Episode 1 - Interview with Ara Mahar Karuta Chat

Welcome Karuta Players,

I'm Stéphane Angeles, the creator of the official Karuta Peru Club (かるたペルークラブ) and the organizer of this multicultural Podcast "Karuta Chat" to interview a lot of members of several Karuta Clubs across the world. 

In this episode I'm interviewing the great Ara Mahar, creator of the Kyogi Karuta Facebook Club to join and play together online from every country. She organizes these weekly video calls via Zoom to discuss and play Karuta with the Competitive Karuta Online App, and sometimes even with real cards...yeah...virtually. 

Links mentioned in this episode:


Karuta Peru Club Facebook Page (Specific of this country, so if you're a peruvian, go ahead and join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/karutaperuclub/
Ara Mahar Facebook Group to discuss and play Karuta: https://www.facebook.com/groups/karutaonline
Anki Flashcards: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
Wasuramoti (Only available on Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=karuta.hpnpwd.wasuramoti&hl=en&gl=US
Competitive Karuta Online App (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.betacomputing.karuta&hl=en&gl=US
Competitive Karuta Online App (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/competitive-karuta-online/id1456718334
Anime about the background of the poems and their authors: Chōyaku Hyakunin isshu: Uta Koi (超訳百人一首 うた恋い)

Here's the conclusion of the Dan/Kyu System (If you watch Chihayafuru, you might be familiar with the Kyu System, so here you go):


A class > 4-dan and above
B class > 3-dan
C class > 2-dan
D class > 1-dan
E class > Beginner

You can get up to 8-dan, anything above that is "honorary". In order to get to 8-dan, you basically need to be a Queen or Meijin.