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From Japan: Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu

Chihayafuru is a series I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I asked many years ago about it getting licensed, but I was told that it was too esoteric of a subject matter to appeal to a broad audience.  I’ve watched the anime, but that doesn’t cover the whole story. So I’ve started picking it up in Japanese.

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Chihaya Ayase is inspired by fellow classmate Arata Wataya to learn the game of Karuta of the Hyakunin Isshu variety, or 100 poems. When Chihaya, Arata, and classmate Taichi find a passion for Karuta in 6th grade, their friendships must endure an impending separation while attending different middle schools. Chihaya, now in high school, is fired up to become a master at Karuta and continues her practice in hopes of meeting Arata and Taichi in national competition. When Taichi enrolls at Chihaya’s high school, he discovers a girl who is not only passionate but beautiful. Influenced by Chihaya’s exuberance, he agrees to start a club with her if she can achieve A-rank in a city competition. When Chihaya and Taichi seek out Arata, they discover he refuses to play Karuta due to some painful memories. Will the three ever be reunited to play Karuta with passion again?

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In this scene, Chihaya learns the meaning of the poem on the “Chihaya” card and it becomes red to her in her mind.

Chihayafuru is written around Karuta, but it’s so much more than that! Friendship and passion, love and grief – Suetsugu creates characters that are so real, and fully engage readers in the story. I knew nothing about Karuta going into the story, but that’s not important to understanding it. Watching Chihaya work passionately to fulfill a childhood dream is moving, and the boys (Taishi and Arata) can’t help but be transfixed as well. There’s a definite love triangle with Chihaya at the center, but the story doesn’t fixate on that either. The plot focuses on Chihaya’s goals and how she impacts others as she strives to achieve them. That’s such a positive message for readers! The art in this series is beautiful as well. From colored pieces to line art, it really stands out.

I don’t see this getting licensed anytime, really. That’s because (1) it’s josei, (2) it’s really long at this point, and still ongoing, and (3) it would have to come from Kodansha and those first two qualifications make it a long-shot for that publisher. However, if you can read Japanese, I highly recommend it!

Chihayafuru has two full anime seasons that you can watch subbed on Crunchyroll. The manga series runs in Be Love josei manga magazine and is at a total of 32 tankobans in Japanese.

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2 Comments

  • Kodansha picked it up, but as of now it’s only available digitally. Volume 1 came out on February and the 2nd Volume will be released this month. I hope they get good feedback! Also crossing my fingers that they would give this title a print release!

    • This post is 6 years old. I have already written about Chihayafuru being licensed in recent posts.

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