In a recent manga review by Kumi Matsumaru for the Daily Yomiuri, Kumi recently reviewed “Chihayafuru” by Yuki Suetsugu. Here is an excerpt from that review.
Chihayafuru, the title of a manga by Yuki Suetsugu, may be a word even many Japanese will not immediately understand. It is the first word of a poem by Ariwara no Narihira, a waka poet and aristocrat who lived in the late ninth century. Chihayafuru, also written as chihayaburu, is a word that indicates something to do with God will immediately follow. The poem is one of 100 works in the poetry collection Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, which was compiled by poet and critic Fujiwara no Teika in the Kamakura period (1192-1333).
Chihayafuru revolves around a lighthearted girl named Chihaya Ayase who enters the competitive word of a traditional Japanese card game based on the 100 poems. She becomes fascinated with what she had first regarded as nothing more than a pleasant pastime after meeting her new classmate Arata Wataya, a boy who is an an excellent player, when they are in the sixth grade of primary school.
Chihaya had long believed there was nothing special about her, and her dream was to see her attractive older sister succeed in her modeling job. But through exchanges with the rather taciturn Arata, Chihaya discovers a passion for the card competition and hopes to become the “queen” of the card players’ world.
The game is played with 200 cards, half of which have all five lines of a poem written on them and the other half of which have only the last two lines. The cards with the endings of poems are spread out on the floor, and the first lines of a poem are read out by a reader called a dokushu. The players compete to be the first to snatch up the card bearing the concluding lines of the poem.
The manga, which has been running in Be-Love magazine since last year, shows us not only how Chihaya is infatuated with the game, but also how she learns friendship and companionship through it.