Hello! Nice to meet all of you again! This is How Unique Japan!
This time, I would love to introduce Japanese ancient soccer, Kemari. I do not doubt that some readers could get a question like (Soccer game in ancient Japan?).
But please look at the illustration below.
In appearance, they enjoy kicking a ball at each other like soccer. Soccer was created in Great Britain though, that alike game was from ancient Japan and was played among high-class citizens (like royalty) as a recreation. Its history is quite long. A historical theory said the game was already played around 795AC. At that time, Japan was in the Heian era (from 794 to 1185AC).
The rules
The rule for Kemari is quite simple. The players would kick the ball called Mari to another player in order, then they try to score high (Counting how many kicks were continuously successful).
One of the penalties is missing the kick of course. The other is, do not kick the ball too high. It was approximately 2.5 times higher than the player’s height. If the ball flies over the calculation, the game should be no counted.
The ball
The ball, Mari, is much smaller than the soccer balls. The diameter is about 19cm, and the weight is around 100 to 110g. Interestingly, there was no rule on which materials/ingredients make the ball official. However, it was usually made of animal skin (deer and horse), and sometimes bamboo tore into thin fibers.
The color was monochromatic due to the ingredients. But it became beautiful like a piece of arts with colored thread.
The yard
The yard is small too. It is about 15m square area that is smooth and horizontal. No lines were creating the field. Instead of them, 4 kinds of trees were planted at each age of the square.
The trees planted were following the directions. Northeast had a cherry. Southeast, It had a willow tree. Southwest was a maple tree. Then a pine tree was planted in the Northwest.
Fun fact (and high score)
There is one more rule that makes the game unique. Each player needs to shout words in order. There are three voices to say. First, (A Li!). The next is (Ya!). The last one is (Oh!).
The top score was done in 1208AC(!). It was 2030 times.
To close
So, it is the ancient Japanese football, Kemari. I was impressed that such an old Japanese created a game similar to the most famous game in the world.
However, it is not over yet. There are still many unique games in Japan. If you are interested in that, please feel free to visit the front page of my blog.
Thanks so much to all of you who read this article. See ya for the next article.