from cards on tatami listening to full phrases of a poem. Of course I learned the 100 Poems in my junior high school and sometimes played the game, but I was a weak player of karuta games. Karuta competitions are a severer sport than the game above, so the sport dema