Unsun Karuta

About Unsun Karuta

85 booklets and 85 replica packs of cards remain of First Edition.
Paperback booklet, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
15 pages
Color cover
2 fold-out charts of card suits
Full color replica pack of 75 cards in custom-made box

Privately printed by Virginia and Harold Wayland, Pasadena, California, 1981.

Playing cards were introduced to the Japanese in the second half of the 1500s by Portuguese traders. 48-card packs were modified into seventyfive-card packs of five suits of fifteen cards each and the game of Unsun Karuta was invented. Full knowledge of how to play the game was thought to have been lost when, in 1972, it was discovered that about ten old gentlemen in Hitoyoshi City still met occasionally to play the game. Efforts were launched by the Hitoyoshi Educational Committee to record the exact rules of play, 1500 replica packs of cards were manufactured, and classes were offered in how to play the game. The Waylands visited Hitoyoshi in 1973 and helped to research and record the game. This booklet contains two essays: The Rules for the Game, as Played in Hitoyoshi City, Kyushu, Japan by Masako Okusu, Virginia Wayland, and Harold Wayland, and The History of the Cards and the Game by Virginia Wayland and Harold Wayland.

This booklet is accompanied by a full color replica pack of 75 cards in a custom-made box. The cards' designs are based on the pack in use at the time by the old men of Hitoyoshi City, which was over fifty years old at the time it was copied.


		UNSUN KARUTA
Buy the Book Screenfold Press		About Unsun Karuta 85 booklets and 85 replica packs of cards remain of First Edition. Paperback booklet, 5.5 x 8.5 inches 15 pages Color cover 2 fold-out charts of card suits Full color replica pack of 75 cards in custom-made box Privately printed by Virginia and Harold Wayland, Pasadena, California, 1981. Playing cards were introduced to the Japanese in the second half of the 1500s by Portuguese traders. 48-card packs were modified into seventyfive-card packs of five suits of fifteen cards each and the game of Unsun Karuta was invented. Full knowledge of how to play the game was thought to have been lost when, in 1972, it was discovered that about ten old gentlemen in Hitoyoshi City still met occasionally to play the game. Efforts were launched by the Hitoyoshi Educational Committee to record the exact rules of play, 1500 replica packs of cards were manufactured, and classes were offered in how to play the game. The Waylands visited Hitoyoshi in 1973 and helped to research and record the game. This booklet contains two essays: The Rules for the Game, as Played in Hitoyoshi City, Kyushu, Japan by Masako Okusu, Virginia Wayland, and Harold Wayland, and The History of the Cards and the Game by Virginia Wayland and Harold Wayland. This booklet is accompanied by a full color replica pack of 75 cards in a custom-made box. The cards' designs are based on the pack in use at the time by the old men of Hitoyoshi City, which was over fifty years old at the time it was copied.
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About Unsun Karuta