A Traditional Game ‘Jegichagi’(a kicking Korean shuttlecock game)

 

2. A Traditional Game ‘Jegichagi’(a kicking Korean shuttlecock game)

Let me introduce you to one of the most famous traditional games, ‘Jegichagi.’

Jegichagi is a Korean traditional outdoor game. ‘Jegi’ means a Korean shuttlecock, and ‘chagi’ means kicking. So ‘Jegichagi’ means kicking a Korean shuttlecock.

We kick ‘Jegi’, the Korean shuttlecock, on the inside of a foot. I’ll demonstrate it later.

‘Jegi’ looks like a shuttlecock in a badminton game, and it is made of a coin and

traditional Korean paper(Hanji). Nowadays however, ‘Jegi’ is made of a coin and

plastic bag. Though ‘Jegi’ used to be a game mostly played with family or friends

in winter, it has become a year-round game.

 

 1) History

Although there is no written record about the origin of Jegi, historical legends

state that the game was continuously developed in various ways among

young people. Samguk Yusa, a collection of Korean historical legends, states that

Goguryeo - one of ancient Korean kingdoms- people were good at Cuju,

which was eventually developed to become Jegi in Korea.

 

2) Rules of Jegichagi

To briefly explaining the rules, the player kicks a Jegi up in the air and he keeps on

kicking it to prevent it from falling on the ground. The players usually use one

foot to kick a Jegi up in  the air, but they can use both of their feet.

In an one-on-one game, the winner is the player who kicks the Jegi up the most

times without letting it fall down on the ground.  

You can play it with your friends by making teams of more than two players and

taking turns to kick the Jegi up in the air. And you can play Jegichagi game in

tournament style.

Let’s say you have four groups A, B, C, and D of four or five members. Then each group plays the game and decides the winner after taking three or four turns each. 

Next, the winners of group A and group B compete and decide the winner.

Likewise, the winners of group C and group D compete and decide the winner.

Then, the two winners compete in final game.

 

There is another group game. the players stand in a circle, and take turns kicking

the Jegi. The loser is the player who misses the Jegi and let it drop on the ground,

and he may get some penalty. For instance, the loser can be made to sing a song

with dancing.