Japanese page : Tag

How to play and the rules

1. Decide one “It” by “Janken” game or else.

There will be one “It” and the other children.

See information of “Janken”

2.The “It” counts to ten.

After “It” had counted to ten, he starts to chase children.

The children run away from “It”.

3. When the “It” touches a child, the child will be “It”.

4.Repeat this way.

Know-how and the Points

It is better to decide the limits that the children can ran away before starting the Tag.

If you don’t decide the limits, the children will go too far and the game will not be fun.

Sub rules

“The Bean Child”
There is a sub rule for young children to be able to join that even if they are touched, they won’t be “It”.
We call them “Bean Child”, “Omiso”, “Misokkasu”, or “Black Beetle”.
These names differ depending on the region.

“Barrier”
There is another rule.
If you had been almost touched, you can put your arms crossed in front of your chest and say “Barrier!”.
Then, “It” cannot touch the child.

Development of the game

There are many kinds of Tag all around Japan.
In some regions, there are different ways to call Tag even if the rule is same.

In Japan, we call “It” in the Tag, “Oni”.

The “Oni”. is an imaginary monster which has human body (sometimes much larger than humans) with horns and fangs.
The “Oni” appears in the old stories. And from the scary impression, Japanese children are scared of them.

Japanese page : Color Tag

How to play and the rules

1.Decide one “It”.

Start the Game

Everybody asks to “It”, “Color, color, what color?”

The “It” decides one color, whichever.

The balloon: “Color, color, what color?”

2.After the “It” announced the color, he starts to count 1 to 10, and chases the children.

3.The children find the color “It” said and touch it.

4.The “It” chases children and touches them. When “It” touched a child, the child will be “It”

5.While children are touching the color which “it” announced, the “It” cannot touch children.

6.If, children did not move, the “It” can change the color and announce it.

7.The children find the new color “It” announced and touch it.

Japanese page : Spiral Tag

How to play and the rules

1.Draw a spiral on the ground with a piece of chalk like the illustration.

The center and the end of the spiral is connected so it’s a direct road.

2.Choose “It”. The “It” stands in the middle of the spiral.

Children stands at the end of the spiral.

3.Start the game. The “It” chooses which way to go and starts to run.

4.Children think from which way the “It” comes, and runs away.

5.When the “It” touches a child, then the child will be “It”.

“It” cannot touch a child striding over the line.

Children cannot go out from the line. If so, he has to be “It”.

6.”It” should go the other way sometimes.

Japanese page : Come here “It”

How to play and the rules

1.Draw a square court on the ground. Draw safety zones to the four corners.

Choose “It”. Then children goes to the safety zone.

2.Start the game. Children gets out from the safety zone and clap their hands saying “Come on, it!” and tease “It”.

When “It” touches a child, he will be “It”.

3.”It” cannot touch a child when the child is in the safety zone.

4.To make the game much fun, make the safety zone for only one person.

When a child came to a safety zone which another child is already there, the first child has to leave.

Advice

If many children are playing, make the safety zone for two people, and when another child comes, a child who was in the safety zone from the first gets out.

Japanese page : Hiding “It”

How to play and the rules

1. First, decide “It”

The children will blindfold and count to 100.

The “It” hides while the children are counting to 100.

2.After counting to 100, the children will start to look for the “It”

3.When a child finds the “It”, he will hide with him. But don’t say anything.

4.The companion of the “It” will increase.

5.The “It” and his companion will hide silently not to be found.

When everybody found the “It”, the game ends.

The last person who found the “It” will be the next “It”.

Japanese page : Hide and Seek

How to play and the rules

1.Decide one “It”.

The “It” counts to ten slowly.

Children will find a place to hide.

2.After the “It” counted to 10, he announces to children “Are you ready?”

If the children havn’t hidden yet, they announce “Not yet!”

3.After a while, the “It” announces “Are you ready?” again.

When the children had hid already, they say “I’m ready!”

4.The “It” looks for children.

5.When the “It” finds a hiding child, point to him and say “I found ○○!” and say his name.

When the “It” found everybody, the game ends.

The first child who was founded by the “It” will be the next “It” and continue the game.

Further information: In Japan, after counting to ten “It” will ask children if they are ready or not. So, there are no announcement like “Ready or not, here I come.”

Japanese page : Stepping on Shadows

How to play and the rules.

1.Decide one “It”.

The “It” counts to ten while the other children run away.

2.After “It” counted to ten, he chases children.

3.The “It” steps on a child’s shadow.

Then the child who has been stepped on, will be the next “It”

Repeat this way.

4.You can go under a big thing and let disappear your shadow.

We can make a sub-rule “Ten seconds rule”, at such time.

The rule is, when the “It” counts to ten, you have to get out of the big thing.

Know-how and the Points

It is better to play early in the evening than in the daytime because the shadow gets longer and we can enjoy the game much.

Japanese page : Wood Tag

How to play and the rules

1.Decide one “It”.

The “It” counts to ten while the other children run away.

After “It” counted to ten, he starts to chase children.

2.When the “It” touches a child, he has to stop.

3.Open both leg,s spread your arms and pretend to be a tree.

You cannot move.

4.When a child goes under your legs, you will be able to move.

5.When you play with many children, it’s better to increase “It”.

Japanese page : Ice Tag

How to play and the rules

1.Decide one “It”.

The children run away.

The “It” chases children and touches them.

2.When the “It” touches, the child cannot move.

3.The body will be stiff like an ice.

4.When a child touches the stiff child, the ice will melt and he can move.

Know-how and the Points

When you play with many children, it’s better to increase “It”.

It’s better to decide the field to play.

Japanese page : The Injury Tag

How to play and the rules

1. The basic rule is same as tag .

Choose one “It”.

The other kids will be “children”.

2. The “It” chases the children.

The children run away from the “It”.

3. When the “It ” catches up with a child, he touches her.

Then, switch the “It” and the “child”.

4. The part you’ve been touched will be your wound.

The “It” holds the wound and chases the children.

5. If you were touched at your back, you hold there.

If you were touched at your leg, you have to hold your leg and chase.

Continue it.