Kendama

Does anyone else here play? I just recently got started/hooked and am having a lot of fun thus far. I am having problems with most spike moves, but I assume that is normal for beginners. One thing I have learned for sure is that it is all about the knees. I thought I would start this thread in hopes of obtaining more information, tutorials, and edit videos in regards to this addictive prop/toy.

So far my favorite edit videos are from Colin Sander http://www.youtube.com/user/ColinSander#p/u/15/oGGphVX8hZY but everyone on the Kendama USA team are doing some really cool stuff.

you could probably even spin those like poi and people wouldnt know whats going on

very cool vid!

I cannot put this toy down. I am now able to land on the spike from any cup and drop ball the majority of the time. It greatly helps to be able to slightly manipulate the spin of the ball to assist in lining up the hole w/ the spike. I am happy I found this toy. I think it is helping me with juggling+poi practice and just being a more awesome person in general.

Found another cool edit I wanted to share. This guy has a lot of groovy videos. This is my new kendama hero.

OMG A KENDAMA PLAYER!
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Now I'm totally in LOVE w/ these forums.
Well, I play(ed)
I havent picked one up in at least a month or two.
I have imported at least 2 dozen from japan. I use Oozora and Enjyu. I kind of walked away from kendama for a while because I wanted to focus on my Slackline and Poi.

Hello lordofconvix,

I only have one right now, a TK-16 Master, but I am really wanting to get a Oozora hardwood model sometime.

I am currently working on trying to land any tricks using the tama grip (holding the ball instead of the handle). I cannot wrap my head around it. It is still so satisfying nailing it on the spike though.

Most of my practice goes towards poi and clubs (toss and swing) right now, but I still try to find time to kendama several times a week. It is real nice having other props to play around with when I am not feeling my poi groove. Slackline looks real fun, I would like to try sometime. I need to lose some weight, I bet slackline is a entire body work out.

I also wanted to post some resources here for Kendama that I look at.

http://kendamaspot.com/ (USA site. A nice online shop, blog, basic trick tutorials)

http://kendamausa.com/ (USA site. Where I bought my first kendama. Cool videos from the USA pro team.)

http://www.kendamakyokai.com/index_english.html (Official Japanese Kendama Association homepage in English)

Yeah, i know how you feel. I was all up in the kendama scene for a good year or so. I've got all of the basics and most of the advanced moves. my favorite move is to spike the ball when the hole is facing up in the center cup. Slackline is fun as heck. Its a huge core workout but once the wobbles go away it get so much better. plus where I live, there is noone else who slacklines and its always around 40 degrees fahrenheit in winter. But every kind of flow art has its ups and downs. I've spun fire before but now I know im ready for it. I just need some heads. but HoP stopped selling monkeyfist heads..