2020 January Japan. 1/11/2020 - Chihayafuru Karuta Pilgrimage part 2 - omi jingu and the Meijin/Queen matches
When I found out that the Meijin and Queen matches of the Karuta competition in Japan was happening during my stay, I knew I had to honor my love for the show Chihayafuru.
I was lost.. and it didn't help that this did not seem like a popular (foreigner) tourist spot because all signs were only in Japanese. Luckily I figured things out and somehow was able to watch match 1 and 2 in the commentator room and match 3 in the actual room. I thought the Queen (women) match was more interesting and the players better than the Meijin (men). I know the basic rules and ideas yes... but it was just more interesting watching the current Queen and contestant play.
The competition (neither Meijin nor Queen) did not end with the third match ... but I did not stay for the rest. I needed to stumble my way home through the Shiga and Kyoto prefecture train/subway system (only made one mistake this time!)
One really amazing thing is that the Queen (women) title's youngest holder was a Kusonoki Saki (楠木早紀) being a junior high school student (3rd year = 9th grade, age 15), and she held the title for 10 years http://nagaraushi.g1.xrea.com/English/title.html, earning her the "eternal queen" title (i think given after 7 consecutive wins?). This is her in green (left) in 2013, so I guess she was around 22 years old here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwjRb-9dsD0
Apparently now an elementary school teacher.
It must have been really inspiring as I saw a bunch of elementary school girls come with their mother (NB never father) to watch the match. It also correlates to the teenage karuta players and Queen in the Chihayafuru anime, 16 year old Wakamiya Shinobu
I was lost.. and it didn't help that this did not seem like a popular (foreigner) tourist spot because all signs were only in Japanese. Luckily I figured things out and somehow was able to watch match 1 and 2 in the commentator room and match 3 in the actual room. I thought the Queen (women) match was more interesting and the players better than the Meijin (men). I know the basic rules and ideas yes... but it was just more interesting watching the current Queen and contestant play.
The competition (neither Meijin nor Queen) did not end with the third match ... but I did not stay for the rest. I needed to stumble my way home through the Shiga and Kyoto prefecture train/subway system (only made one mistake this time!)
One really amazing thing is that the Queen (women) title's youngest holder was a Kusonoki Saki (楠木早紀) being a junior high school student (3rd year = 9th grade, age 15), and she held the title for 10 years http://nagaraushi.g1.xrea.com/English/title.html, earning her the "eternal queen" title (i think given after 7 consecutive wins?). This is her in green (left) in 2013, so I guess she was around 22 years old here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwjRb-9dsD0
Apparently now an elementary school teacher.
It must have been really inspiring as I saw a bunch of elementary school girls come with their mother (NB never father) to watch the match. It also correlates to the teenage karuta players and Queen in the Chihayafuru anime, 16 year old Wakamiya Shinobu
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