けん玉 Kendama ～ Meet My Soulmate

Who didn't know about this traditional toy? It often appear in Japanese anime, manga, or dorama. If you don't know this toy, maybe you're not familiar with Japanese culture. 

When I was in Japan, I meet this little guy who later became my soulmate (lol). The kids in my host family have 2 of this and they let me and my friend play with it. The momment I play with this guy, I fell in love with him (lololol).

Kendama is Japanese traditional toy named after its component, ken (sword: refer to the spike) that has a spike and 3 cups, 小皿 (smal cup), 中皿 (middle/bottom cup), and 大皿 (big cup), and dama (ball). The ball is attached to the sword by a string and has a hole that fits with the spike. 

image source

So, how to play it? Simple, you just pull the ball upward, so it either land on the cups or on the spike. Yeah, sounds simple but it actually very very hard. You need to controll the ball and balance it in the cups. Amateur usually begin with a trick named moshi kame (named after a song that usually used while playing this trick). moshi kame is a trick where you just move the ball between big/small cup and bottom cup over and over. Once you've mastered it, you can move to other tricks which I'll show some video of me play some of it.

1. ふりけん - furiken

2. 飛行機 - hikouki

3. 日本一周 - nihon isshuu

4. 世界一周 - sekai ishhuu

Oh yeah, I bought this kendama for ¥2,300. A bit pricey I know, maybe there's a cheapter one out there, but I can't find it anywhere else... so I'll take it. I heard there's a cheap plastic kendama at hyakuen store, but I prefer the wood one even it's a bit expensive thank you :)

Ok, that's it for my post about my soulmate, kendama~ tell me if you want a detailed post about the tricks so I can made one!