JAPAN: SOCCER - Japanese shrine dedicated to the god of sports preserves an ancient form of football

Record ID: 250721

  • Title: JAPAN: SOCCER - Japanese shrine dedicated to the god of sports preserves an ancient form of football
  • Date: 10th July 2007
  • Summary: KYOTO, JAPAN (JULY 7, 2007) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SHIRAMINE SHRINE
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OAZBUU6T64X9GYBX8AIC0HF4
  • Story Text: A shrine in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto dedicated to the god of sports preserves a thousand-year-old form of football with a match of the sport by players dressed in traditional costumes.
    The Shiramine (pronounced Shee-rah-mee-neh) shrine in central Kyoto, the ancient Japanese capital, is a popular place of worship amongst professional and amateur football players.
    On Saturday (July 7) the shrine dedicated, as it does twice a year, a game of kemari (pronounced keh-mah-ree) -- an ancient form of football -- to its patron deity Seidai-Myojin (pronounced Say-dah-ee-Myoh-jeen), popularly known in Japan as the god of sports and especially football.
    The shrine grounds also serve as a practice pitch once a week for the members of the local Kemari Preservation Society.
    Kemari is an ancient form of football that swept the nation over one thousand years ago starting with the aristocrats of Kyoto.
    The game is believed to have been introduced in to Japan around 600 AD from China, the official birthplace of football according to sports governing body FIFA (Federation International de Football Association).
    However while the Chinese version called Cuju (pronounced: tsoo-djewoo) at one point developed into a fierce training tool for the military, the Japanese aristocracy of the time gentrified it.
    "In Kemari, the player that drops the ball is not at fault. In fact it is the guy that gave him a bad pass that is considered at fault," said Shigeyuki Kitamura (pronounced Shee-geh-you-kee Kee-tah-moo-rah), the Head Priest of Shiramine Shrine.
    Players dressed in traditional attire and wearing leather shoes kick around a deerskin ball stuffed with barley grains to the required height-limit marked by four different trees surrounding the small square field called kakari (pronounced kah-kah-ree)
    This Japanese version of the ancient game does not have winners or losers and instead of players competing against each other, the object of the game is for all to cooperate and show off their team spirit.
    While it looks easy, locals -- even the youngest -- admit it is not so.
    "I think Kemari is harder than football, because in football you can use both feet, bend your knees and drop the ball. Here you can't drop the ball, bend your legs or use your right foot," explained seven-year-old enthusiast Takara Ishida (pronounced Tah-kah-rah Ee-Shee-dah).
    Locals are proud to be part of a centuries-old tradition and to have preserved a sport that has practically disappeared in China after it was banned under the Ming and Qing dynasties.
    "This ancient traditional sports can only be seen in Kyoto, but its a good thing it is been preserved," said 69-year-old Kyoto resident Miraku Kodama.
    But even China is now reassessing the sport and is looking to revive it in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
    Both the Chinese Cuju, and the Japanese Kemari, mean "kick-ball".
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