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7/08/2011

Kendama cup and ball

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Cup and Ball けん玉 kendama

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The history of kendama is long. Its roots go back to Europe in 1615.
By the 18th century, versions of cup and ball arrived in Japan via China and it became popular with adults. Then in the early 1920s, a craftsman who lived in Asakusa, Tokyo reshaped the toy by adding a part that looks like a Japanese tsuzumi drum, shaped like an hourglass.

Today's kendama consists of a ken, or wooden stick, that is crossed by a saru-do, or a cup body. A tama, or ball, is attached to the stick by ito, or thread. The object of the game is to snap or swing the kendama so that the ball lands in one of four places.

The easiest of these places is the ozaru, big cup, which is at one end of the cup body. The second easiest place is the kozara, or small cup on the other side of the cup body.
More difficult places are the chuzara, the center cup at the top of the wide end of the ken, or the kensaki, or stick point, when the hole in the ball lands on the point.

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kendama mascot of Hatsuka ichi


Hatsukaichi town 廿日市 in Hiroshima is said to be the origin of this game.

. Hiroshima Folk Toys .


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quote
... known in the Latin American world as balero.
...
While most people play with kendamas for personal satisfaction, competitions do take place, especially in Japan. Participation in such competitions entails performing lists of tricks in sequence or completing particular tricks repeatedly for as long as possible. Additionally, tricks may be performed head to head with a rival to determine a winner. The competitor who is first to fail a trick loses.

In the trick moshikame (もしかめ), the ball is juggled between the big cup and the smallest cup at the bottom repeatedly. A Japanese children's song of the same name is often sung to help with timing.

The origins of the game are obscure. It can be argued that the vagueness of kendama's origins is due to a common necessity in all hunting cultures for early childhood training of hand-eye co-ordination. It is speculated that the toy may have been invented independently in multiple places, or spread via international commerce.

Japan Kendama Association

Japanese Origins
Although Japan's indigenous people, the Ainu, had invented their own kendama-type game, it is considered most likely that the modern Japanese toy was derived from a European import. According to this assumption, the kendama arrived in Japan via the Silk Road in around 1777, at which point Nagasaki was the only port open to foreign trade. Reportedly, kendama was initially a sort of adult's drinking game - a player who made a mistake was forced to drink more.

In 1876 Japan's Ministry of Education wrote a report which mentioned kendama, suggesting that the game had by then been adopted by Japanese children.

In the early 20th century, the toy had two side cups and was called a nichigatsu ball (日月ボール). This translates to 'sun and moon ball', named so because of the ball's representation of the sun and the cups' likeness to the crescent moon.

In 1919, Hamaji Egusa applied for a patent on the 'ball and cup' style toy and it was awarded in 1920. The size and proportions of the toy were later altered. The current competition design descends from Issei Fujiwara's model of the 1970s which featured string holes in the crosspiece. Little deviation has been made from his basic design, with the exception of the ken becoming more rounded to reduce wood chipping. It was also Fujiwara who established the Japan Kendama Association, which established the rules for play, the grading system now in use, and organised competition. In order to ensure that the toy was suitable for use in competition, the JKA also standardised kendama itself.

© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Kokeshi Kendama Daruma こけしけん玉・福だるま



source : kijidaruma.com Sato

MORE Lucky Daruma from the Sato Workshop:
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These kokeshi wooden dolls are made with the inspiration of kendama.
by Sato Kooson 佐藤香村, Sato Koson, Date Town, Fukushima

. Folk Toys from Fukushima .


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Kendama: a whole new ball game
... Kendama has grown in popularity overseas over the past decade or so, blending in naturally with the freestyle image of the skateboarding communities in urban centers in Europe and North America. More recently, the game has even been re-imported back to Japan in a form that is barely recognizable from its origins.
- source : Japan Times, November 2014


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. Reference .

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けん玉のカツンと乗って寒に入る
kendama no katsun to notte kan ni iru

the kendama hits
right in the spot -
beginning of the cold season


natsume 棗
source : hiroba/suihuyou

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. Tengupedia - 天狗ペディア - Tengu ABC-List .




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yooyoo ヨーヨー Yo-Yo, Yoyo


source : facebook

woman playing YoYo




Yoyo vendor in Edo


. koma 独楽(コマ) spinning top and Yo-Yo .
Some tops were attached to a rope and used like ヨーヨー Yo-yo.
They were most popular in Nagasaki and called
tsurigoma 釣り独楽 "fishing spinning tops"
or
teguruma, te-guruma 手車 "hand wheel".
also with Tengu.





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1 comment:

News said...

Popularity of ‘kendama’ abroad spurs trend at home
by Masaaki Kameda
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The traditional cup-and-ball game “kendama” is back, thanks to a new “cool” image mostly nurtured overseas and imported back to Japan.

“Definitely, people who had never been associated with kendama, especially young people (in their 20s and 30s), have become hooked for a year or two, with fans forming kendama-playing groups across the nation,” says Tamotsu Kubota, head of the Global Kendamas Network, or Gloken, which promotes the game.

Kubota says kendama used to be enjoyed mainly by Japanese children and grandparents, while people outside of those age groups considered it “old and uncool.”

“Kendama can be enjoyed by anybody, regardless of age, gender and nationality. But preconceived notions discouraged people from enjoying kendama,” he says.
MORE
Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/11/national/popularity-kendama-abroad-spurs-trend-home/#.U5jlo0A09Bk
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