Hisashi Suou

The reigning karuta meijin. He possesses the most intuition out of all the current karuta players, and has 28 one-syllable cards.

Suou started Karuta during university, and became Meijin within 3 years, and has held the title for 4 consecutive years. Everyone acknowledges his god-like abilities, but he is on a constant lookout for someone stronger than himself. He is a solitary genius who always suffers from hunger, and is difficult to get excited. It is his 4th time repeating a year at university.

The current Meijin is a weirdo. At first glance he may look like a typical university student, but in reality he is tall, has a questionable beard, an extremely quiet voice, and loves Japanese confectionery. His personal favourite idol is “Kyoukotan” (Yamashiro Kyouko) who is a professional Karuta reader. He once asked her for a recording of her reading the poems, after offering her a gift of confectionaries. He is a man who wants to only fight strong people, and so he rarely makes an appearance at tournaments. In an interview, he has stated that he wants to become meijin for the 5th time in a row and then retire.