Why Yellow?

[axel.aas.12]

Why do many people reccomend a yellow ozora? Are they different than the others?:/

[The Void]

Only visually. Quite a few people (me included) prefer a lighter coloured ball, as it means the dark shadow of the hole shows up in greater contrast, making it easier to "spot" during tricks.

[AptDweller]

I have a yellow Ozora and I am a new kendama player.  I also have a blue Tribute.  In practicing a spike I find it easier to know when I'm bringing the tama up straight because I can see the string hole better.  A small thing but it helps.

[LarsVegas]

I used to play blue Ozoras (I just like the colour). But with the darker blue now (I don't like the light blue), I also switched to a yellow one. You can really see the hole so much better - especially when it's darker in the winter.

[mrjuggles]

I think I remember KendAlex mentioning the paint on the new yellow ozoras wears in much better for balance tricks than the other colours.

[feelgoodandcarryon]

i heard that yellow ozoras are the tackiest when broken in

[LarsVegas]

I've got a relatively new yellow Ozora. However, it doesn't seem to break in so easily. The surface is still quite unblemished, even though the ken shows yellow spots where the tama usually lands. And I got some issues with Lighthouse - which worked quite well in the past.
Still, the colour is perfect for darker areas.

[Kev]

When I started out I preferred the look and feel of unpainted Ozoras but soon after they stopped being approved for gradings so I got into the painted Ozoras too.

I chose yellow because:

1. It's one of my favourite colours (along with green).
2. Visibility in low light is the best of any tama I've used (even better than white to my eyes).
3. A number of the more experience players (notably [user]KendAlex[/user]) rated them very highly.
4. My first kendama inspiration Takumi Okada (http://www.kendama.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1579.msg11842.html#msg11842) used a yellow kendama in his films and so it's a little nod of respect to him.
5. Yellow stands out well in most of the environments in which I play and against most of my clothing!

In terms of breaking in, I've noticed very little difference between my Yellow Ozoras and my Green Ozoras, however, I have noticed they all regularly go through cyclical phases of being more and then less tacky. I think this is partly down to progressive wear and also temperature.

My experience with all of them is that they play nicely for a while then become slicker again for a while only to come back even more nicely than before. I'm thinking this process will eventually slow down or stop when the tama is really worn in but who knows?

Temperature / humidity also seems to be a factor. In warm or damp environments my Ozoras seem more tacky, in cool, dry environments a little more slippery.

(As an aside, I think temperature changes definitely contribute to the 'egg shaped tama' symdrome some people have experienced. Wood expands at different rates along the grain and across the grain so a once perfectly spherical tama can become distorted with a shift in temperature and humidity. Maybe [user]AlexSmith[/user] or another member with a lot of experience in making kendama could comment on this?).

Anyway. Yellow's cool right?