Tricks

It’s been requested of me to write a tutorial on the trick commonly known as a “Bird”. I planned for this article to be made a little bit later, but having it be requested and realizing how similar the trick is to the last article (on the Lighthouse), it felt only natural. This trick...

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If you take a look at the JKA trick tables, you’ll find that the last trick on the beginners list is the Lighthouse. Look at yourself, after this article and a bit of practice, when you’re nailing this trick with ease, you are no longer a kendama newbie; isn’t moving towards mastery...

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The Airplane After you can juggle fairly successfully and the spike is no longer a monumental accomplishment, the next trick to add to your kenama repertoire is the Airplane. This trick shouldn’t give you nearly as much trouble as learning the spike, but it will depend on your familiarity with...

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    Almost every american kid has used a yo-yo, and most got pretty good at it at some time. However, there reached a point where there was a huge gap between what a normal, causal player could do, and what outstanding “professionals” can do. Kendama seems to have no such gap; it has a fairly steady learning curve. At any given time, there will always be SEVERAL tricks that are just within your reach. The beautiful thing about Kendama is that contrary to similar dexterity toys like yo-yo’s, a kendama has no moving parts; all it is is the ken and tama interacting with each other. There are no cogs, no bearings, nothing, just two wood structures. Normally, this would hinder the growth of such a toy because simplistic design usually means simplistic use, but kendama flourishes because, oddly enough, has no major skill or difficulty cap, meaning that new, more difficult tricks can ALWAYS be thought up and preformed if you are up to it. But before you can make up new tricks, you need to understand the kendama fundamentals. A great site to refer to for progressing in kendama is the JKA Official Site (click tricks and license for trick tables). It gives great insight into what tricks you should be attempting next, because it’s trick tables are pretty spot on. Use this site often, it will keep you from getting frustrated with trying tricks way outside your skill level.

 

Continue reading "The Road To Kendama Mastery"

TeamKD out of the UK has produced a video highlighting the awesomeness of their team. They, along with the British Kendama Association , are doing a ton to promote kendama in the UK and Europe....

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