Japan: Hikifuda advertising poster depicting four kimono-clad women playing uta garuta poem cards. Late Meiji (1868-1912) period

Hikifuda are advertising handbills that became popular in late 19th to early 20th century Japan. Showing the increasing sophistication of Japanese commerce, the handbills were produced to advertise a company or promote a product, and sometimes they were even used as wrapping paper.

Uta Garuta (lit. poem cards) is a card game in which 100 waka poems are written on two sets of cards that make up one full deck of 200 cards. One set is yomifuda or 'reading cards', and the other is torifuda or 'grabbing cards'. As they were denoted, the words in the yomifuda are read and players have to find its associated torifuda before anybody else does to complete a poem and recite it.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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