Karuta are Japanese playing cards, adapted by the cartas which were introduced by Portuguese traders in the 16th century.
On the Noh theatre stage in the precincts of Yasaka Shrine (Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto), women and children dressed in Heian jūnihitoe, a twelve-layered kimono, play Hyakunin Isshu, a game of karuta using a deck of a hundred cards with a waka poem written on each. The purpose of the game is to retrieve the card with the second part of the poem which is being recited by the game master. The game is dedicated to Susanoo no Mikoto, the enshrined deity, who is also believed to have written the first tanka poem.
If you are in Kyoto on New Year’s, you simply cannot miss Wakamizu Shinji, the First Water of the New Year Ritual held at Gokōnomiya Shrine (Fushimi Ward).