@KenSan From the photos it looks like it is likely birch wood, though some closeups would help identify the species. The shin sakura in my collection is birch, tama weighs 73.8 g, ken 57.2 g.
Shin sakuras were made from the early 2000's until probably about 2006? I'm not entirely sure when they ceased production. They were the successor of the Sakura model made in the 90s, which was the cheaper model of the time (the other JKA model from the 90's was the Fuji). The word 'shin' basically means new, so the name is the 'new sakura', more or less (similarly, the Fuji was followed by the currently produced Shin Fuji). Though they do not have much demand, they are arguably much more rare than the sought-after Mugen kendamas (though Mugens had a higher quality control standard to follow, meaning most mugens are very well built kendamas, hence the demand for them).
Fun facts: The sakura was the model of choice for many schools in Japan, as it was cheaper than the Fuji, and kendama was a part of the school curriculum if I understand it all correctly. I have been to schools in Japan to help teaching kendama lessons to kids, and was presented with boxes literally stuffed full of old, mostly destroyed sakura kendamas with which to run lessons for the children. In some boxes you could find shin sakuras, though most seemed to be the older models. So while they are not often on the market for sale, they do exist in good number out there!
