A quickie digital resource for you all today! In case you’re crazy about playing the karuta card game or just the Hyakunin isshū poetry compositions, you might be interested in these public-use images from the University of Michigan’s Brower Fund Collection. These playing cards date to the mid-19th century and include beautiful calligraphy and illustrations. The site provides information on the individual poems, and even provides the 1917 translations of each poem by Clay MacCauley. There are high-quality images that are easy to download and browse through.
Check them out at the link below!
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/brower1ic