One trend I would like to see is more people taking the JKA tests! I consider myself a decent kendama player, but taking a JKA test under Kendama-do rules is a different experience. Only being allowed to use a JKA kendama in good condition (no thrashed bevels here!), having to do a trick in one motion, and doing the trick under the scrutiny of an examiner, etc. It's really something, and it helps to instill a sense of consistency in people.
Can I just say, micro bearings on strings should be an industry standard. Experienced the bearing life firsthand when I got my first slaydawg and I've noticed a marked improvement in my play because the string doesn't get all tangled up during my spacewalk flows.
Most likely you wont notice the difference between bearings and beads until after you go back to a setup using a bead. That was at least the case with me and a couple other people I know
Neither do I, but switching between. Setup with and a setup without, even tricks like Arounds, juggles, whirlwinds, you feel the difference after going from bearing setups back to beads.
100% agreed. I have had mostly bearing setups for a while now and I went to bead for an analog ash setup just to see if I could feel a difference and was super suprised when I noticed a lot of little changes I never would have seen.
This trend is more from the companies, but it’s awesome to see such wide and diverse colorways and combos out there. Even just looking at a tama you can tell if it’s Sweets or Krom or Sol or ISR. KUSA, as it pains me to admit, is a bit of a gray area since a lot of other smaller/newer companies have used many similar/same colorways as their older Kaizen models and even some from the newer 2.0. But you can definitely see even smaller companies have their own unique tama styles. Overall it’s great to have such a huge variety to choose from. Not just shapes and what kind of paint.
It's cool to see companies helping out or sponsoring smaller local events as well as the big name ones. It's probably not much of a benefit business-wise for them but it helps build the feeling of community.
Mid-size damas! When Terra launched the LBB years ago, players were kinda tentative. I'm stoked that over the last year or two they have become more of a standard.
Little known fact: Kendama ISR has flat rate shipping to the whole world. $5 for 4-14 day shipping to your doorstep/post office. I'm not sure how they do it, but that is groundbreaking.
Whaaat? I have to get one at some point, being a UK dweller with usually crazy shipping prices. Thanks for the info!
This is definitely a long standing trend, not even sure who it was that really started it, but syncing up your kendama tricks to the music in your edit (insta or youtube). It’s definitely very satisfying to watch an edit and see a line finish and spiked perfectly in sync with the song at the height of it, or seeing transitions timed with the beat
I'd have to say Colin Sander on this. He brought the edit/music video to a whole new level, and inspired a whole new generation.
I know he added music, but I dont think Colin really started the sync trend. Maybe @htimSxelA can shed some light?