World Kendama Open, Sep 21st, Osaka, Japan

[LarsVegas]

Ah, it was worth every minute.

Friday knight we met at Yano-san's Kendama class where he teaches kids and teens. I was the first to be there and they were practicing "my name is <Japanese name>, nice to meet you". It's so cute if a 7-year old Japanese girls says that. It's not so cute anymore, if she kicks more ass at Kendama then you do. Later Yoko Warburton, Arthur Graaf, Joris Schweppe, Wesley den Ouden, Temuren (Mongolia) and another Mongol player (sorry, forgot the name) arrived, we had to stand in front of the class and to introduce ourselves and show our favourite trick. Then all the kids introduced themselves and also showed what they learned. After that we went to a sushi restaurant and had dinner. The non-Japanese players all (?) slept at some JKA members home. It was my first time in a Japanese house and it's really interesting what they achieve with that little space (I was in a quite small house in an outskirt - the road was not even wide enough for cars).

Saturday morning we met at a community center. Everybody was free to play along or to practice for Sunday's competition. It's really the best you can do: Play with Japanese Pros - they're so kind and all the time someone comes over, watches you, and gives you some advice. Nothing earthshatering, but "tiny" corrects that make you advance further than all the practice you had in the last months. It's incredible what a good coach can do to your skills. I wish I had someone like that around here. The JKA judges held exams and I got my 1st Dan. Matt "Sweets" Jorgensen, Rodney Ansell, and Kris Bosch arrived together with some Japanese players (e.g. Yuka Hyuga, Tamotsu Kubota, ...). Then the rules for the Kendama World Championship were explained and Kenta Sakamoto showed all the tricks - I couldn't do any one of them. Katsuhito Nakata explained details and answered questions. This would have been impossible without the help of Yoko Warburton who translated all the time.
After lunch, a mock Championship was set up where the non-Japanese players and some Japanese players competed for three Kendamas. Finally we did a round of "Expert Class Challenge" to win a fourth Kendama.
Then we had some free time in town and met for a dinner party in a Chinese restaurant. Several additional JKA members joined and it was a funny evening.

On Sunday we met in the TV center (?) where the competition took place. The night was much to short - thanks to the handouts that had to be printed and stapled - and much to hard floor for my back and too many people in one room . The event was in a part of the ground floor hall. There was a small stage, a preparation area, some seats in front of the stage (ca. 50?) and four tables for registration and a small shop.
Other players from Osaka and other places joined - either to compete or to watch and meet people. The competition was traditionally styled, until the semi-finals, two matches were on the stage at the same time. There were only 10 tricks for all levels of the tournament, which were randomly drawn. That's different from the EKO style where the "easy" tricks of the first round are successively replaced by harder tricks in later stages (I personally, prefer that - it adds to the suspense and makes it more interesting). There were also competitions for kids and junior college students.
In the afternoon the challenges were held in three classes: Beginner, advanced, and expert. The had about 10 people on stage and you had to do a trick list with two attempts for each trick. If you passed all, you got a bronze, silver, and gold medal respectively. Unfortunately I failed at the last move of the 9th trick (and completely messed up the second try). The 10th would have been so easy ... There were no Westerners in Beginners. Wesley, Arthur, and I failed in Advanced, but in Expert, some Westerners got their gold medal.
After that the finals were held - an all-Japanese spectacle, because all Westerners already failed in the first round. Some fought well and lost at speed trick (used after a 2:2).
The last part was the free style performance competition. Thorkild May and Philip Eldridge won by decision of the public: Everybody got a small superball and had to put it in a bag that the contestants - all lined up on stage - were holding.
Then it was only the closing ceremony with all players on stage, the kids forming a peace sign and that was it.

I'm very happy that I could have been there. I met many new people, and some old friends, learned a lot, passed my exam, and, and, and. Now I'm back home, super-motivated again and I'm looking forward to the next opportunity.

[The Void]

Thanks for the great write-up, Lars. Wish I could have been there again this year. Maybe next year....

[shalafi]

Thanks for the report. Nice to read about your experience. Always nice to read first hand stories :-)

[Craftybuddy]

Hello!

Here is an edit that Niggety produced. Very well summarised and shows how lovely it was! It was so cool experience I had. Thanks to JKA organiser who did immense effort to hold this event and entertain us and extend their hospitality to all the visitors particularly from overseas.

http://vimeo.com/m/109367280

I would love to go back next year, which is THE big year - JKA having 40th Anniversary and Kendama Festa will celebrate it in a big style! 

I hope many players from overseas could join!!

Yoko x