The 2022 Parks and Rec Tour is a collaboration tour between Kendama USA and Sol Kendamas. We’ll be visiting 5 National Parks together over the course of 2 weeks with a squad of 8 players, and we’re excited to meet you along the way!
On Jam days, we’ll be hosting mini-games, hanging out, filming tricks, and selling exclusive tour gear. Come hang out for a beautiful day of playing Kendama and meeting the Pros.
On Rec days, we’ll be hiking, filming, and exploring the National Parks as a squad. Come explore some of the most epic National Parks in the country with us.
Jam days will be open to the public at a location just outside of the National Park, so no entry fee is required to participate.
Rec days will be inside the parks, so an entry fee per vehicle or Park Pass would be required. Please check www.nps.gov for specific details.
Please remember to plan responsibly, especially if you are joining for the Rec days. Bring appropriate clothing for the weather, food, water, and any other supplies needed for your trip. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Tour Summary
Tour Schedule & Info
Yosemite National Park
April 29th | Rec Day
Meetup @ Curry Village Parking Lot | 10AM
Address: Stop 14 Curry Village Parking, Half Dome Village, Yosemite Valley, CA 95389
Get up to 70% OFF your order & also win the chance to win some freebies! Hurry limited stock & the sale ends this weekend! The discount applies sitewide, save on your favorites and/or get a gift for a friend significant other or loved ones! No code necessary.
Tama only kendama options are back and better than ever! Now, every kaizen kendama style can be found as a tama only option. Starting at just $9.99 there is a tama for every ken, style, and budget. Or build your own complete setup by choosing both ken and tama.
We’ve been serving the kendama community for over 15 years and one of the ways we succeed in that is by providing the highest quality at the lowest prices that we can. Tamas come in tons of different styles, paints, and sizes, each bringing its own unique tracking points and advantages to the table. We offer professionally designed tamas for any ken and playstyle, our tamas range in size from 61 to 62mm.
Choose your tama from top brands like Kaizen or Craft and choose from silk rubberized or super stick paints, we are sure that there is a tama that will fit your style and help your land more tricks.
For more information on replacement tamas for your kendama check out our products here, or contact our knowledgeable customer service staff.
This year’s Catch & Flow Kendama Tournament was amazing, there were 58 players competing in 6 different groups battling it out for a 100,000 Yen grand prize, trophies, & more.
The final round consisted of 16 players (13 players and 3 seeded players) in a 90-Second solo freestyle run where players were judged on the following four catagories:
The last 2 players battled head to head to crown the champion and these were the results:
Results:
1st Place: Yasu – JP – Also Announced as KROM Pro
2nd Place: Nobu – JP – Kendama USA
3rd Place: Soma Fujita – JP – KROM
But just in case you missed the tournament live, you can watch it all in the video below.
Thank you to all the sponsors, judges, players who participated and folks at home who watched!
The Haley Bishoff Pro Model Kendama now features the Nova shape and is available in both silk or super stick paint options. The colorway and packaging around Haley’s new pro model mirrors the changes she saw in her environment when she moved from Oregon to Nevada, forest to desert. This pro model kendama captures the essence and beautiful hues seen in the Nevada sunsets. A UV topographical map of null wraps around the packaging and art. On the back of the box, you can visually climb one of Haley’s favorite routes in the park called Moonlight Buttress. On the Kendama, there are cacti under the slip stop, a drilled base cup for better balance. Custom engravings include Haley’s signature along with the ken, and gold SHCL tribute to a Kendama pioneer who positively changed the lives of many around the world; Dave Mateo. Spike Hard Catch Low Forever.
“There’s something uniquely special about the desert. It brings a certain kind of appreciation to how something so simple can be so vast. As of now, the desert is home. There are not many other places in the world that bring such rich reds and deep oranges. The desert always provides.” – Haley Bishoff
Take 20% OFF your order & also win the chance to win some freebies! Hurry limited stock & the sale ends this weekend! The discount applies sitewide, save on your favorite brands like Craft, Krom, Ozora, Kendama USA & more!
Logan Tosta is a Kendama USA Pro! Logan has been an inspiration since we met him back in 2013 during the KG Roots Tour in SF. It’s hard to believe he was just 9 when he gave TJ Kolesnik & Dave Mateo a run for their money in Games of KEN. We saw an amazing role model, ambassador, and potential champion of both the community and the sport and that’s exactly what Logan has become. Join us in welcoming a champion of Kendama to the pro team!
Logan’s style, energy, positivity, and competitiveness is a vibe that’s been felt worldwide. His near impossible and gravity-defying combinations continue to raise the bar and not only built awareness around the kendama as a whole but continue to motivate and challenge players everywhere. Logan and his family continue to support, organizing, and attend jams, filming tricks, demonstrating at schools, and simply sharing kendama everywhere he goes… we’ve watched Logan grow; not only as a person, player, and as a contributing member of the Kendama community and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.
What’s good everyone! null here from Honed Media bringing you another kendama review. This time I want to especially thank Sharif from Kendama USA for allowing me to guest write for the KUSA blog. Without further ado, let’s talk about Zach Magnuson’s Pro Model #MAGSMOD.
I’d like to frame my article around “what makes a pro model” – because the first impression I get when opening the box and feeling the kendama is that THIS IS A PRO MODEL. From a tama design that no one can come close to imitating to the custom stickers and even the orange string – everything about the experience screams unique.
People who have followed Zach Magnuson aka null on social know that he is a talented photographer from Detroit and I personally enjoyed how elements of his passion for photography are designed into his other passion. Passion-ception.
Even the box feels high quality. The material is hard with textured prints and would stand out on any shelf. But enough about the aesthetics, we’re here to talk about how the kendama plays.
Let’s start with the shape – we have a modified Shift introducing the Kaizen Base Cup Hole and let’s just say it’s what the doctor ordered. I’ve been a fan of Kaizen for many years and have played a range from 1.0, 2.0, Slim, and Shift. I will admit that lunars were a challenge with the Shift because the wider base cup results in an increased weight shifted there. It made the kendama a ken-flip machine, but the trade-off was lunars.
With the balance hole available on Mag’s mod, the lunar balance has improved significantly without much compromise to the ken-flip capability. It feels like one of the most complete kendamas that I’ve played out of the box. Complete in part as well because the spike comes glued – something that I do for all my kendamas. When it comes to the paint, I personally prefer jamming sticky tamas, but something about KUSA’s silk paint slaps different. It seems to be rougher out of the box and allows for a nice adjustment when playing your balance tricks.
To each his own, however, I’d say that both paints will not let you down and it’s really a matter of personal preference which paint to use. I had an easier time with landing lunars on the sticky paint, while catching and adjusting lighthouses felt better on the silk paint.
What about durability?
Part of this review involved a 2-week test doing cup tricks, ken tricks, and tama tricks. Let me be upfront – I miss the spike a lot. Despite that, there were only minor chips after 2 weeks, mostly around the bevel making it a relatively durable kendama. This could be in part that the weight of the tama was heavier (80+) and therefore the wood would have been harder and denser.
What might be more important to note was that I did not feel the tackiness of the respective paints change much – something you do not see often.
In the playability section, I test the smoothness and ease of landing tricks in the 4 criteria, Lunar, Stalls, Slings, and Ken Flips.
A difficulty rating out of 10 (1 being easier than usual, 5 being no difference and 10 is much harder than usual) will be given to each category at discretion.
Lunar
Stall
Sling
Kenflip
Pull-up Bird
3
Pull-up Sling
4
Kenflip Spike
2
Lunar
3
Bird Over The V
3
Pull-up Double-Sling Spike
4
Double Whirlwind
3
Double Lunar Flip
4
Handlestall – Ring
4
Pull-up Sling, Late Sling
4
Kenflip-
ken flip Spike
4
What does this compare to?
You know when you’re headed out of home for a short bit and want to grab a kendama off the shelf you can just walk and jam without worry? This is it. Despite being a pro mod with an extensive and complex aesthetic design, it still plays like a daily jammer – and that is one of my favorite things about it.
I play a lot of kendamas and found it easy to rotate in and out of the #MAGSMOD which makes it and really worthy investment.
At $40, this is one of the most value-for-money kendamas out there. The level of design on the tama, sticker pack, and packaging indicates that it must have been relatively expensive to produce – yet Kendama USA prices it comparable to other kendamas in the market with a less complex design.
As a plus point, each #MAGSMOD purchased goes to supporting Zach’s kendama journey – a win-win situation if I ever saw one.
Bonus: To show that this dama is for the everyday average player like me – I shot a three trick fix with different balance and stall tricks to show how player-friendly it was out-of-box. Enjoy!
Join us in celebrating the newest Kendama USA Pro; Zachary Magnuson! Zach’s dedication to the sport and community can be seen in his progression as both a player, a member of the community, and a videographer. Zach began his Kendama journey in 2014, while in high school and started competing shortly after. We first met Zach at Dama in the D2 and was asked to join Kendama USA’s Tribe team in 2018. Zach’s tenacity to pursue his passions and perfect his skills lead him to exactly where he wants to be.
Zach is currently a senior in college studying photography and film. When he isn’t studying he’s either playing kendama or working on a project he continues to be an inspiration to people and players around him and shares Kendama wherever he goes. Lets all welcome Zach to the team!
The Haley Bishoff Pro Model Kendama has a new look and updates that are sure to help you progress. The new colorway and packaging around Haley’s new pro model mirror the changes she sees in her environment; moving from Oregon to Nevada, forest to desert.
Custom artwork captures the essence of the desert and the beautiful hues seen in the sunsets there. A UV topographical map of null wraps around the packaging and art. On the back of the box, you can visually climb one of Haley’s favorite routes in the park called Moonlight Buttress. On the Kendama, there are cacti under the slip stop, an engraved OG Tribute logo on the base cup, Haley’s engraved signature along with the ken, and gold engraved SHCL tribute to a Kendama pioneer who positively changed the lives of many around the world: Dave Mateo. Spike Hard Catch Low Forever.
“There’s something uniquely special about the desert. It brings a certain kind of appreciation to how something so simple can be so vast. As of now, the desert is home. There are not many other places in the world that bring such rich reds and deep oranges. The desert always provides.” – Haley Bishoff
Watch the unboxing to learn more about the #BISHMOD and an in-depth comparison to the v1.
Follow null and the Girls Kendama Collective.
We’re excited to announce the release of the new TJ Kolesnik pro model Kendama; Deep Sea! The inspiration for the pro model comes from the different shades of our blue oceans and their breaking waves. The Deep Sea Kendama features the new Shift Shape, Kaizen Super Stick Paint, Custom Seal, and more.
TJ’s drive, energy, and passion for Kendama have made waves across the globe. TJ continues to use his platform to introduce people to Kendama and grow the community on a global scale.
The thing I always find myself reflecting on about kendama in my life is the constant progression of tricks, friendships, creativity, and everything that comes with our community we call family. I’ve been given so many opportunities to really show just how amazing kendama is. In the last 8 years when I first picked a kendama in high school, I never thought we would all be here today. Traveling globally to attend contests and events. Inspiring kids and players across the entire world to continue chasing their dreams and achieving their goals. Literally creating a lifestyle from the ground up out of pure passion, love, and joy. As I stand here today, it’s been one of the most adventurous journeys playing, promoting and pushing kendama to the next level. Everything from the design of the box to the seal, wood engravings, signature and colorway of the tama, I was able to work closely with Kendama USA to design each and every piece to my perfection. It’s a resemblance of who I am as a person and the impact the ocean has on my life. Continue to make waves and pursue all of your wildest dreams. Much love. Must respect. Thank you – TJ
Logan Tosta is a Kendama USA Pro! Logan has been an inspiration since we met him back in 2013 during the KG Roots Tour in SF. It’s hard to believe he was just 9 when he gave TJ Kolesnik & Dave Mateo a run for their money in Games of KEN. We saw an amazing role model, ambassador, and potential champion of both the community and the sport and that’s exactly what Logan has become. Join us in welcoming a champion of Kendama to the pro team!
