惣紫

Total Purple

1100年もの間、日本の都であり続けた京都には、幾代を経た今も脈々と受け継がれる茶道や祭事など、日本が誇る文化が数多く存在します。そのひとつに、約1400年前に仏教と共に中国から日本に伝来し、彼の地では衰退するもこの日本では独自に発展したと言われる蹴鞠があります。

これは、鹿革で出来た鞠(まり)=ボールを8人が輪になって蹴り合う、平安時代以降、歴代の天皇を始めとする貴族の間で広く愛された、現代で言うところのフットボールのようなもので、江戸時代には現在の新京極や円山公園などの各所に鞠場(まりば)が設けられ、多くの人々が蹴鞠を楽しんだそうです。

古来より蹴鞠は、勝ち負けを競うものではなく、いかに麗しく鞠を蹴り続けるかといったもので、平安時代後期には「名足」と呼ばれた藤原成通のような蹴鞠の達人も現れています。

「惣紫(そうむらさき)」とは元来、蹴鞠の宗家が、蹴鞠の達人として認めた武士に賜与される紫色の袴のことを意味します。

イングランドでもブラジルでも無い、京都独自のフットボールカルチャーを表現するブランドとして、京都から発信していきます。

出典:蹴鞠保存会『蹴鞠』

For 1100 years, Kyoto was the capital city of Japan. It was here that sacred rituals, and traditions such as the tea ceremony, continued to be passed down over many generations, and it is here in Kyoto, where so much of the culture that Japan is proud of, continues to exist today. One of these is no doubt, kemari. Said to have originated in China, it was brought to Japan along with many other cultures, including Buddhism, about 1400 years ago. Although it fell into disfavour in its country of origin, it became widely practiced and developed independently in Japan.

Kamari is a group activity where 8 people stand in a circle and kick the mari, a ball which is made from deerskin, to each other. It has been widely loved by people since the Heian period, from successive emperors to nobles alike. Resembling present-day football, it was enjoyed by many people in places around the city that came to be known as kemari courts during the Edo period, including the places such as Maruyama Park and Shinkyogoku.

Since ancient times, kemari has never been a competitive sport with a winner or loser, instead it has always been about the beauty of passing and controlling a ball as it moves from person to person. Late into the Heian period, a master of kemari appeared, Narimichi Fujiwara, who is said to have perfected the beauty of the pass.

We created Total Purple as a brand to celebrate football culture. It has been designed with the special kit in mind that was bestowed upon kemari masters by the kemari head family, a purple hakama.

Total Purple is an independent and original football culture brand, not to be found in England, Brazil, or elsewhere. It is a football culture brand created for football mad Kyoto.