Uta Garuta

[kwaw]

Thank you cerulean

There are other examples of waka being used in association with knot magic. And waka in Japanese zen buddhism developed as a form of darani - and as with any spiritual practice, spiritual practice and powers were and are often hard to distinguish from magical practices, powers and superstitions at the layman's and popular level of religious practices.

On 'The Miraculous Powers of Japanese Poetry' see:
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publicati...rs/pdf/705.pdf

and:
http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv5n2/features/Kimbrough.html

[EnchantedShadow]

Nice topic! You did a great job translating, kwaw!

I used to play Hyakunin isshu karuta a lot in high school, so I always see them as gaming cards only and have never used them as oracles. Back then we were asked to memorize all 100 verses in order to enter the game - it was quite a crazy experience.

The illustrations on the cards themselves are really amazing, I have a Karuta collection and here's one of my personal favorites(a reproduction of Kōrin Karuta 光琳かるた)：

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...rot/Karuta.jpg

[kwaw]

Thanks Iris !

I really like David Bull's woodblock reproduction prints too:

http://woodblock.com/poets/index.html

quote:
"The series of prints (hanga) that I made are not specifically connected with the card game, but were reproduced from an old book containing illustrations of the poets accompanied by calligraphic renderings of their poems. It was designed by the Ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunsho and published in Edo (old Tokyo) in 1775. The card game had become popular by this time, and the book was perhaps partly intended as a reference for young ladies to study the poetry, but also presumably to stand as an attractive book in its own right.

"It is a very attractive book. The poets are portrayed with quite a bit of personality, very unlike the typical woodblock prints of the day, which generally used trite formulas for depicting human faces. We see a very wide range of emotions and character pictured. I found the book so attractive when I first studied it that I decided to make a complete collection of 100 prints - one reproducing each page of the original volume."

[EnchantedShadow]

Originally Posted by kwaw

Re: Hyakunin #16

物が戻ってくるように願う、おまじないの歌でもあります。

This is a song of incantation, for when you wish for a thing to return.

たとえば、飼っていた猫が行方不明になった時、おばあさんな
　どが、この歌を短冊に書いて、猫の皿を伏せてその下に置いてお
　...
　
For example, when a pet cat goes missing, an old lady writes this song on a strip of paper, and lays it face down beneath the cat's dish.

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/oguras...kunin/016.html

(If the Japanese script comes out gobble-de-gook, try another character encoding setting on your browser - Unicode UTF-8 usually works.)

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed the discussion. By the way, Ogura sansou is also a great store for traditional Okashi (treats), do try their Saga no yaki!

[EnchantedShadow]

Originally Posted by kwaw

Thanks Iris !

I really like David Bull's woodblock reproduction prints too:

http://woodblock.com/poets/index.html

Beautiful cards! I've never seen them before, to me they have a typical Edo period look, do you happen to know what is the time period and which artist created this deck?

Oops, I missed your edited post, now I got my answer. Thanks!

[Cerulean]

and woodcut black and white reproductions.

But I have kimono pattern and woodblock image collections that could probably pull similar motifs..and add to the poetic scrap book. The scenic references remind me of the Ukiyoe Tarot.

I could now add the 'divination by poetry' thought to the seasonal metaphor...a nice celebration to the summer season through when the autumn grasses have grown.

Thanks for the images to appreciate.

Cerulean

Originally Posted by Iris_2010

Nice topic! You did a great job translating, kwaw! to my divination book

I used to play Hyakunin isshu karuta a lot in high school, so I always see them as gaming cards only and have never used them as oracles. Back then we were asked to memorize all 100 verses in order to enter the game - it was quite a crazy experience.

The illustrations on the cards themselves are really amazing, I have a Karuta collection and here's one of my personal favorites(a reproduction of Kōrin Karuta 光琳かるた)：

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...rot/Karuta.jpg

[EnchantedShadow]

Cerulean, you're very welcome! Try Tengudo if you are interested more Japanese traditional playing cards, they have a variety of Karuta cards (nicely boxed) as well.

http://tengudo.jp/english/karuta_high.html