People :
The Champion of A-Class Japanese Playing Cards "Karuta"
Mr. Teruaki Miyoshi

Mr. Teruaki Miyoshi. Born in Fukui Prefecture in 1983, Mr. Miyoshi graduated from Fukui Prefectural Takefu High School. Now he is a junior at the School of Education, and he attends Professor Midori Naito's seminar. He won first prize at the East Tokyo district meeting of the 57th A-Class national Karuta competition. He received second prize in the 66th national A-Class Karuta Competition for Students. His hobby is playing mah-jong.

His warm-hearted dialect and his supple behaviour make everyone feel comfortable. He spends 10 hours to go back to his hometown Fukui by local train. He soon gets acquainted with old passengers on the train.

He started to play Karuta in earnest when he was a junior high school student. As his parents had put him through a course for young children, he has made great progress playing Karuta. When he was in junior high school, he won first prize in a national competition. In a competition the players must first memorise the arrangement of 50 Karuta cards. "Within two minutes, I can memorise the arrangement. I grasp it as a large picture. Unlike the ordinary Karuta game, players win when they have taken all the cards in their territory. If you pick up the wrong card, you have to pay the penalty for that mistake. You can also change the place of the cards after a game begins. "I move some cards when I can read the opponent's mind and find out which card the opponent wants to take. Generally speaking, elderly people have deep insight." Playing Karuta is a really psychological game. During the game he is not nervous, but "I was all keyed up when the prize money was 100,000yen!"

Although he is strong enough to aim for first prize in the competition, he genuinely "loves the game." It is very surprising that he has no lust for a victory. At one final game, he suddenly defaulted because he had to sit up straight and his legs pained." Mr. Miyoshi explained that "The games before the final gave me a sense of fulfilment, so I decided to give up the victory." In spite of the expectations of his parents and coach, he did not mind dropping out. He said that "I do not regret it, but my coach scared me."

Now he is obsessed with mah-jong. Like Karuta he is fond of a game in which he can see eye to eye with the opponents. Devoting himself to mah-jong, he stays up late at night and doesn't get up until the afternoon. He is fully enjoying the freedom of university life. Although he is not crazy about his favorite activity, he does his best to succeed at it. It appears that this part of his character gives Mr. Miyoshi strength.