This Week I Learned Kendama

This week I finally attempted one of the most requested skills for this channel: Kendama. It's a traditional Japanese toy that has a huge range of possibilities for potential tricks. Both difficult and addictive, I found it to be the perfect learn quick. I chose three tricks to try and learn: Earth turn, Lighthouse and Around Europe.

[collinsmith]

you are actually doing harder variants of the trick than you gave yourself credit for, you caught the ken in penguin grip on the bottom cup and you are doing an inward half flip during your lighthouse. Much harder to do in my opinion. Nice job!!!

[HalosydneICS]

A fun skill to learn might be throwing a Frisbee! It is deceptively difficult (especially for forehand flicks), and it'd be really fun to see your learning processes applied to it!

[giapchin]

I immediately went and bought a Kendama because of Mike. Looks challenging, but so satisfying and addicting.

[samopurple]

Nice one!! You even did a few things the hard way! Here are a few bonus tips
1. Always start from a stationary, still, untangled position.
2. Tie a small knot in the string on the outside of the ball to prevent the bead popping out of the hole on your lighthouse.
3. Hole control! Try to land the tama on the cups in a way that you can see inside the hole, and try not to spin in so the string twists or tangles.
4. The direction things move can make tricks easier e.g. Lighthouse -> in is a bit easier with the lighthouse falling toward you so you can watch the spike.
5. KNEES!!!

[dukeofthebedhead]

The exact, almost involuntary way he cleans the kendama at 9:59 shows the hours he put into this thing. Mad respect.

[SimplyMTB]

This man has learnt more things then my entire class has at school😆

[meneermankepoot]

If you found this addictive, i feel like youd really enjoy diabolo-ing as well. There are so many cool diabolo tricks, my favourite was yeeting it up in the air as high as our house and then catching it :D

[jasonbest]

Mike this was INCREDIBLE! I always thought the artful wizardry of the Kendama was lost to time, where I personally learnt it from one of the last few successors we have today - the great Ryan Higa. He moved mountains for the practices of Kendama, championing it across TV, demonstrating the limitless real-world applications of this mere ‘toy’ that we love. Thank you for this video Mike.

[SarcasmoRex]

Hearing Mike's wife and her joy at his successes just makes me smile.

[rylandines]

As a semi-professional kendama player, this was very exciting to see, and I’d love to see you learn how to whirlwind next!

[paultal]

Dude, these were sooo huge in Romania in 2016-2017. Literally EVERY KID had one. And we would go outside and play "game of KEN" for HOURSSSS. Good times!

Edit: I mean, I know kendamas were huge worldwide a few years ago. I just pointed out that this brought back good memories!

[DanielBro]

I will not rest until I see Mike perform the backflip

[EARFQ]

Really hit the nail on the head with this one Mike!

[paperandpasteboard]

Dude, the quality on this video was insane! Your shots were beautiful, and everything was so coherent. So well done!

[knethen]

Interesting how you ended up learning arguably harder versions for some of the tricks, i.e. penguin catch for bottom cup in around europe and inward in for the lighthouse finish. The penguin catch might be because the kendama was still stringed for right handed play. Normally the big cup is supposed to be facing towards you/up in ken grip, so for you, playing left handed, the cups were flipped.

[dylanludlam]

shout out sweets kendamas for being the only company to have tutorials from beginner to advanced

[fabe]

The level of support from Kim is crazy. Total legend.

[gothicchocobo]

I managed to do 'Faster then Gravity' while sitting on a chair, because I was fed up of everyone constantly saying "You've got to use your knees".

Have you looking into going to a BJC (British Juggling Convention)? We have a bunch of things you've already done (Juggling, Knife throwing, Unicycling, Kendama, Slacklining) and maybe you'll find a new thing you'll want to learn.

[nathanfreeman]

The thing thats so cool about kendama is how stillness and relaxed tension makes you better. It's a really great way to learn about stillness and balance and tension.

[archielaborde]

as a kendama player id love to see you go further with this.