In my last post, I added this youtube video as a visual aid.
Then, one of the readers asked me why the girl on the left gave a card after she took the first card. So, I will explain what is going on in this video.
In the Hyakunin Isshu Karuta game,  you put 25 cards in your area, and the other player puts also 25 cards in his/her area. When a "reader" reads out a poem, you take the card which the poem is written on, as soon as possible. If you can take it before the other player, the card is yours.
Usually, it is much easier to take a card in your own area because you can put the cards as you like, and the cards are closer to you than the other player. And when you have taken all the cards in your area and made it empty, you win.
But of course, you can take a card from the other player's area if you can reach it faster. In this case, it is not fair if the number of the cards in your opponent's area reduces, and yours stays the same.
So, you can choose a card that you don't like, and give it to the other player. As a beginner, I always give a card that I can't recall fast. But I have heard that experts give their favorite cards so that you can reach it faster than the other player.
Anyway, this is why the girl on the left gave a card to the other player.

By the way, the girl on the left was a challenger, and the girl on the right was a "queen". She protected her throne in these games, so she is still a "queen". Actually, I don't like to call her a "queen". This is a traditional game in which thousand years old poems are read. Why do they use English word instead of some other term such as "kisaki" or "hime" which mean queen and princess in Japanese?