I'm spending the weekend running a kendama booth at a local Japanese Sakura Days festival! Lots of stoked people getting their first tricks. Just a friendly reminder that Kendama is awesome With @RodDama @Heshisfresh @Primechicken
Jamming at the park today a Japanese woman stopped and commented that I was "so good" (misguided praise, but nice). I asked her if she played. She said (as expected) that she did in elementary school but not since. She added that she could only get the cups and not the spike. I grabbed a dama and worked with her just a few moments and in less than 10 tries she hit that first wonderful spike and danced with joy. Spreading the love is always the BEST!
Yea, that's the best. People always think the spike is going to take a lot of work to land. With some guided help, most somewhat coordinated people can get it with 5-20 tries I would say. The surprise and joy in their faces is always priceless haha
I was jamming by myself on campus this last week, and this cop walked up to me and said "wow that looks like a talent" and I was like, wanna try? And I handed it to him and he just started going for spike, and did a swing up to spike on his 4th try. It was the craziest thing. It was sweet to see someone new be so hyped too cause he was so excited after he got it.
I'm live in a small town and not many people played but my pe teacher went to a toy fair and there was a sweets booth there. He met Matt sweets there and brought a kendama back to school and once everyone saw him playing everyone wanted one. He's probably orderd over 40 kendamas and kids bought them from him and made him sell out of them!
Helped a few strangers get their first spikes and big cups as well this weekend, the stoke is always a great feeling to share
That's so awesome! I wish there was a Sakura fest here. lol but at least there's a huge Japan Fest here in Houston during May. Me and the guys are hoping to go out, just jam there and get more people in the know about dama
This is a similar story to above! The other day I met the first person that I've ever met that didn't know Kendama from NA popularity. It was a Japanese dude who was blown away that we had kendamas and how good he thought we were. It was just sick cause like, I'm sure he never ever thought he would encounter white dudes in their 20's to be playing with a traditional toy he played with as a kid. also just kinda wanna note that he was not in the slightest way mad at the freestyle way we play. He said we "made it better". But yeah best experience. My homie jake also hit a first T boarder in front of him and his shit melted.
This kinda thing happens a lot at the Sakura Days Japan Fair festival and it's awesome! I find that most people who played kendama as a kid back in Japan also usually recognize Moshi Kame right away (and sometimes sing the song too!) The Terra painted Boss kendama (seen in the 2nd picture) is awesome for boarders balance, and is pretty much why it's brought to events like this haha! It's not my favourite trick, but BB certainly grabs peoples attention, and the terra painted boss makes it super easy to do for long periods of time and very consistently.
Yea, the Boss is the best for performance stuff. A quick BB always blows people's minds! I'm still hunting for the elusive BB flip on stage though... haha
We try to go to a number of cosplay and other events throughout the year as well as have kendama classes at the shop to bring in new players. Sometimes the cosplayers show up at our ramen shop and they always ask if we recognize them out of costume; sometimes it's harder than others. Here are a few pics from the last event.