The Sakura Classic is a Kendama event that focuses on the original reason why we play Kendama. FUN! No fees, no pressure, all vibes. This year, the sun was shining and the players were out in full force. This Sakura Classic had the most pros yet, 28 Sponsored players came out to join the 100+ amateurs. The pros hosted workshops and gave advice to the young competitors trying to reach the main stage to become the Sakura Champ.
The speed ladders are always intense. Players were focused and honed this year, finishing the ladder within fractions of a second within each other requiring slow motion replays to determine the winner. Win or loose, everyone was smiling. At the end of a full day of speed ladder battles, we had our top 16 competitors for the next day.
Congrats to -
Matthew Stacy, Hartej Sinjh, Jordan Vargas, Keilan Cancino, Casey Cristabol, Anthoney Leary, Jack Shores, Eli Kertel, Hayden Brickman, Joshual Yanga, Mason Santos, Elmer Juen, Andrew Taldlip, Omrishi Jonnala, Jordan Petiesta &Tim Chow
The Pro / Sponsored speed ladder was a mix of a Kendama contest and a comedy show. As I looked around me, I would call out 5 pros at a time. Mixing up sponsors, friends, and rivals. During each round, I would roast each player.The crowd was laughing and the players were trying to focus while I talked about a modeling agency battle with Kristian Aynedter, Max Norcross, and Tj Kolesnik.
After day 1 in Japantown SF, everyone met at the Hatch in Oakland, a small bar and restaurant with neighborhood vibes in Oakland. Upon arrival, the place was packed with kendama players and Kendama videos were projected on the wall. Drinks, burgers, tacos, and wings were flowing like water. It was great to have everyone in one place for a party. Usually at some point during kendama events the young ones and the adults get split up due to age restrictions. Pancho, the owner of The Hatch opened his doors to all ages that Saturday night and made it a memorable event for everyone. Towards the end of the night, the music changed and a video started to play that ended up being the pro announcement for Kristian Aynedter and Ben Herald! People were cheering and applauding as waves of smiles rushed over the crowd. The goal was to create the “skate video premiere” feeling. Mission accomplished.
Day 2 of the Sakura Classic was the “hone in’ day. The day started with workshops for the top 16 ams that were in the classic. The pros helped each player tighten up their tricks and gave advice on how to stay cool and collected during the contest. While the players were warming up, the rest of the crowd watched the 9 and under and the 30 and up contest. The 9 and under featured a big cup off as well as ken drop and other fun mini games. All competitors walked away with prizes. The 30 and up class were competing for an Original Grain watch and Kendama USA kanji brush shirt. The competition was made up of dads of players and other adult players. The vibe was amazing and everyone had a blast.
The amateur contest began at 1 and players were ready. At the Sakura Classic, there is no stage, only the street. The players paired up and battled in the middle of post street in Japantown. The crowd gathered quickly to watch the young competitors face off. The battles went on until we had the top 4: Jordan Vargas, Keilan Cancino, Hartej Sinjh, and Matthew Stacy.
While the am players celebrated their victory, the pros started gathering for the pro contest. This years pro contest featured some of the most amazing players and match-ups I have ever seen. It is amazing to watch 2 of your favorite players go head to head. In the end it came down to Ben Herald and Josh Grove that would battle it out on the main stage later in the day.
Right after the pro classic, the pace switched to pro freestyle / exhibition. Music was bumpin’ and the crowd formed a circle in the middle of the street. I called 4 players into the circle and they threw down free style for 4 min. If you mess up twice you step out and some one else comes in. After 4 minutes, the crowd judges who will stay and who will go. This years freestyle had some of the most epic bangers laced and the crowd was going nuts. The highlight was when I decided to have all of COTK battle it out in the ring. Wyatt, Stodd, June, and Caleb all jumped in huddled up and then broke into one of the most legendary freestyles. Stodd hitting impossible lunar combos, while Chris June redefined the definition of bird combos, Caleb slinging his way into the next universe, and Wyatt going ham with the most vicious down spike combos. After all the smoke settled from all the rounds, it came down to Gavin Harvey and Micha Logan to battle on the main stage.
At 5:30, the entire squad mobbed up to the main stage that sat under the pagoda where we jam every Tuesday. I grabbed the mic and started to explain kendama to the people. I asked “who knows what a kendama is?” I did not expect the roar that came from the crowd. I then asked “who has never seen a kendama before?” Only a few people in the audience had never seen one!
After some tricks on a normal sized Kaizen and a KROM XXL I brought up the freestyle finals. Micha and Logan were on another level of honed. Both players landing unique tricks that are the definition of modern kendama. After both players had their runs it was judgement time. The crowd undeniably decided in favor of Gavin. Micha lifted Gavin up off the ground and Gavin’s hands when in the air with victory!
Next we went into the Pro Classic Finals. Ben Herald faced off With Josh Grove. Both Ben and Josh were landing the tricks left and right, match for match. It was match point for Ben and the card drawn was the hanging inward flip down spike. Josh came within millimeters of the lace and Ben had a chance for the win. Ben took a breath and landed the trick first try! The crowd cheered and there was a new Sakura Pro champ! Ben was awarded the custom champion Hapi Coat custom made for the contest. Going pro the night before and winning the contest the next day creates a story for the ages.
For the finale, the amateur players made their way to the stage. Round one was Hartej vs Jordan Vargas and Hartej takes the win to move onto the finals. In round two was Matthew vs Keilan and Keilan took the win. Fun fact: Keilan has placed in the top 3 every Sakura Classic!
The finals were two competitors who have trained and worked for the spot both Hartej and Keilan have dreamed of being the Sakura Champ. Just like the pros Hartej and Keilan were matching trick for tricks building the suspense. Hartej had 3 points and needed 1 more for the win. Keilan drew the infamous Handlestall hop to slip on stick. Keilan missed and it came down to Hartej. Hartej hits the handle stall and the hop over. The moment of truth is the slip on stick and he lands it perfectly. The crowd rushes in and the audience applauds the new Sakura Champion. Both players walked away with amazing prizes form Kendama USA and Grain Theory and Hartej was awarded the Sakura Champions Hapi coat.
The weekend was full of kendama, friends, an amazing contest, and all of this in the middle of a 200,000 person festival celebrating Japanese arts and culture. Kendama continues to grow in northern California and the Sakura Classic is the time when everyone comes together from all over the west coast to enjoy kendama together.
No matter what language you speak we all say KENDAMA. Kendama has the power to bring people together from around the world. In September of 2014 Kendama players from around the world traveled to Tokyo for the Catch & Flow freestyle tournament. We shared tricks, stories, and words. Each time we go to Japan we learn new words in Japanese and share new English words with the Japanese players. The one word that brings us together is KENDAMA.
Tj Kolesnik traveled to Japan for the Tokyo Gift show with KIT Corporation in February. Flying solo this time, he had the opportunity of meeting up with Thorkild May for the entire week. They spent 3 days at the Tokyo Gift show playing and demonstrating Kendama, and a day appearance at Sports Authority to demonstrate Kendama for the local Japanese players. Check out this video of what it is like to travel as a professional Kendama player.
Thank you to Mitsuo Kanzaki, Emi Dixon, Thorkild May and Kendama USA for making this possible. Enjoy!
Hang with Colin Sander, Kristian Aynedter, and Micah Marsh in the MMAK apartment for a few minutes while they give you a look at what one of Colin’s sponsorship boxes holds. We open Ozora, TK, Krom, Sunrise, and Kendama USA Kaizen product and talk about the subtle differences between each and the things we like about them.
After mixing and matching tamas and kens to find that perfect pair & weight… a couple of tricks are laced to break em in. We love seeing all of the unboxing videos you guys do so thought we would shoot one from this side! Thanks for all the support and keep shredding.
Summer just ended, but there’s still 1 more event to celebrate. We’re extremely thankful for all the support from our fans and customers, and we want to give back something extra special this year.
Here at Kendama USA, we’re fortunate to have access to lots of unique prototypes, limited edition products, and rare Kendamas that may never be made again. For this End of Summer Giveaway, we’re opening up our vault and hand selecting a treasure-trove of these rare gems in our biggest giveaway ever!
There will be a total of 13 winners, We will be giving away three main prize packages and 10 other amazing prizes all described below.
Snow Gold Musou
Limited Musou Holster
Premium Orange Ozora
Sunrise Purple Strata
GRIP Walnut Sunrise
Honor Tribute
Sparkling Green Musou
Musou Holster
80′s Red Sakura
Sunrise Blue Strata
Metallic Green Ozora
Honor Tribute
Breeze Orange Musou
Keyaki Shin Fuji
Yellow Ozora
Sky Blue Ozora
Honor Tribute
10 will win one of the following prizes:
Terra Lemongrass Jumbo Pill
Ozora Pink Galaxy
Tribute Merlot Silk
Kendama USA Padauk Proto
KROM Viking Zebra
Terra Purple Pill
KROM Rubberwood
Premium Gold Ozora
Tribute Black w/ Blue Triple Stripe
Grain Theory Mystery Kendama
Enter your email address on the left and you’ll be entered for your chance to win!
Danish kendama player Thorkild May recently took home the Red Bull Catch & Flow Championship in Tokyo Japan. Check out all the madness in the video recap down below!
The Krom Kendama Pro Team took their skills and camera to the city of Los Angeles, California. Watch Thorkild, Matt, Mathias, and Philip as they shred from the streets of downtown to the cliffs of Malibu.
So Colin Sander is running a fun Instagram contest for you guys! If you don’t have an instagram we highly recommend it to keep up with KendamaUSA contests and all sorts of fun! This is what you need to do to compete!
1. go follow Colin Sander ”@secret_yinzer”
2. RePost this photo with the hashtags #colinsander #kendamausa
3. Comment on Colin’s facebook which kendama you would want to win, and who’s kendama the middle one used to be! Small hint on his post!
Good Luck Everyone!
Kendama USA, Gloken, and Razor Sports teamed up to put on Yo-Dama Fest 2 on Oahu with special guest Krom Kendama. This was a 3 day event of non-stop kendama action! There were competitions, mini games, classes with pros, and much more! We had a ton of fun putting this on and we cannot wait to come back! For more information on the event and our trip to Hawaii check out a write up Keith Matsumura did right HERE
It’s amazing how much one place can influence a person. All of us here at Kendama USA are influenced by the birthplace of kendama… Japan. A portion of our team was honored to be invited to visit the birthplace of kendama for sessions, meetings, product-releases, and plotting the future course of our sport.
It was destined to be an amazing time, and who better than Colin Sander to showcase it to you. Let’s be real… we were there because Kazuma Iwata, the maker of MUGEN, was coming back.
Enjoy next-level tricks, a star-studded juggler list, and all of the unpredictable beauty that the far east bestows upon us with each visit. This is Kendama USA’s Gloken Musou Tour edit. Japan 2013.
This trip and all the events around it would not have been possible without an endless list of helpers, performers, shops, hosts, and so on. Watch the video, and you’ll catch them all in there.
Special thanks to:
Yuki Nakamura
Tamotsu Kubota
Colin Sander
Turner Thorne
Dave Mateo
Jake Wiens
Matt Sweets Jorgenson
Thorkild May
Yuka Hyuga
Satoru Akimoto
With Support From
Kazuma Iwata
Gloken
Kendama USA
KROM
Sweets
SpinGear
Decade
Hajime Ishibashi
Nobuaki Komoto
Jeremy Stephenson
Shot by:
Jake Wiens
Colin Sander
We are really pumped to be working with Kendama DK and KROM Kendama on this exciting new project. We’re proud to be a part of the worldwide release of the KROM Deulxe series today along with Gloken, The KenGarden, Terra, and of course Kendama DK.
The KROM Deluxe is a series of high end Kendamas made with first-class precision from exotic hardwoods. Far from a generic Kendama, these beauty’s have been crafted and tested carefully, to find an optimum balance for high performance play. The unique choice of wood species and design combine for great feel, performance, and balance. This release includes various combinations of walnut, rubber wood, maple, and red oak.
We finally had a chance to meet the Kendama DK guys during this year’s Dama Fest, and share their positive attitude towards Kendama play, and community. It’s refreshing to see Kendama brands go the extra mile and put in serious effort into their craftsmanship, team, creativity, and presentation. We are truly excited today. Not only for this amazing Deluxe release, but also to take this first step in a new partnership with Kendama DK and KROM.
Enough talk, check out the KROM Deluxe line for yourself in our store HERE.
