Everything is not ephemeral as The Wonderful Worlds of 100 Wakas (Japan Times, December 30, 2012) by Stuart Varnam-Atkin proves.
Author reminds us that for 15 centuries people have been writing ‘poems of 5-7-5-7-7 syllabes each’.
One of the best known collections is “Ogura Hyakunin Isshu” that overwhelmingly best-known “Ogura Hyakunin Isshu” anthology of 100 poems “compiled in Kyoto’s Ogura district by Fujiwara no Teika (or Sadaie, 1162-1241)” writes Stuart Varnam-Atkin.
Hyakunin Isshu cards became base of Uta-garuta card games like ‘Turn up the monk’.
These games and reading of poems are part of New Year’s traditions in Japan.
100 Waka, Poems and Card Games for Tokyo Thursdays # 247
Previously:
Hitsumabushi, Grilled Eel Over Rice, a Favorite Dish of Aichi Prefecture, from Jetro Food Pages
(* Photo of Fujiwara No Teika‘s grave at Shokokuji cemetary in Tokyo taken by Reiji Yamashina and shared by him on Wikimedia)