Cuju and Kemari

Montessori Physical Education

Introduction:

Raise your hand if you like soccer. Do you know where it was invented? Most people think that it was invented somewhere in Europe. The game that we play today was indeed codified in England in the mid-1800s, but humans were playing sports that featured kicking a ball far earlier than that. Recognized by FIFA, the premier worldwide soccer organization, the oldest original ball kicking game was officially recorded in Lin Zi, China, during the Han Dynasty over 2300 years ago, and it was called Ts’u-chü, or Cuju. Ts’u-chü translates to “kick” and “type of leather ball.” This game featured spectacular juggling with everything except the hands and arms, and the elevated goals had only a small opening to shoot through, making it difficult for a player to score a goal.

The game functioned as a military exercise for the soldiers, but the wealthy elite played a less violent version. The military version featured players who were allowed to tackle each other similar to rugby or American football. Players had to concentrate amid the violence and chaos and focus on the objective of scoring a goal while defending themselves from attack. It was a good way to train to create focused, obedient soldiers for war without them actually killing each other. An ancient illustrated book called Ts’u-chü outlined the special tricks and maneuvers players would use to move and control the ball while avoid being hit.

The less violent version of the sport became popular with the royal court, which quickly created a rule set played on an official court called ju chang that featured six elevated crescent shaped goals. During the Tang Dynasty, the game continued to flourish as the goals were modified to include nets, the number of goals was reduced from six to one, and more women entered the sport. There is a record that indicated that a seventeen-year-old girl was able to defeat a whole team of royal guards single-handedly. The ball was originally filled with feathers, but was improved when the ball became air filled, which bounced easier. The elite guards and soldiers would create teams to play each other, and these matches were fully supported by the emperor, and lots of ju chang courts sprung up throughout the land. During the Song Dynasty, the sport became so popular that everyone, even lower class civilians, were taking part in the sport. Part of the reason was that a new version of Cuju was being played that did not require scoring goals, but instead relied on tricks and keeping the ball in the air (more like hacky sack). It’s popularity led to the rise of professional Cuju players, some from the royal guards, and others from the civilian sector. These athletes and games were depicted on mirrors and pots; similar to the way Olympic athletes were depicted on olive oil containers in Greece.

Cuju would inspire another ancient ball kicking game invented around 1400 years ago in Japan called Kemari. Evidence of the direct association between the games is that they have identical characters in both Chinese and Japanese. While this game also featured kicking a ball and juggling it in the air, it served a very different purpose and function. Evidence of Kemari first appeared around 644 CE during the Asuka era of the Yamato Period in the Nihon Shoki (collection of ancient texts), but it did not become popular until the Heian Period (700-1100 CE). Legend had it that two princes were playing on the same team when one of their shoes fell off. The other prince retrieved the shoe for him, and this show of friendship later turned into an alliance that overthrew the Soga clan and instituted the Taika reforms.

The playing area is called the kakari, and features a different tree (cherry, maple, willow, and pine) or bamboo to mark the corners of the playing area. The official players are called the mariashi, and they each stand at one of the trees. The assistants are called nobuse, and they stand outside the playing area, and the referee is called the kensho. The ball is called the mari, which would traditionally be made of deerskin and either stuffed with barley or inflated with air. More modern maris are deerskin stuffed with sawdust weighing around a quarter pound.

Kemari can be played for fun, or it is played ceremoniously with specific purpose. There are records of young samurai playing Kemari, drinking tea, and reading poetry after training. However, there is a rich lineage of the game used for ceremony and being passed down from one ruling family to another. If one were to go to Japan today, during seasonal festivals, they might notice a celebration happening at a Shinto Temple. There were would be a small group of priests wearing ornate kariginus (similar to kimonos) reminiscent of the Asuka age, and they would start kicking a ball back and forth to each other.

Kicks are traditionally done with the right foot only with the toe while the leg remains rigid. The players are encouraged to have complete control over the ball before they pass it to their teammate. The kicker will typically say “ariyaaa” each time the ball is juggled, and “ari” when the ball is passed to a teammate. The player who will receive the pass will say “Ō” when the ball is at its highest point before descent. If two or more players call “Ō,” the player who holds the “Ō” the longest should kick the ball next. After the last kick, the ball is rolled into the center of the playing area to show the game is over. Similar to hacky sack, this game does not have a winner or loser. The function of the game is to work together to keep the ball in the air as long as possible by hitting it without the hands or feet.

If your students are studying the continent of Asia in lower elementary, these two games are perfect to study because they feature very similar game mechanics, but are also different as well. If your upper elementary students are doing the Imaginary Island project (or studying Asia), playing these games helps the students understand that sports featuring ball kicking were very popular in Asia. There is an awesome sport called Sepak Takraw from Thailand and Malaysia (and is played all over southeast Asia), which is also a ball kicking game that looks like a blend of soccer and volleyball. There is some speculation that there might be a shared ancestry between Takraw and Cuju. So, it would stand to reason that if your students are making an island close to Asia, the national sport should feature a ball-kicking mechanic as well.

Materials: 

·      A large play area (gym or outside)

o   If in a gym, hula hoops and basketball hoops

o   If outside, something to suspend hula hoops

§  Trees, or makeshift hula hoop holders

·      Lots of soccer balls (if possible, one per person, and smaller sizes are better)

·      Jerseys or pennies to show teams

Prior Knowledge: The students should be studying Asia, with this focus being China and Japan

Kemari

·      One of the most important skills in both Kemari (and Cuju) is the ability to juggle a ball with the feet. Other body parts are allowed like the knees and chest, but the feet are the primary tool. Kemari will serve as a good warm-up for Cuju, so we will play this game first.

·      Kemari is incredibly similar to hacky sack. I make some changes to the difficulty depending on the age of the participants.

·      To begin the game, break the students into two groups. Ask your youngest students to come up, and split them up evenly (red and blue jerseys). Then your next oldest should come up, and split them up into the red and blue team. Then do your oldest players and split them up evenly. Once we have two even teams, give each team two small soccer balls and have them split again.

·      To play Kemari, have the students spread out with a soccer ball and make a circle. For 5 minutes, have the students try and juggle the ball using everything except their hands. It should resemble a hacky sack circle, and all the players are working together.

o   For lower elementary students, juggling the ball in the air only is very hard. Tell them that they are trying to keep the ball bouncing. This will give them a chance to keep a rally going. Once the ball begins to roll, they should start over. Having a player bounce the ball on the ground to officially start the next turn is a good idea, and rotate the player who bounces the ball to start each try.

o   For upper elementary students, juggling the ball in the air only can still be fairly difficult, especially for non-soccer players. Allow the ball to bounce once. If there is a very good player, they are allowed to juggle the ball a maximum of five times in a row, and then they must pass to another player.

Cuju

·      Now it is time to work on shooting for Cuju. Lower the adjustable basketball hoop (if you have them, otherwise over a normal basketball hoop is fine) to its lowest setting and put a hula-hoop through the rim. That now makes the opening for the Cuju goal. Here is a picture.

·      The students should make a line. The first player has the ball on the ground. They are trying to shoot the ball through the elevated goal (the hanging hula hoop). To do this, they need to lift the ball with their foot, not just kick it. The student needs to get their toes underneath the ball and use it like a wedge to not only propel the ball forward, but up as well. Once the student shoots, have them retrieve the ball and give it to the next person in line, and then proceed to the end of the line. Do this for at least five minutes.

·      Now it is time for the Cuju game. Have the red team go to one side of the gym and the blue go to the other. I would suggest having at least two balls in the middle of the court, but you can certainly play with one (there will be less shooting though). The hula-hoops that each group was shooting at previously are now the goals for the game. When the instructor says go, the students will run to the middle and retrieve the balls and begin playing Cuju, which uses most of the rules of soccer. The main differences are:

o   The goals are in the air, so the players will have to kick lift the ball.

o   There are no goalies, and students should not stand underneath the hoops to play defense because they will likely take a ball to the face.

o   Each team can score on any of the goals.

Aims:

Direct:    For the students to learn about Ancient China and Japan by playing the sports of Ts’u-chü and Kemari

Indirect:  

Listening to directions

Teamwork and team building

Communication

Strategy

Sportsmanship

Physical skills practiced: 

·      Manipulation of a ball with the feet, knees, body, and head

o   All the skills of soccer

Control Of Error: 

The instructor will have to watch the Ts’u-chü game as the official, but the warm-up and Kemari can be self regulated.

Age: All ages

Bibliography

Bradshaw. A. Kemari – Ancient Samurai Soccer. Shimadzu Limited. https://www.senganen.jp/en/2020/08/kemari-samurai-football/ Last retrieved January 19th, 2022

Cuju. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuju. Last edited January 18th, 2022. Last retrieved January 19th, 2022.

Cuju, Ancestor of Soccer. ChinaCulture.org. http://en.chinaculture.org/chineseway/2010-06/15/content_385628.htm. Last retrieved January 19th, 2022.

Kemari. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemari. Last edited December 8th, 2021. Last retrieved January 17th, 2022.

Kemari. (2019). Sengoku Daimyō. https://sengokudaimyo.com/kemari . Last retrieved January 20th, 2021

Man finds joy playing cuju, the parent of modern soccer. (2018). CGTN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBWojS3kH4 Last retrieved January 17th, 2022.

The Origin of Soccer is Chinese; the Cuju. (2017) Soccer Inter-Action. https://soccerinteraction.com/us/origin-of-soccer-is-chinese-the-cuju. Last retrieved January 19th, 2022.

Whiting, M. (2020). Ancient Soccer Like Games Around the World. AR Soccer Football Blog. https://arsoccer.org/ancient-soccer/. Last retrieved January 19th, 2022.