Our mission

Our mission is to spread karuta and poetry all over the world.

Since 2009, we have been specializing in making karuta in non-Japanese languages to be able to share with the world the beauty of poetry and the excitement you can experience through this game of karuta.

Ogoola Karuta Poetry Game is a card game which uses poetry quotes from famous poems that originates in non-Japanese countries. Our Karutas are a variation of the traditional Japanese poetry game, Ogura Hyakunin-isshu Uta-karuta.

Karuta has been played for over 400 years in Japan. Today we offer karutas in English, German, French, Swedish and Chinese using the original  poems (quotes) written in each of these languages.

For people interested in the original Japanese karuta using the Hyakuninisshu poems, we offer the Hyakuninisshu Translated Karutas in English, Swedish and French. The English Hyakuninisshu karuta uses the translation by Clay Mac Cauley (1917). This translation follows the Japanese waka form of 57577 syllables so it is possible to sing the poems in the same melody as the original Japanese poems. We are proud to present our recording of this English translation which is made into a free reader app. The English translation recording has two editions. One which is sung in the original melody and the other which is read. The readings can also be found on Spotify.

We hope to contribute in spreading poetry and karuta all over the world.

So what is this game about?

This game is about listening and being FAST. A reader reads the reading cards aloud while players search, find and grab fast the matching playing card which is being read aloud. Grab the correct cards before the others do in order to win! Known as an intellectual martial arts game in Japan. The cards have famous poetry quotes on them but no prior knowledge is needed!

For more information about the game please visit our website at

http://www.ogoola.org