Visualization system for comparison of “Harai” actions of Japanese Karuta players
摘要
In order to improve performance in competitive Japanese Karuta games, it is necessary to find a posture and a way to take the cards according to the physique and playing style of each player. In this study, we developed a visualization system that displays three-dimensional bones and box-bar graphs for analyzing the way players move their whole bodies in response to the cards read, using skeletal information extracted from videos, and enables comparison of the movements of multiple players. Players can evaluate detailed differences between players of different physiques, which are difficult to compare with the naked eye or video, by using the presented visualization system. We analyzed what kind of differences can be observed by playing a one-person game against seven advanced players of different physiques and genders. As a result, we found differences in the way they moved in the pause just before being read, in the direction of their heads when they took a stance, and in the timing of when they started to move. We succeeded in finding detailed differences that could not be noticed during normal practice, such as the differences depending on the body size, as well as individual differences regardless of the body size. Through these analyses, we found that three-dimensional bones, which enable us to superimpose and compare the movements of multiple players, and box-bar graphs, which visualize differences in timing of movements, are suitable as methods for visualizing the movements of competitive Karuta.