I've been playing some [しりとり](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiritori)
recently at <http://www.shiritori.org/> and was wondering why no words with を
show up.

siritori.net suggests there are quite a few nouns starting with を:

> を をかし をことてん をつうじ をつうじて をつうじまして をとおして をとおしまして をの をひてかわ をめぐって をめぐりまして をめぐります
> をめぐる をもちまして をもって をろがま をろがみ をろがみゃ をろがむ をろがめ をろがも をろがん ををがけ をんなひゃくにんいっしゅ

With the exception of maybe を at the beginning of the list, apparently these
are all playable nouns in shiritori. There is also a list of words **ending**
with を here: <http://siritori.net/tail/%E3%82%92> .

In contrast, jisho.org gives [one noun **starting** with
を](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%82%92*%20%23words%20%23noun) (ヲタ, and even
then, it's an abbrieviation of ヲタク or オタク) and no [nouns **ending** in
を](http://jisho.org/search/*%E3%82%92%20%23words%20%23noun).

In a shiritori game with a **normal person** , or even at **competitive**
shiritori, does を show up? Are the を words at siritori.net **too obscure** to
be valid?

(Feel free to add the classical-japanese tag if it's appropriate; I'm not sure
if this counts.)
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question
words orthography culture obsolete-kana
Japanese words with を in shiritori?
It's because を is not used in [post-1946
orthography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_script_reform#Modern_kana_usage).
All of the をs were changed to おs, for example, おかしい, おとこ. The only reason we
use it today is because it was retained in the particle を, but it's not the
correct spelling of any dictionary word. (ヲタク is slang.)

My 新明解 lists four words that start with を, and they are all grammatical terms
relating to the particle. Thankfully no word ends in を so it wouldn't come up
(the link you gave to siritori.net shows people's personal names). I suspect
most people would play the game as if it were the same as お.

I don't know how shiritori was played before 1946.
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answer