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Kanade Oe (大江 奏 Ōe Kanade) is the daughter of Rieko Oe, a female high school student who loves traditional Japanese culture and the club treasurer of Chihaya Ayase and Taichi Mashima's Karuta club who was the third member to join.

Appearance[]

Kanade's appearance

Kanade's appearance

Kanade has short dark-brown hair that is often tied in two neat and low pigtails with long bangs separated in the middle that exposes her wide forehead and large brown eyes with only three eyelashes on each eyelid, a fact that she acknowledges. Kanade gets her looks from her mother.

She is seen wearing two different outfits:

  • She usually wears her school uniform, which consists of a tucked-in white shirt with a bow, a green and red plaid skirt, black knee socks and a pair of brown loafers.
  • Sometimes, she wears a t-shirt with the Oe Traditional Clothing Shop logo.

Personality[]

Kanade is an optimistic and determined girl, but she can lose her temper when others do not take Japanese poetry and traditional clothing seriously.

She is also strict when it comes to conduct, scolding Chihaya when she acts like a tomboy and scolding Hanano when she talks while the "upperclassman is talking". She also makes proper etiquette her number one priority when they recruit new members for their karuta club. 

Because of her fondness for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poems, she knows about their interpretations and backgrounds. Sometimes she tends to quote the specific poems or refer to them when situations arrive that reminds her of them. 

She has good business sense as well, taking any opportunity to help her family business in traditional Japanese clothing. She is also very strategic, on par with Taichi's abilities, as she was in charge of promoting the karuta club during the General Assembly. 

Kanade has grown more assertive and firm recently, making decisions on behalf of the karuta club about matters that affect its members, as she feels that she must shoulder responsibility for the club. 

Relationships[]

Friends[]

Chihaya Ayase[]

Kanade is one of Chihaya's dearest friends, having been the first to join the then newly formed Karuta Club, after Chihaya and Taichi. She is seen to educate Chihaya about the poems, mainly their meanings and how they were written. She also tells her what the difference is between "impassioned" and "frenzied".

Mashima Taichi[]

The president of the Misuzawa's Karuta Club which Kanade joined. At first, Taichi was the one who taught the basic of playing karuta to Kanade and Tsutomu and help them in every step. Kanade is one of the two people who knows that Taichi like Chihaya and Kanade support Taichi to be with Chihaya. She was seen throughout the series to make every chance possible so that Taichi can be alone with Chihaya.

Sumire Hanano[]

Although Sumire first thought of Kanade as an enemy, having assumed that she liked Taichi, whom Sumire had her eyes on, she ultimately became one of Kanade's friends.

Tsutomu Komano[]

In a D-Class tournament, Kanade and Tsutomu were against each other in the finals. In that game, Kanade said she was able to do her best because her opponent was Tsutomu.

In the manga, it has been revealed that Tsutomu has feelings for her and that he will confess to her if he becomes the top student in their year.

In Chapter 142, Tsutomu made an oblique confession to Kanade and they seemed to have a relationship but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Yusei Nishida[]

He coached her in karuta when she first started out; he once commented on her unusual card arrangement.

History[]

Kkaaa

Kana-chan in her archery club uniform

Kanade was teased by other girls at her school for reading classics, who said she was born in the wrong era. She joined the archery club simply because she wanted to wear traditional clothing, as the members of that club were required to wear hakama, even though she had no talent at using the bow and arrow. She wanted to join the karuta club because she loved the poems' meanings, but wouldn't join unless Chihaya and Taichi agreed to wear traditional clothes, which they did.

Official Matches Record[]

Opponents

Tournament

Results

Cards Differences

Important Event

Unknown
(Eikou University High)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Group B)

Lose

but the team won
(3-2)

Unknown

-

Unknown
(Shuryukan)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Group B)

Win
(4-1)

Unknown

-

Unknown
(Hanasaki Academy)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Group B)

Lose

but the team won
(3-2)

Unknown

Right after this match, Komano threw a tantrum and left. Taichi showed his leadership here.

Unknown
(Tomihara West High)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Semi-final)

Lose

but the team won (3-2)

Unknown

Kanade went to Komano and mentioned about how much the others had trained.

Ryugasaki

(Hokuo Academy)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Final)

Lose

but the team won (3-2)

-16 Cards

After the match, Hyoro talked about how he took pride over the trophy.

Unknown

(Takechi High)

High School Team National Championship
(Round 1)

Win

Unknown

-

Unknown
(Fujisaki High)

High School Team National Championship

(Round 2)

Lose

Unknown

-

Komano Tsutomu

Saitama Caruta Tournament

(Class D : Final)

Win

+4 Cards

Both Komano and Kanade displayed their uniqueness in karuta style.

Unknown

(Shuryukan)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Group Match)

Win

Unknown

-

Unknown

(Homei High)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Semi-Final)

Win

Unknown

During the match, the reader’s rhythm was too inconsistent causing Kanade to feel really irritated.

Yasuhisa Kameda

(Hokuo Academy)

High School Regional Tournament
(Tokyo : Final)

Win but the team lost

(2-3)

+1 Card

Luck-of-the-Draw

Even though Mizusawa lost, Mizusawa still became one of the representatives for the Tokyo region.

Rachel Port

(Chiba International School Of Information Sciences)

High School Team National Championship
(Group Match)

Win

(4-1)

Unknown

-

Toyota Hiroichi

(Yamaguchi Mioka

High)

High School Team National Championship
(Group Match)

Lose

but the team won (3-2)

-2 Cards

-

Tashiro

(Shoyo High School)

High School Team National Championship

(Quarter-Final)

Win

Unknown

-

Hayasaka

(First Akashi Girls’)

High School Team National Championship

(Semi-Final)

Win

(3-2)

+6 Cards

Kanade injured her finger. Chihaya felt frustrated over her loss and almost injured her own hand before Taichi stopped her.

-

High School Individual National Championship

(Class-C)

Lose

at the semi-finals

-

-

Karuta Style[]

Unlike most karuta players, Kanade's style focuses on the background information of each poem. While other players are satisfied with matching the syllables of poems without knowing them or understanding their meanings, she understands the meaning of each poem, the story behind them, as well as the history of their poets. This gives her a unique way of thinking of the cards. She arranges the cards according to their corresponding seasons and authors instead of their syllables.

This is also her weakness: she is so focused on the meanings and histories behind the poems that when one card is read, her attention is drawn not only to that poem but also to poems written by other authors who were relatives or friends of the author of the card being read. This causes her to slow down. Tsutomu was able to exploit this weakness against her in her D-Class final match against him.

By her third year, however, and much to her embarrassment, she is visualizing the cards according to their syllables[1].

Techniques and Talents[]

Historical Card Link[]

Unlike other karuta players which identify the cards using sounds, Kanade identify the cards based on their history and meaning of each poems. Given by her love towards classical literature, she can link the cards based on the colour of the scenery , the relationship they shared between each other and who wrote it. It is proven that people who have unique link with the cards will commit less faults or no faults at all.

Relaxed Traditional Posture[]

This is not really a talent, but many players can't find a relaxed posture when playing karuta, therefore, wasting lots of their stamina. Kanade finds that wearing traditional clothes gives support to her posture, which makes her more relaxed and so she uses less stamina.

Rhythmic Control[]

Kanade has always loved the readings of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poems. She is also interested in becoming a reader for karuta matches. Therefore, she understands the rhythm of the readings, making her react faster as she know when will the sound form. This has also irriated Kanade quite a few times because the readers didn't follow the rhythm correctly.

Quotes[]

  • (To herself) "Nobody wants to give up their dream."
  • (To Chihaya Ayase and Taichi Mashima) "My family has owned a traditional clothing shop for many generations. I love kimono. I want everyone to understand how wonderful they are, but we can only sell cheap yukatas... Our business is so bad that we can't even afford a model for next year's catalog!"
  • (To Chihaya) "My love for karuta is fundamentally different from yours."
  • (To Chihaya) "That won't do, Chihaya-chan. A woman must always move with grace, whether you're wiping a table or drying sheets. Or in the fight of your life."
  • (To Chihaya) "In my mind, karuta is about the meanings of the poems."

Etymology[]

  • The name Kanade means "play music, complete, speak to a ruler" (奏).
  • Kanade's surname Oe means "big, great" (大) (o) and "bay, inlet" (江) (e).

Trivia[]

  • Kanade gets her looks from her mother Rieko Oe.
  • Kanade has shown a great love for Japanese poems and traditional clothing.
  • Kanade was called "Forehead" by Harada-Sensei.
  • Kanade only had three eyelashes on each eye. By Chapter 144 , they grew to four.
  • Kanade accidentally said "pisusawa" instead of MIZUSAWA in their match against the Akashi Girls.
  • Kanade admires Lady Koshikibu no Naishi.[2]
  • Unlike the anime [3], Kanade explains to Chihaya Ayase the deeper meaning of the karuta cards, in the Manga [4], in the classroom rather than in the kimono shop.
  • Kanade is interested in becoming a certified reader.[5][6]

References[]

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