<p>It was indeed explained more fully in the manga in volume 3, chapter 18.</p>

<h3>Origin of the "game"</h3>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/iV9b2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/iV9b2l.png" alt="Origin of game"></a></p>

<p>Yes, the most people writing the same character win, and yes, you can theoretically write any kanji character there is, as long as you explain how you could make the race more exciting with the idea represented by that kanji.</p>

<p>Hijiri and Raimu both won, but Hijiri was especially excited because in the manga,</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
  <p> it took the girls 15 minutes to play the game to decide on what to do at the school festival, and Hijiri was the only one who wrote a different kanji character in that first round of vote so she felt kind of a loner.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And in the Battle of the Red Cliff, only Zhou Yu was in charge of carrying out the fire attacks because Wu had more military power and was more hard-pressed for survival, just like Hijiri is compared to Raimu.</p>

<p>Lastly, I believe it to be an error on the part of the sub group to translate what Rin wrote as "silver" (銀) when in fact she wrote "bells" (鈴).</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/59RSb.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/59RSbl.png" alt="What everyone wrote"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-20T05:22:44.403Z
That turned out to be way deeper than I was expecting. They probably should have just cut the whole sequence instead of giving us the weird, choppy, half-assed version we got in the anime, because that really needs explanation.
Torisuda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-20T05:37:19.207Z
@Torisuda Yea I've read in some forum that even the Japanese found it hard to comprehend what was going on without any mention of the name or origin of the game. I know the legend, too, but I didn't realize that's what they were playing.
Gao
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-20T05:07:09.853Z
2016-09-20T05:07:09.853Z
Gao
<p>In Episode 6 of <em>Bakuon!!</em>, the Bike Club girls play some sort of strange game to decide who's going to organize the race they're holding for the school festival. </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/CBjRWm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CBjRWm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/2bN3im.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/2bN3im.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/QcFuxm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QcFuxm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Hane: We're deciding by the popular vote system that Onsa-chan came up with. We each write a character on the palms of our hands, and whoever has the most wins.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Raimu and Hijiri both write 金 (gold) on their hands, which somehow means that Hijiri wins and that her idea has to involve "gold" somehow, which leads her to create a betting pool for the winner of the race.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zFY4pm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zFY4pm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GW2Ifm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GW2Ifm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ql34cm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ql34cm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/nO1wkm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/nO1wkm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Hijiri: I win with the most, which means...I'll be in charge of this matter.<br>
  Onsa: But how do you make the race more exciting with gold?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>How is this game supposed to work? According to Hane, "whoever has the most wins". The most what? It looks like "the most people writing the same character". But then why does Hijiri win, and not Raimu, who wrote the same character? (Aside from the reason that it's hard to organize a race when you can only communicate by writing on a notebook and no one officially recognizes your existence.)</p>

<p>Also, if you're allowed to pick any character, the odds of any of the <a href="https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/11737/7218">50,000 kanji in the Dai Kan-wa Jiten</a>, or even any of the 2,136 Jouyou kanji, getting a majority among five people are quite low. Initially I thought the characters were limited to days of the week, but Rin picked 銀 (silver), which isn't a day of the week.</p>

<p>Since Hane mentions that Onsa invented this game, I assume it isn't a real game, but maybe it's based on something, or was explained more fully in the manga.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-22T16:36:37.150Z
Out of curiosity, How did they choose those symbols anyway.  I have not watched the series, but Obviously if you are going to vote on something, you have to establish what you can vote on. Was Gold something Hijiri suggested earlier in some way, or are their names associated with those symbols?
Ryan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-22T16:43:07.280Z
@Ryan It wasn't shown how they chose the symbols. My screenshots show almost the entire sequence. I had thought maybe it was based on some real Japanese game or tradition. Perhaps the manga explained more thoroughly; if Raimu came up with it, it would be hard to have her explain through signs in the anime, but much easier in the manga.
Torisuda
<bakuon>
How is this game where you write a kanji on your hand supposed to work?
# How is this game where you write a kanji on your hand supposed to work?
Posted by: username_0 on 2016-06-11
In Episode 6 of *Bakuon!!*, the Bike Club girls play some sort of strange game to decide who's going to organize the race they're holding for the school festival.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/CBjRWm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/CBjRWm.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/2bN3im.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/2bN3im.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/QcFuxm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/QcFuxm.jpg)

> Hane: We're deciding by the popular vote system that Onsa-chan came up with. We each write a character on the palms of our hands, and whoever has the most wins.

Raimu and Hijiri both write 金 (gold) on their hands, which somehow means that Hijiri wins and that her idea has to involve "gold" somehow, which leads her to create a betting pool for the winner of the race.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zFY4pm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/zFY4pm.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/GW2Ifm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/GW2Ifm.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/ql34cm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/ql34cm.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/nO1wkm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/nO1wkm.jpg)

> Hijiri: I win with the most, which means...I'll be in charge of this matter.  
> Onsa: But how do you make the race more exciting with gold?

How is this game supposed to work? According to Hane, "whoever has the most wins". The most what? It looks like "the most people writing the same character". But then why does Hijiri win, and not Raimu, who wrote the same character? (Aside from the reason that it's hard to organize a race when you can only communicate by writing on a notebook and no one officially recognizes your existence.)

Also, if you're allowed to pick any character, the odds of any of the [50,000 kanji in the Dai Kan-wa Jiten](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/11737/7218), or even any of the 2,136 Jouyou kanji, getting a majority among five people are quite low. Initially I thought the characters were limited to days of the week, but Rin picked 銀 (silver), which isn't a day of the week.

Since Hane mentions that Onsa invented this game, I assume it isn't a real game, but maybe it's based on something, or was explained more fully in the manga.
**Tags:** bakuon
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Out of curiosity, How did they choose those symbols anyway.  I have not watched the series, but Obviously if you are going to vote on something, you have to establish what you can vote on. Was Gold something Hijiri suggested earlier in some way, or are their names associated with those symbols?  
> **username_0**: @Ryan It wasn't shown how they chose the symbols. My screenshots show almost the entire sequence. I had thought maybe it was based on some real Japanese game or tradition. Perhaps the manga explained more thoroughly; if Raimu came up with it, it would be hard to have her explain through signs in the anime, but much easier in the manga.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_2 on 2016-09-20. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
It was indeed explained more fully in the manga in volume 3, chapter 18.

### Origin of the "game"

[![Origin of game](https://i.sstatic.net/iV9b2l.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/iV9b2.png)

Yes, the most people writing the same character win, and yes, you can theoretically write any kanji character there is, as long as you explain how you could make the race more exciting with the idea represented by that kanji.

Hijiri and Raimu both won, but Hijiri was especially excited because in the manga,

> it took the girls 15 minutes to play the game to decide on what to do at the school festival, and Hijiri was the only one who wrote a different kanji character in that first round of vote so she felt kind of a loner.

And in the Battle of the Red Cliff, only Zhou Yu was in charge of carrying out the fire attacks because Wu had more military power and was more hard-pressed for survival, just like Hijiri is compared to Raimu.

Lastly, I believe it to be an error on the part of the sub group to translate what Rin wrote as "silver" (銀) when in fact she wrote "bells" (鈴).

[![What everyone wrote](https://i.sstatic.net/59RSbl.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/59RSb.png)
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2016-09-20): That turned out to be way deeper than I was expecting. They probably should have just cut the whole sequence instead of giving us the weird, choppy, half-assed version we got in the anime, because that really needs explanation.  
> **username_2** (2016-09-20): @Torisuda Yea I've read in some forum that even the Japanese found it hard to comprehend what was going on without any mention of the name or origin of the game. I know the legend, too, but I didn't realize that's what they were playing.  
---
