Kai-awase (shell-matching game)

Players compete in composing poems based on pictures drawn on the inside of shells. Shape, picture, and word all play a role in this game of awase, kasane, kisoi, and soroe.

Kai-awase is a game where the players compete with each other based on the beauty of the shapes and colors of the shells. Inside each shell, there is a picture. Each player takes a theme out of the pictures and improvises a poem. The person with the most perfect poem wins. Here, shapes, pictures and words are put into the steps of awase-kasane-kisoi-soroi.

In the Edo period, kai-awase was a game where the players had to find matching shells. This turned into one of the luxurious trousseaus for the nobles and the lords (daimyo).

A clam is a bivalve and always comes in a pair. This gave rise to the idea of miai, matchmaking, and in more modem times to gokon. Boch are Japanese efforts to make a place for men and women to meet.