This limited edition Oozora was gifted to those competing in today's JKA All Japan Competition. Seems like any ordinary kendama to you, but look closely at the seal. I'm trying to get closeups of the seal, hope it comes soon!
I was there today. The girls took 1, 2, 3. I'll try to put up some photos later in the Sessions post I made earlier.
Maybe it would belong on this thread: Why are TK-16s known to be "tanks"? I have not owned one, but the other birch kendamas that I have are rather soft, and not particularly resilient. I know that hardness is not the sole indicator of wood strength, as ash is prone to chips, but it seems to me that something like maple or hickory would be the real tank.
@azleonhart dude that seal is mesmerizing! @dcc soft wood = bend but don't break mentality. Colin's original TK-16 from 2005(ish?) has a rounded tip and smashed cup rims, but is in otherwise fantastic shape. Still gets played regularly too. I have heard of people breaking TK-16s, but in general, they seem to last the longest. Could be my imagination but the spike seems slightly thicker than a lot of other kendamas too.
Yeah, Yukie's a beast! I hope she can pave the way to become a future female KWC champ! I think it's the illusion i presents, the icy solid paint, plus the more rounded tip makes it last longer (i believe birch is a tad softer than beech). Exactly my thoughts, bud! It's like opening that fresh pack of Pokémon booster card pack to find the shiny Charizard within.
So recently, a friend of mine who travels quite a bit for business mentioned he was going through Japan & Singapore on a business trip. I asked him if he could check for any kendamas in the airport he was going through, showing him some Ozora, TK16 and Shin Fuji seals. He returned with the dama pictured below (the lady at the store said to him "this is a traditional one"), and from what I've read in this thread, it's one of the newer Shin Fuji's - renamed to "Minna No Kendama". Is this correct? Additionally, I noticed that the swash underneath the Japanese characters in the top left looks similar to Glokens logo. Is there any connection or does this mean anything? @htimSxelA
Correcto mundo! This is indeed the new Minnas. I think it's just a brush motif, pretty common in Japanese / Korean / Chinese cultures.
Actually the Minna no Kendama is based on the "competition" style kendama developed by the JKA. Generally when they say "traditional" or "folk" kendama they mean something similar to this: The Minna no Kendama is made by the same manufacturer that made the Shinfuji but is not an exact reproduction of a Shinfuji. There are minor changes in the shape (for example near the slip stop) and it is not JKA approved. The "O" shape in Japan is fairly common with a lot of Zen connected meaning. See more info here on Wikipedia. In the case of the Minna no Kendama packaging it is part of the design along with the river looking bit under the text on the right side.
@azleonhart According to Yamagata koubous website the new seal is to combat fakes/copys of ozora kendama and their seal appearing on the market. Whether any have or not I dont know. Anyway it looks like ths is going to be their new seal from now on! The old seal is still valied for Jka testing I believe.
Another new JKA kendama posted on Hakushinsyas Ig feed a while back. Looks like a pink seal and is apparently called "Stars" kendama. Hits the shops around August time.
I think Beech kens can take a real beating. My tk16 and my kenco beech kens have been through a lot of abuse and they are in pretty good condition. One thing to take into consideration as well is that since beech is generally a cheaper wood people tend to play them really hard or over hard surfaces. With this said they still hold up well.
TK16's are birch actually, at least the vast majority of them are. With the weirdo 'mutant' Tk16s that were sold over the last year or two there may well be some beech ones out there though. Easiest way to tell: when looking at the sidegrain, beech has these little tell-tale darker 'flecks' the run in the direction of the woodgrain. Birch (and maple) do not have this.
Interesting, I wonder if the counterfeiting was a problem, or they were just being proactive? I don't think I've seen any fakes, but then again, maybe they just existed in some other markets (elsewhere in Asia)?
I’m further inclined to believe that it’s the latter. I have seen counterfeit Musous before, so i’m pretty optimistic that a fake JKA exists somewhere.