A study on kakari-no-ki's from a viewpoint of sport history
　　　　　　　　　　― Based on three secret books on shukiku in middle ages―

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Tohru WATANABE (Tokyo University)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Abstract

　Kakari-no-ki's were trees planted on a shukiku court, which were essential apparatuses for shukiku,
an ancient ball-game in Japan. This study was intended to observe modality of the kakari-no-ki's
in those days, what they were thought of and the way they were used by players with reference to the
descriptions appeared in three secret books on shukiku edited respestively by three schools of shukiku
in the 13th and 14th centuries. Materials used in this study were Ikkansho edited by the Namba School
in the mid-13th century. Naigesanjisho by the Asukai School in the late 13th century and Yuteihisho
by the Mikohidari School in the mid-14th century. Altough there were some differences in detailed
descriptions of kakari-no-ki's among those three books, a certain standardized form concerned with
the number, the kind, the ways of planting and trimming of trees had so far been established as ancient
practices. However, as these ancient practices were matters so important to each of shukiku schools
that there often-times happened disputes over some detailed differences among schools. The kakari
-no-ki's were not allowed to grow in their natural conditions but their branches were pruned so as not
to interfare with player's movements and also to let a ball come down through branches in various
ways bouncing on any of those branches. Viewed from a point of sporting skill, those trees were not
the mere ornaments of a court but creatively devised apparatuses which were intended to make the
game more complicated and interesting. It was therefore concluded that from a viewpoint of sport
history shukiku in those days had already attained an artificially well-devised and matured state of
sport.