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Started by BKA, 24 June, 2011, 15:09:04

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peterthake

#15
Hi everyone,

My name is Pete, I run kendama-world.com and some other online shops. Just got an email from Void announcing this new forum and thought I would check it out. Looks good - it is about time there was a forum for kendama, well done BKA! I hope I can learn a lot here, and maybe give something back too.

I am not really much of a kendama player, but I started selling kendama some years ago when a customer who was into yo-yos asked me if I could get kendama. At the time I had never heard of them. After a few more customers also asked I spent ages tracking down a source of kendama and kendama-world was born. At that time it was really hard to find out anything about kendama (I remember Guy's web site was one of the few with any information in English) and it is really amazing how much kendama have taken off since then, both here in the UK and around the World.

Anyhow, good to meet you all. If anyone has any questions or suggestions for kendama/accessories I should sell do let me know.

This post is not intended as a sales pitch or anything; I hope everyone is ok with it.

All the best,
Pete

PS I will add a link to this forum from my Links page.
Proprietor, Kendama-world.com

BKA

Welcome, David, Alex, Thorny & Peter.

Yes, Peter, that's fine. Manufacturers/retailers/etc can feel free to add a link to their site in their signature[nb]Profile>Forum profile>Signature. Use..... [url][/url].....tags around your link[/nb]. As long as their posts are more "human" than "shop assistant" then that's cool. :)

Harrydh3

Hey.
I'm harry
I'm 18 and have been playing kendama for roughly six months, Thorny got me into it and I was addicted straight away :)
Theres a minature kendama scene in our town.
Cheers
Happy 'damaing
Harry.


lucid916

yoooooooo, im luis from california.  Been playin kendama for almost a year now and absolutely love it! I started off with a TK 16 black tama, then got a red oozora, then I won a red Yumu in our first battle here in my city.  Now I recently purchased the new "focus" line of kendamas from sweets kendamas! I have edits out, basic stuff, i'll post those also.  Shout out sackendama! Like the page on facebook if you have one! Have a great day!

BatDancer

I'm Richard

Started playing kendama a couple of years ago when Void ran a workshop at BOB. Entered the BKO that year and didn't come last!!!

Since then, progress has been slow, but steady :)


John

Alright chaps, been lucky enough to meet a fair few of you on here already at various conventions and whatnot around the UK. Nice to see you all again :)
I've been a casual dabbler of 'dama for a few years, picked up a cheapo Japanese model around 5 years ago and thought around the world was the complete limit of it. I then attended one of The Void's "kendama out of a suitcase" sessions and was introduced to a whole new spectrum of tricks and was caught hook, line and sinker as a result. Over 2 years on and I still refuse to be beaten by this game! Well, usually....
(Incidentally, I have finally conquered lunars...! I was practising them in the school hall yesterday, and a student asked me why they were called that, and I replied "Because by the time it takes someone to get to the moon, I will only just have managed to land one....")
Click click,
John.

BKA

Welcome aboard, Harry, Luis, Richard and John.

I suppose this must mean there is a fiendishly difficult trick out there waiting to be discovered, called "Manned Mission to Mars"! :)

kendamatty

Hello forum-folk!

I'm Matt, and I first met a kendama  November 2007 when my mate Tim brought back one from a rollerblading competition in Germany from the guys who were in the early Kendama USA videos. So I scoured the internet for my first TK16; and then it spiraled out of control...

Well not out of control, but I loved the idea of a similar thing to the COTT, except I wasn't allowing myself to go to a lecture until I landed a trick.

So many late lectures later I was playing with it everyday, smashing glasses and chipping paint off the walls, whilst introducing it to as many friends as possible, including my Northern housemate Rich, who can jumping stick like no man. Spring 2008 I started making videos of little kendama edits, mostly to show my mum how I was occupying my time at University in between the pub and the library as I didn't really go back to the hometown much. We started then messing about with stringless kendamas, and before long we were throwing them over garden fences, out of windows, setting fire to the damas (and whilst cycling...very dangerous that one).

When I stumbled across kendama uk site I really wanted to go the first BKO, but gutted that I had to work, so I reluctantly stayed in Cambridgeshire and had a kendama/beer drinking game instead (typical students eh?..)

I went in 2010 to the BKO and came second after my nerves got the better of me and a 4 hour car journey which I got horrendously lost and arrived as it was just starting.. ( Void was definitely on the ball that day too, so credit where credit is due, and his directions certainly helped!).

I then took part in the global kendama edit which I thought was absolutely amazing to have players from across the globe all in one wee video, certainly tried to up my game for that one..

In April 2011 I made sure to leave my house early and bring a sat-nav (and co-driver girlfriend) so I arrived at the competition, met some great peeps, smoked far too much tobacco, came 1st (very surprised considering I thought Jeff would be taking me down without breaking a sweat), then had to dash the juggling fest to say ello to some old Uni friends who have amazing Derby accents.

Will be going to Munich this year for the EKO after plenty of cuppas, so fingers X'd.

My new lil' project is going to be buying natural TK16s and attempting to paint things onto them, I always thought the eyeball kendama looked amazing (cant remember where I saw it), and I especially like the designs which wrap around the handles. I would love to get them into the student galleries we have over here, and have some demo ones available for passing folk to click with!

And finally I hope (cash-pending) that my next foreign visit after Munich will be Japan and to hopefully compete/marvel over there, I am currently I think at a level 5 dan ( think that is what it is called), if my patience holds out anyway for moshi kame - it rarely does :)

Much Love, drink tea, play kendama,

Matt.

KendamaChick

Hello All!

I am Maggie, I'm 15 and I have been playing Kendama for about 4 or 5 months.  I never leave home without it!  I am the only girl in my city to seriously play kendama.  I started because a friend of mine got one for christmas and he always brought it up to ski race training.  Since then I have spread the kendama love to a lot of people.  I play a blue TK16 master, a beat up sunrise with word written all over it, and a smile.  I am a somewhat close friends to the owners of Mountain Kendama, which is out of Helena Montana.  And I might start doing some custom painting and making kendamas. 

I do have a question, does anyone else know of other girls who take kendama seriously?

Okey Dokey, well thats all I have to say for the moment.  Happy Damanating!!!(:
Kendama and skiing, I am addicted to both(:

BKA

Welcome along, Matt and Maggie.

Maggie, check out Daniella.....


...and Joanna...

Damadude

Hi Kenfellows,

I am Sebastian a.k.a. Damadude from Munich working at Kendama Europe a.k.a. Kendama.de.

My Love for Kendama started during my foreign studies in Japan in 07/08 when one of my mates from the university snowboard team introduced me to this crazy skill toy. I love kendama for it's power to connect you with people especially during my many stays in Japan. From old guys showing you some moshikame on the streets to Itosan telling you how to get some of tricky stuff done I owe a lot of good experiences to Kendama. I guess there will be a couple of new ones in August this year.

My skill level is average, no really hardcore stuff but good basics. I especially like to play the Kendama like it was done in the old times in Japan, as a drinking game  ;D

Clicks & Cheers!

Join the community @ www.facebook.com/KendamaAroundTheWorld

Buy kendama @ www.kendama.de


HansNickmans

Hi everyone, I'm Hans from Belgium

I started juggling around 2003-2004, mainly beanbags. In 2008 I managed to get to my first EJC, as a present from my parents for passing my exams. It is there that I followed a Kendama workshop by Matt Hall and Void. At first I didn't think a lot of it, even though I went to see the first European Kendama Open! On the final day of the convention I managed to track down Matt Hall to buy one. I mainly played during exam time and winter when I couldn't go outside to do other juggling. After searching around  the internet for it, I learned that the kendama I bought from Matt was in fact a Mugen (which was becoming valuable at the time). So I stopped playing with it so I wouldn't completely wreck it, and bought a TK16. Couple months back I saw Jeffrey van Rasta's first sunrise edit which got me back in to kendama a lot. Also bought a Yumu from Kengarden, and been practising a lot.

Goals are to film my first edit in the near future, have some mates start making some custom sunrises, and try to get a scene started in Belgium. I got my girlfriend hooked and some other friends, but if you're from Belgium, drop me a line and we'll put something together!

Greetings,

Hans
Kendama Belgium!

BKA

Welcome to the forum, Sebastian and Hans.

Hans, if you're coming to Munich, you'll probably become the first Belgian Kendama Champion if you enter the competition!

Finn Darco

Hi all I'm Finn (or Darco: http://soundcloud.com/darco) and I've been lurking on the Forum and BKA website for a while...

I first got into Kendama when my brother bought back a very odd Kendama looking toy from Thailand (much more difficult and the dama & hole are tiny!) as well as a ball-in-a-cup + spike toy - it was so addictive I loved it - he left it round my house and I played it for ages. After taking it to the pub, I realised how fun it is to see how other people react to it and play!

Then I got some Kendama's from the UK Fire-toys site (a random white one and a TK-16) and started learning tricks from the BKA site. Since then I've collected a few more and my fav Kendama is my worn-in Natural Ozora - I've also made a custom White Ozora by swapping a Sky Blue dama for the White EU Sunrise dama which works well (as the Ozora ken was well worn in)

If you like there's a video I posted in the "Video's" discussion or a link on my JTV account. Just a quick edit and have learned a few more tricks since then including (almost!) mastering lunar's (recently did a lunnar flip) and pulled off a few stilts too... Hoping to get something together for the UK edit.

I always bring my Kendama(s) with me when I'm out and about and am very interesting in how it can change one's philosophy towards waiting (for a train for example) - it's now actually enjoyable! My favourite moment was waiting for my flight in Narita Airport, Tokyo and two old Japanese guys (who spoke no English) took a keen interest and I managed to discern that the used to play kendama in school - one of them tried a swing-to-bird and nearly landed it first time! Kendama seems to transcend language in much the same way as music, which is also another passion.

I'm looking forward to helping promote the BKA & Forums on social media with Void and the gang soon... Didn't make this year's BKO but hope to attend next year's or perhaps the Bristol one in October.

Namaste.

Finn
Everything you do is a balloon... (http://eydiab.wordpress.com)

shalafi

It seems I did not introduced myself in the forums yet, so here I go.

I have been juggling for very long time, probably 15 years already, and while most of the stuff is fun, there are a few toys that completely absorbed me.

The first one was diabolo.

Then I started unicycling

Then I started playing kendama, and pretty much stopped doing other juggling.

Oh, and since I seem to be the only Spaniard that participates in kendama tournaments, I was the Spanish Champion, not sure if someone took that title today, since I could not attend the EKO.

Spanish Kendama Champion 2010, 2012, 2014-16
Depth Perception is Overrated.