noun
kemari; ancient Japanese court football
A historical ball game played by courtiers in the Heian period, where players cooperatively keep a deerskin ball in the air without letting it touch the ground.
蹴鞠は平安時代の貴族の遊びです。
Kemari is a pastime of the Heian-period nobility.
京都の神社で蹴鞠の実演を見ました。
I saw a kemari demonstration at a shrine in Kyoto.
Kana spelling is common in explanatory contexts.
Modern competitive football; unlike kemari, it involves two teams and a goal.
From Chinese 蹴鞠 (cùjú), an ancient ball game. The Japanese reading けまり is a native Japanese reading (kun'yomi) of the kanji.