Image: Fujiwara Narimichi

Description: FUJIWARA no Narimichi (1097 - 1162) was a court noble who lived in the latter half of the Heian period. He was said to be an especially unprecedented expert of Kemari (ancient football game of the Imperial Court), who, in later Kemari literature, was called the 'saintly kicker.' In order to excel in kemari, Narimichi made an oath to practice kemari every day for 1000 days. In the night of the 1000th, three monkeys were in his dream. Their names, Ali, Yau and Oh, became Kakegoe(yells) when kicking a Kemari ball. They are regarded as guardian deities of Kemari.
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