Competitive Karuta
Learning Kimariji Through Card Flow

The lower-verse cards are shown one at a time. Tap a card to reveal its kimariji. Click the triangle arrows on either side, or swipe left or right, to move to the previous or next card.

There's also a sister page, the Kimariji 3-Choice Quiz, which we recommend.

Choose which color group to practice

What is Kimariji?

Kimariji are the decisive syllables — the shortest beginning of a poem that uniquely identifies which card to take.

For example, only one poem starts with "mu." As soon as you hear "mu," you know the card is "Murasame no / Tsuyu mo mada hinu / Maki no ha ni / Kiri tachi noboru / Aki no yugure." In this case the kimariji is just 1 syllable, but some can be up to 6 syllables long.

Competitive karuta is a game of speed, so memorizing kimariji gives you a major advantage in matches.