◆ Aristocrats and ordinary people are fascinated by “Temari”
[Review]Toshifumi Jinno (literary critic)
No matter where you go in the world, for example, in a park where the elderly are basking in the sun, you can play ball games that are unique to that area. The ball may be an iron ball or it may be painted in a mysterious color. I don’t know the rules of the game at all, but just looking at the happy faces of people makes me happy. A ball game is something that is in people’s daily lives, carving out the history of the region.
This book is a history of how Japanese people loved and enjoyed ball games. Starting from the era of the ancient aristocrats Kemari and Dakyu, a ball craftsman appears (Kemari’s) looking at the gicho (like hockey) drawn on the picture scroll. I heard that the bowl is filled with wheat, inflated, and then pulled out later, I learned for the first time). Even in the Middle Ages and in the samurai era, Kemari was refined and did not decline. In the Edo period, various sports policies carried out by Yoshimune Tokugawa (such as reviving Dakyu as a new sport) became popular. Entering the Meiji era, we approach the history of modern sports of Western origin, which we know, but the author dares to organize the discussion in line with the balls used in volleyball and basketball.
For this kind of history, scholarship backed by abundant materials and attractive sentences that will not bore the general reader will be indispensable. The following text about the trees planted in the field of Kemari supports this book. “During play, a ball hanging on a tree jumps over a branch and falls to the other side, slowly flows to the lower side of the branch, rolls along the branch, runs vigorously, hits vertically and jumps up, leans against a soft branch and slowly falls, etc. The plants were calculated to “create a variety of ball fall courses.”
The author’s text is also devised with a variety of ideas like this plant. That is the charm of this book. Plenty of episodes. After he loved Kemari, Emperor Go-Toba was playing a game sixteen days a month! There was an Iemoto system in Kemari! A book that makes your heart warm.
(Akiyo Shobo, 2200 yen)
Born in 1980. Professor of Toyo University. Sports history. Books such as “Walking Edo Travelers”.
◆ Another book
Hironori Tanigama, “Edo Sports History Encyclopedia” (Kashiwa Shobo)
