This led to the establishment of a variety of new rules, equipment and techniques, and the completion of a structured art form called kemaridō (蹴鞠道). It reached its peak between the end of the 12th century and around the 13th century in the early Kamakura period (1185–1333), and kemari games were often played during the reign of Minamoto no Yoriie. This technique is a keepie uppie performed on the heel. Fujiwara no Narimichi had made more than 50 visits to the Kumano Hongū Taisha to pray that his kemari skills would improve, and he had performed the kemari feat known as a ushiro mari (後ろ鞠, backward ball) in front of the shrine where Susanoo was enshrined. Kemari became popular as a game for the nobility in the late Heian period (794–1185) in the 11th century, and in the 12th century, Fujiwara no Narimichi ( ja:藤原成通) and Nanba Yorisuke ( ja:難波頼輔) gained fame as masters of kemari. According to the records, a kemari games were played in May 701. The earliest reliable documentary evidence of the word kemari (蹴鞠) is found in a record of an annual event called Honchō gatsuryo ( ja:本朝月令) written in the middle of the Heian period. In 644, Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari, who later initiated the Taika Reforms, became friends during a ball game described as '打鞠', but it may have been a hockey-like ball game using a cane instead of kemari. It is often said that the earliest evidence of kemari is the record of 644 CE in the Nihon Shoki, but this theory is disputed.

The earliest kemari was created under the influence of the Chinese sport cuju, which has the same kanji. Nowadays, kemari is played as a seasonal event mainly at Shinto shrines in the Kansai region, and players play in a costume called kariginu ( ja:狩衣), which was worn as everyday clothing by court nobles during the Heian period. The game was popular in Kyoto, the capital, and the surrounding Kinki ( Kansai region), and over time it spread from the aristocracy to the samurai class and chōnin class.

It resembles a game of keepie uppie or hacky sack. Kemari ( 蹴鞠) is an athletic game that was popular in Japan during the Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura period (1185–1333). A game of Kemari at Tanzan Shrine Woodblock print depicting Kemari expert Fujiwara no Narimichi (1097–1162) and three monkeys, guardian deities of the game ' Asukai Masanori Teaching Tokugawa Yoshimune to Play Kemari.' Ukiyo-e printed by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. For the neighborhood of Karachi, see Keamari District.

Aristocrats games