Kendama
The kendama (けん玉, "sword [and] ball") is a traditional Japanese skill toy.
It consists of a handle (ken), a pair of cups (sarado), and a ball (tama) that are all connected together by a string.
The game is played by tossing the ball into the air and attempting to catch it on the stick point.
Kendama started to evolve when it came to Japan during the Edo period, and since then the use of the toy has spread throughout the world.
A video of this process can be found hereA kendama can be held in numerous types of grips.
Choosing the type of grip to hold the kendama depends on which trick a person wants to perform.
[16] Hamagatsu Ekusa created the shape of the kendama that is widely recognized today in 1919 in Kure city.
The next model started to resemble what the kendama looks like today: the ken and ball.
The jisugetsu has a similar design as lined folk craft kendamas, which were made by factories that also produced Kokeshi dolls from spinning lathe machines.
The F-Type had two small holes drilled in the middle of each side of the sarado, and also used a sturdier string that was unlikely to break.
The main change in the F16-2 from the F16 is that the position of the string hole was moved slightly off from the cup body's center, enabling the kendama to turn and rotate in a new fluid way.
[20] They began to promote kendama in North America and were able to reach the winter sports, BMX, and rollerblading communities.
[33][34][35][36][37] The kendama community connects through social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Twitch and Twitter.
Kendama play has also been used as a measure of accuracy, agility, and learning ability in robotic arms.
The speed ladder is a style of competition that is a race of who can finish a set of tricks the fastest.
[41] Note: The labeled champion of each event is usually referring to the Open Division winner.
The two players competing against each other in each round will take turns performing tricks in 45-second time periods twice each.
Each judge individually decides which player wins based on who did the best in the following three categories: Creativity, Consistency, and Difficulty.
Kendama competitions have taken a variety of formats including speed ladders, freestyle, head-to-head, and world championship style.
In 2018 alone, the KWC had an audience of 49,000 members that were watching 415 competitors from 18 countries compete for the title of Kendama World Champion.
Catch and Flow, Freestyle World Championship was first held in September 2014 in downtown Tokyo, Japan.
EKC is the biggest kendama event in Europe and one of the largest worldwide with 500+ attendees in 2024 and thousands more watching online.
The EKC's main event is the Freestyle, only recently hosting an Open division (2022).
The Battle at the Border is the longest-standing annual kendama competition in the United States.
In June 2011, the first public Kendama competition (battle) was held in the state of Tennessee.
The event occurred in the city of Nashville hosted by a kendama blog called the "Kensession Stand".
The event was called the "Nashville Kendama Battle", and was held at 12th South Taproom.
Battle at the Border (2015-2016) was held in Nashville, Tennessee on the first weekend of January at Rocketown.
In addition to the major competitions, there are several smaller, well-established Kendama events, such as national championships.
Ever since then, the event has been organised, hosted and run by the German-based company Kendama Europe.
