What’s going on guys. Bonz Atron here. Four-time kendama world champion and I am here to show you the kendama. An amazing toy, originating from Japan, consisting of three cups and a spike. There is a hole in the ball, which you can catch the spike on and it’s all connected to a fancy string there.

What is a Kendama

 Kendama can help you master hand-eye coordination, balance, concentration and determination. 

You never want to give up. You want to keep pushing through, pushing through until you get that last spike, and get it on there and you finally finish your trick. It’s the best feeling in the world.And yeah, I can’t wait for you guys to feel that. Now that you have your kendama in your hands, you’re going to want to learn the basics.

So I’m going to teach you two tricks: the big cup and the spike.This is a big cup and the spike looks like this. Both of them require a little bit of practice but you should be able to get them down very quickly. 

So for the big cup you want to just hang the ball there, keep the string nice and straight.

Use your whole body to pull the ball up and when the ball is at the height. The peak of its rise you want to just snatch it out of the air and use your body to gently cushion and catch that ball.

So this is where lots of concentration can come into play. You want to concentrate all your focus and all your energy directly into this hole, where the string goes into the ball, pull it up and let it fall right onto the spike.It can take lots of dedication, may take you lots of tries but just keep going, keep pushing.

I promise you’ll get it on there and when you do, it will be so satisfying and so gratifying, you will be so excited. Can’t wait for you to do your first spike. Alright, now that you guys have your kendamas and you’ve learned the basics and you kind of get what it’s all about, It’s time to give you guys a brief little kendama history lesson. 

The History of a Kendama

The kendama originated in Japan. Beautiful country of the rising sun, came about in the 1700s.

It came over on the silk road and actually originated from a different toy, called the bilboquet, which is very similar. It kinda is similar to a kendama, but without the cups. It’s more just the spike and there’s kind of a bottom place you can catch it.

A little bit less advanced than the kendama but it’s another skill toy in itself. And there’s other kendama style skill toys dating back all around the world, in other various countries, as well, but we’re talking about the kendama, and that one became popular in the 1700s, and really started to grow in Japan in about the 1800s.

It was actually really popular as a drinking game, believe it or not, but then moved over to the elementary schools and became a big part of the curriculum in Japan, in all of the elementary schools. Everyone was learning and playing kendama, to help them with hand-eye coordination, concentration and just all around, better themselves as people in general.

Didn’t really become too big until about the 1920s, was the very first patent on a kendama and then later, in 1975, we saw the formation of the Japanese Kendama Association, which in short is the JKA

The Japanese Kendama Association played a major role in pushing kendama to where it is today. And they were actually the first people to create a standard size and create some standard tricks and name some of these tricks, as well as hold annual competitions.

So they were kind of paving the path for kendama. So pretty much for the last 40 years, the Japanese Kendama Association has been paving the way for kendama and just putting it out there, for the world to see.

 Hosting competitions, and really, trying to make it a big thing over in Japan, but it never quite caught on until about 2008, when actually a famous roller blader, named Colin Sander, went to Japan, picked himself up kendama, brought it back to America and filmed one of the first kendama edit.

 which is just more of, like a skateboarding or skiing style video of showing the tricks, in more freestyle format than what we had been used to seeing from the Japanese Kendama Association.

Alright, so like I was saying,the Japanese Kendama Association was very involved in shaping the way kendama tricks were made and created and done and until Colin and the otherpros came around, kendama tricks really weren’t being done differently. 

So I’d say, in about 2012,we really saw this new age of new style kendama tricks take off, and it was right around when Tamotsu Kubota, actually, one of the founders of the JKA, he broke off of the JKA and created his own thing called GLOKEN.

 the global kendama network, and he created his own contest called the Kendama World Cup and it was the very first, major kendama contest held in 2014 and I was actually lucky enough to be able to win that thing.Super, super crazy, so if you guys want to check that out, we will roll the footage right now so you can see it.

Um, but, yeah it was a super wild, super fun experience to get to go out to Japanand compete with all these players from all around the world. It was just an exceptional experience and I’ve actually been to Japan13 times now for various competitions um, annually, and it’s just been such a blast. 

Everyone in Japan is so in love with kendama and they’re just going crazy for it out there and the vibes you get from playing out there is just amazing. So yeah, I hope you guys can experience that someday.

 Alright, so that was the Kendama World Cup, that you guys just saw there and that is the main style competition.

There’s a hundred tricks on a list and you have three minutes to get up on stage and kind of do as many of the tricks you can and get as many points as you can and whoever can land as many tricks and get the most points is going to be the winner.

There is also a freestyle world championship that takes place every year, which is my personal favorite style competition. 

I’ve actually won the world freestyle championships three times, um that one is called Catch and Flow, that’s more of like a breakdance battle style, like I would have two45 second runs, going head-to-head, and thenthere’s judges that at the end, will pick which run they liked more. 

So it’s very in your face, very getting the crowd involved, very showmanship,very exciting, very fun to watch. Um, so, yeah I Will include a little snippet of that so you can check that out as well, right here, rightnow.

Check it out, catch and flow going down. Alright, so, to get yourself started in your kendama adventure, your kendama journey, I would recommend learning a few things, watching a few kendama edits. 

One of my favorites of all times is called “Where We Are,” it’s a big team communal edit of all these guys fromWenatchee, Washington, that came together and made this super cool project together and it really encompasses what kendama is all about. 

The communal feel, getting together with your friends, lacing tricks, having a good time,having fun and yeah just join each other’s company with the kendama. Alright, so you already learned your big cup, and you learned your spike.

So once you have mastered those and it’s time to move on to some new tricks,i’ll just give you a couple tricks, that are good to kind of move into the next progression here.Great trick called airplane, very nice to learn, just the reverse version of the spike.You’ll be holding the tama and just give a gentle tug up, get the spike into the hole.

Super fun trick to learn. Another Great one to learn would be, lighthouses.

So also holding the tama, you’re gonna pull it straight up and try to balance it. This one requires a lot of focus, a lot of concentration, and a lot of balance. 

You want to keep your eyes focused right on the tip of the spike here,and it will help you get that locked in there,and then if you put it in, that’s another airplane.And then you got your whole cycle of tricks there and that’s kind of how it goes. So yeah, another fun trick would be, “bird”.

whoa! See, you don’t landit every time. You gotta, you gotta practice, you gotta try a few times.

That bird, it’s beautiful. So yeah, tons of stuff. Um, I’ll give you one more trick. This is one of my favorite tricks, in my beginning days.

It’s just called. I don’t know what you call it… I call it a cup tap. Anyways, you’re gonna hold it like this, pull it up into the cup, and I like to just give a little, bap back into the cup. Super fun, beginner trick. 

Yeah, I hope you can learn it. Alright guys, thank you so much for watching and tuning in.