I played the Hyakunin Isshu card game with my Nishiki students a couple weeks ago.
Hyakunin Isshu is an anthology of 100 very old poems by 100 different poets.
It was a lot of fun to play.

The way it works is that all the cards with the poems printed on them are scattered on the floor and the players sit around them.



The narrator is holding another set of cards with the same poems and illustrations. The narrator recites the names of the poets and the poems in an old-fashioned way that sounds like an ancient chant.




The players are frantically scanning the cards, looking for the poem that the narrator is reciting. When a player spots the right card, they slap it, then pick it up. I did fairly well at the game, getting 11 cards, which was more than some of my students who I was competing against!



I think it's interesting that Japan still plays games like this, and that the students learn while keeping Japanese cultural history alive.