How and When did you start Kendama?

I can't believe someone hasn't already done this but anyway. It's all in the title, when, how, why, and what started you on kendama. This is a great way to get to know players better and relate to other dama players around the world.

 

For me it was varagesale. I don't know if anyone else has this in their area but it is like kijjiji but more local and personal. I was 10... I think when I first got my kendama. My mom was just browsing around on the website and found it for me thinking I would like it. She gave it to me as a reward for good marks on my report card and I was all polite about "Oh yeah, that's awesome, I'll keep trying in school." But really I had no idea what to do with it. So it sat, in my cupboard, in my room. For 2 YEARS! I carried on with my life forgetting about the kendama and not realizing it's amazing potential until one day... I was bored. I had been sick and was hanging out at home one night, tired of tv and video games. So I explored my closet, found several other things but I decided to at least give the weird cup and ball a chance. I took it out to the bonus room, it was a no name green gloss, and played around. I didn't know what I was doing but it was fairly obvious that the point was to get the ball into the cups. Through that 10 minutes I managed to get all the different cups and the spike and I was hooked. A little less than a year I am still hooked and I have progressed super far since then. If you have managed to read all this, gold star and tell your own story.

 

There's also a thread called "INTRODUCE YOURSELF"

 

My brother was on yard duty at Math Enrichment back in 2014, I think? He saw a kid with a kendama, and when he got home, he showed me the pic that he took that day, and later, we both went to our local Target and both bought a Yomega kendama(We didn't know about any big brands, and we didn't know about TKs and Ozoras), and I still have mine to this day.

 

I started in March of 2016. I was on a visit with my 5 year old daughter and we were in the mall and there was a store Totally Thomas Toys that she wanted to go into bcs she was into trains at the time. Inside they had a huge selection of kendamas and one of the sales people was playing one. My daughter became mesmerized.

She started looking at them and really wanted one. The packages all said "age 9 and up." I told her that it might be something that we would have to wait to get for her and suggested we purchase a yoyo (they said 5 and up). She conceded, but suggested, "Daddy, I get a yoyo and you get a kendama. If you get a kendama then you can learn it and teach me when I'm bigger." I was skeptical but acquiesced. We made our purchases and went on with our day.

That night, at home, I opened the package and logged onto YouTube to find some tutorials. Ever since I landed big cup and spike that night I've become an addict. Best suggestion my little girl ever made. Kendama has totally changed my life!

 

Saw one at target a Kokoto by Duncan. I sanded it, painted it, sold it and bought a sweets. This happened 3 weeks ago and now Im landing lunars and lighthouses consistently. Working on my juggle to spike and practicing spacewalks.

 

very cool! i have a 6yr old daughter, she tries to play but soon gets frustrated and moves on... once shes older, hopefully she'll pick it back up.

 

There was a new kid at my school that moved to my town from Nevada and he brought his kendama to school and I thought it was super cool. Eventually I got one of my own and haven't stopped playing it since!

 

I saw this episode back in 2008 I believe, I was so intrigued that I had to find a Kendama. I still have the Tk that I ordered back then. Just wish I would have stuck with Kendama the whole time instead of letting it sit on a shelf for so long.

 

I use to watch this on G4 back in the day. I was super into the bike trials episodes though, that show got me into the Trials series of games.

 

Thank you, I knew this thread was here. Just wasn’t using my head haha

 

@Andy Dama and I started last year because there was a club at our school started by @stublue (@bluekendamas on insta). The club was basically only freshman , but this is what started wfb kendama club

 

Back in early 2013 my best friends brother got one and showed it to me and I was like "so what? thats just a cup-in-a-ball toy. Thats lame."
A month later my bestfriend had borrowed it when a group of my bestfriend, his girlfriend and another friend went to visit a couple of friends who just became parents in another town. When we got there our friend was like "Oh you got a kendama too! Thats cool I just got one too!"
Me and my friends ended up spending the whole weekend playing with kendamas and just learning how to get the tama in the cups.
After that I knew I was addicted, so i went to a local toy store and got a Sunrise Kendama with a black tama. After that I started looking up edits on youtube and discovered KROM kendama from Denmark. Now most of my friends can do the basic cup level stuff but a few friends play a lot and are really good now.

 

Was always on the look out for something small that's not electronic - for me and my kid to play with. It started with the harp then ukulele then speedcube then yoyo then kendama. I'm not comfortable with the word skill toy/instrument but they are even the electronic ones (ipads, smartphones computers) - where I'm from, it's expensive getting these because they are not available locally - buy online is almost always the way to go - even then it's still expensive.

I bought a no brand kendama, that looks cool, online. To try it out. I did not do any extensive research (the yoyo shop sites I frequent carry kendamas but they are expensive and or shipping is way more than the kendama itself)

I received the kendama Dec 2017, 2 weeks after the online purchase. Wow, that's fast! I believe it's about 10$ including shipping. So, not that cheap but good enough. I don't have any actual kendama of repute to compare it to except for the look -- sure the shape looks just like those sold on the yoyo shops plus they are not stingy on paint because the ball and the ken are both painted not like those in the yoyo shop that only has the ball painted.

This is the real deal. I thought. I saw some Japanese kendama on a shool library but they look dull - the ball is not a perfectly shaped ball. The string is THICK and has a lot of knots. The ken is not sexy and slick. Yeah, sexy and slick. That's what I thought when I saw my kendama. Everything is perfect. (remember, I haven't read the kendama info here - which is a LOT). So - wow, perfect and it's not heavy on the pocket.

Started playing - head over learnkendama to look at tutorials. It's like learning a yoyo trick but quicker (for most of the basic tricks which is where I'm at still) the difference being I really can't execute 100% of the time when you land a kendama trick. Yoyo you can most of the time - or I'm not there yet. Or simply I'm not there.

A couple of weeks pass and saw a catchy air imitation from a toy store. I bought it for my kid. You can do basic cup and spike tricks but as it's a cheap imitation, the ken broke it half within a month give or take.

Since I wanted my kid to have one, I forced myself to purchase another one online (again, haven't been on #DS and was happy with my first online purchased kendama) I did not look anywhere else and bought another one for my kid - the ball pictured in my avatar.

While I was wating for the kendama (slightly more expensive than mine). That's the time I do a litle more digging about kendama -- on FB. Then I know there's a group of kendama players in my country - very far still. Also one shop that is selling authentic kendamas with a a very enthusiastic owner and an active member of #DS - shop very far but ships locally. And finally one --- one active kendama player locally. There maybe more but -- we'll see. My active communication is through #DS.

So yea, I'm a nOOb who has a for-profit-only kendama. I want to have one that comes from a kendama maker with authority. Somehow, I managed to get my hand on a shinfuji keyaki ken/cherry tama as pointed out by @goenKendama - plays differently and way better than my kendama. But it's not mine so I still favored my no-brand kendama. But definitely will get one soon or late.

And oh, my kid doesn't play the kendama as much as I do - but still he wants one - guess he likes the workmanship of the toy or just want to have another toy to show off to his friends.

AND I know I'm going to get moderated for the long post - I gotta share my 2 tama.

Thanks #DS for the forum - where I can rant/vent my kendama thoughts. Without this #DS and the Shinfuji, this post is not possible. And my interest in the kendama will probably end with my avatar.

 

My girlfriends grandmother got me one for Christmas. Once I got a taste of the instant gratification after landing anything new, I became obsessed.

 

lunars in 3 weeks? Dang...

 

That is impressive. I’m just now getting them down and I’ve been playing a couple months now.