Tag: Fire Emblem

Hello from Japan, new items

Hello readers,

I am writing this post while staying with my in-laws house in Japan. We will be doing a bit of traveling later, but are mostly fighting jet lag and record heat + humidity for now.

In the meantime I am excited to share some items I picked up, including these new books:

The first book explores the Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, the second Lady Murasaki’s diary. These texts are both pivotal to appreciating the life and culture of people back then, the same people who composed the poetry of the Hyakunin Isshu. It’s a window to a world that simply doesn’t exist anymore.

Further, this book series, 眠れないほど面白い (nemurenai hodo omoshiroi, “so interesting you can’t sleep!”) has been a huge boon for the blog. It’s provided a lot of fun, historical information about the Heian Period, the Hyakunin Isshu, the Manyoshu, etc., that is simply not available in English. The Japanese is sometimes difficult to read at my level, but it’s been a labor of love, so I enjoy the challenge and have been learning a lot. So I am excited to delve into these two books as well.

Also, it’s noteworthy that both books above mention the current drama series 「光る君へ」as a tie-in.

Yesterday, on a day trip to Tokyo I visited the Karuta shop Okuno Karuta (奥野かるた店). It was very easy to find from the Jinbocho train station (just head left and walk down a few blocks). The store was larger than the Tengu-do and includes lots of neat card sets not related to Karuta. I was on a budget so I tried not to spend too much. I did pick up a mini Karuta set though:

This set looks just like the first set I got, both Tengu-dō brand, but roughly half the size. It’s not suitable for competitive karuta but it’s cute and fun to own.

Anyhow, the staff at Okuno Karuta were very nice and helpful. While I was perusing, a tour group of elderly Japanese came through for a while, and the staff had to handle the rush of customers, before things quieted down again.

Hopefully I can post more updates soon.

P.S. also picked up an obscure Fire Emblem game too:

Each Battle, A Chance to Grow

Dedicated to “Rachel” and “Lore”, and to blog reader 猫. Thank you all for the encouragement!

In my last post, I talked about taking stock after a bad loss in karuta and focusing on small, incremental improvements rather than “shooting for the moon”. I used the Nintendo Switch game Fire Emblem: Three Houses as a source of inspiration.

The blog post title comes from the main character Byleth, who sometimes says this after combat. In the game, if your students defeat a foe in combat, they gain experience points making them grow stronger. If they are attacked by an enemy, they still gain experience. If they dodge an attack, do something supportive or other things non-combat related they also gain experience.

In other words, the characters get stronger not just from defeating foes, but from many other things too.

In the same way, I realized that Karuta isn’t just winning battles. It’s lots of small things you do and get gradually better at.

If you use the flash card “minigame” on the karuta app, how long did it take you to finish all 100 cards? Did you beat your time? If so, experience gained. If not, experience still gained.

If you tried a new way to arrange your cards on the board (tei’ichi 定位置), did it work better or worse? Experience gained either way.

If you practice listening and distinguishing tomofuda cards (cards with very similar kimari-ji), did you succeed? Even if not, experience gained.

If you listen to audio readings of the Hyakunin Isshu is it starting to sink in? Experience gained.

And so on.

Like Byleth says, each encounter or task is a chance to grow. It may not seem like it, but given a few weeks or months, you’ll begin to see the difference.

If you’re feeling down or discouraged, keep looking toward the skies and take it one step at a time.

Good luck and happy karuta’ing!

P.S. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a criminally underrated game. Definitely check it out if you can. Also, image source above is from Nintendo.

Stay Focused, Keep Trying

After taking up karuta with the local community, I was soon introduced to the international Karuta Discord group (Discord invite link here). The international karuta community is great, and you get to meet people from places like Brazil, Russia, Germany, etc. If you are even casually interested in karuta, or the hyakunin isshu, it’s a nice community and worth joining.

Further, the community has been organizing periodic tournaments using the online Karuta app. I started learning karuta 2-3 months ago, and finally got to the point where I know (more or less), the 100 kimari-ji. So, I decided to throw my hat into the ring and register for the October competition.

Right away, I realized that I might be in over my head.

I lost a couple matches, both very decisively, and felt pretty of embarrassed. At the end of that day, I played poorly. In addition to slow reaction time to take cards, I tilted (in Magic: the Gathering speak) and fell apart under pressure.

I was pretty disheartened by this and I wondered if maybe I am just hopeless. Since I am starting karuta pretty late in life, I feared that maybe I am just getting too old for the game.

But, then I got to thinking. In my spare time, I’ve been playing a game called Fire Emblem: Three Houses (mentioned in my other blog here, among other places). The game, at its core, is about taking a team of amateur students and gradually turning them into an elite force through training, trial, etc. The instructor and main character, Byleth (catchphrase: “stay focused”), develops their individual talents, addressing weaknesses, taking them on training missions, etc.

I kind of felt inspired by this (and frankly, it’s an awesome game), so I got to thinking: I really do want to improve. However, if I want to improve at karuta, I need to get back to basics, stay focused, and work towards small improvements at a time:

  • Get back to basics – practice memorizing kimariji. I sometimes recalled the cards too slowly, or incorrectly. Also, card placement at the beginning of the match (tei’ichi 定位置) is important.
  • Stay focused – learning to stay calm, no matter what situation, and just pay attention to where each card is on the board. When I do get flustered, take a moment to calm myself and re-focus.
  • Work towards small improvements – I can’t expect to win tournaments overnight. But if I focus on making small, incremental improvements, inevitably my game play will improve. Things such as:
    • Better card placement on the board for easier recall / taking.
    • Cutting down on penalties
    • Small improvements to taking cards faster.
    • Getting better acquainted with rules and etiquette. The online app handles most of that, but it’s still essential to learn.

So, if you’re playing karuta, or any competitive game, and you’ve been crushed in defeat, take heart. Given enough time and dedication you will definitely improve. Don’t worry how well other people play, focus on how well you’re playing now.

Edit: if you are a fellow Three Houses fan, I challenge you to boldly declare “I am Ferdinand von Aegir” during your next Karuta match and swipe half the cards from the board Chihayafuru style.

Either you’ll make a new friend (since they are a fan), or they’ll think you’re nutty.

P.S. Featured image source is from Nintendo, and depicts both genders of Byleth (you can play either one, which is neat).