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       ISHIKAWA -- Every summer, Shiga Prefecture's Oumi Jingu shrine holds the Ogura "Hyakunin Isshu" competitive "karuta" card game's national high school championships. The event is also called the "Karuta Koshien" -- a reference to the high school baseball tournaments that draw huge national attention each year.

       While the coronavirus pandemic led to the event's cancellation last year, this March, a voluntarily organized replacement tournament, the Etoile Cup, went ahead. There, 17-year-old Mahiro Hayashi came out champion and made her first appearance at the top of karuta's competitive scene for high schoolers.

       "I haven't had an opportunity until now to test the results of my training, but I got a chance to show my strengths this time," she said with a sparkle in her eyes.

       Mahiro Hayashi is seen in this photo. (Mainichi/Chinatsu Ide)

       Hayashi started playing when she was in the second grade of elementary school, thanks to the influence of her father and older brother. What she likes about the game is that age and gender doesn't influence who the winner is. Once she joined the Ishikawa Karuta Kyokai association, she made marked progress. In her elementary and junior high school days, she set herself apart by appearing as an individual competitor winning at numerous national tournaments.

       Her local junior high school had no karuta club, so she joined the badminton team. Hayashi smiled, saying, "I put the wrist motion I learned for smashes into my card swiping technique." At the substitute tournament in March, she burnished the instantaneous reflexes she developed using a racket, and performed so well she beat major players older than her who were in the third grade.

       Now she's qualified for karuta's highest "A class" ranking, but her sights these days are set on team games. Hayashi loves the karuta-themed manga "Chihayafuru," particularly its scenes where the characters play the game together.

       This July, the national high school karuta tournament will go ahead for the first time in two years, and as the head of her school's club, Hayashi went into the June prefectural rounds to compete in the team game section. Although they fought hard, they came third among six high schools and could not advance to the next round.

       She is also competing in the same tournament as an individual player. She aims to be named champion, and said, "I want to work hard on behalf of my teammates, too." Both in name and in deed, she aims to make her high school No. 1 in Japan.

       Profile: Mahiro Hayashi

       Mahiro Hayashi was born in the city of Kanazawa in central Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture. She is currently a third-year student at Kanazawa Nishikigaoka High School. She is also skilled at calligraphy, and holds a shihan (master) qualification. To fire herself up before matches, she listens to songs by the pop group Arashi.

       (Japanese original by Chinatsu Ide, Hokuriku General Bureau)

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