Suetsugu releases manga detailing her motives

Chihayafuru manga creator Yuki Suetsugu announced on Tuesday that she is establishing a fund to support the competitive karuta industry. A website with information about the purpose of the fund and how to donate launched on Tuesday. Suetsugu also published a manga on Comici's online website detailing her motives for the establishing the fund.

In the manga, Suetsugu reflects on how the story of Chihayafuru is coming to an end. Throughout the course of the manga, the people in the real-life world of competitive karuta have assisted and cooperated with her, and she feels a great debt towards them. However, although karuta has become more popular in recent years, many organizations lack the funds and manpower in order to pay competitive players well or train aspiring players. Suetsugu, who feels that manga is her only talent, decided to use her platform to help raise funds for the betterment of the industry.

The fund's committee is organizing a karuta meet on February 23 called the "The First Chihayafuru Ogurayama Cup." Eight top-class karuta athletes will compete at this fundraising event.

Suetsugu launched the manga in Kodansha 's Be-Love magazine in December 2007. The series has inspired multiple anime adaptations and live-action films. Chihayafuru 3 , the third Chihayafuru anime season, premiered on October 22.