Tokiko Kofudo– Author –

This series has a lot of doors you can walk through. The manga. Three seasons of anime. A live-action trilogy. A sequel manga. And, starting in 2025, a brand new drama. If you're not sure where to begin, you're not alone. Here's a spoiler-free breakdown of how everything fits together, and where to actually start. The Big Picture First Chihayafuru basically splits into two separate "tracks." One is the anime. The other is the live-action films. Both are based on the same m...

⚠️ This essay contains spoilers from the Chihayafuru manga, as well as content from the 2025 drama sequel Chihayafuru: Meguri. Why were these two the only ones who never rushed? Taichi, Chihaya, and Arata's story was built on years of tension, and confessions that kept missing their mark. Shinobu's story was about slowly letting go of a solitude she'd built for herself. Kana Oue and Komano Tsutomu's story has none of that. What it has, instead, is time—t...

When you're reading the manga, it's easy to forget. This isn't a fictional sport. What Chihayafuru depicts is a real competition. And at the heart of that competition is a collection of 100 poems, written 800 years ago. First, Here's How It Actually Works Competitive karuta uses a set of 100 cards from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Matches are one-on-one. Each player draws 25 cards at random from the full set of 100, and arranges them on their own side—called their "territory....

Why did she act like other people's opinions never reached her—when she wanted connection more than almost anyone? That is the question many people ask about Shinobu Wakamiya. She isn't smiling all the time. Most days, she barely shows any emotion at all. But every so often, a smile breaks through—and when it does, it leaves a mark. When she's looking down on someone. When something has genuinely moved her. Those moments come without warning, and you can never quite predic...

⚠️ This article contains full spoilers for the ending of the Chihayafuru manga, including content that hasn't been covered in the anime. If you haven't finished the series, read with caution. Fifteen years. That's how long this story carried two questions. Would Chihaya reach the rank of Queen? Would Arata reach the rank of Meijin? And underneath that, quieter and longer-running than either— who would end up standing beside Chihaya, in the end? The final volu...