Japanese New Year games, Karuta playing cards

During the old times in Japan there was a custom for children to play various games on the New Year: Hanetsuki, a type of badminton with wooden paddles and shuttlecocks, Koma tops spinning and Karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.

Photographed here is a life-size scene at the Himeji Castle, representing Senhime, the granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, while playing Karuta with her daughter, Katsuhime.