Sakura Classic is the annual kendama competition held in Japantown, San Francisco during the National Cherry Blossom Festival in April. It is always a weekend filled with friends, fun and kendama, and this year was no exception. This year’s Sakura Classic tried out a new contest format: double elimination. Don’t quite understand how double elimination works? Check the example below (you can skip this next section and go to DAY 1 if you already understand the concept): I’ll use my situation as the example. My first match was against a young slayer named Connor LeSeur (Svlty Bois). I won the match, meaning I advanced in the winners bracket while Connor was moved into the losers bracket. Unlike past events, Connor isn’t fully eliminated from the competition after this. He still has one more chance to keep advancing in the competition, provided that he doesn’t lose a second time. Same goes for anyone else who loses their first match. Because I advanced in the winner’s bracket, I would be facing against the winner of whoever won the match that was occurring at the same time as mine. Some of the pro/sponsored players had a bye for the first round because of an uneven number of competitors. Unfortunately, the player that I would end up facing would be Wyatt Bray. Yeah that’s right, 2015 Kendama World Champion Wyatt Bray; I felt pretty confident in my competition abilities this year, but this guy definitely knows his way around a trick list. I ended up losing the match, so I was moved into the losers bracket while Wyatt advanced in the winner’s. My loser’s bracket match was against a cool dude named Alex Guzman (Rogue Dama). We had an awesome back and forth match, 2-2, neck and neck. He ended up winning on the hanging 1 turn inward lunar trick. We both missed it twice, but he managed to snag it on his 3rd and final attempt, and snagged the falling in from out of the ground. It was a well deserved win in my eyes. Double elimination is a great concept because it gives you that second chance if you mess up in a match. One of the only downsides is that it takes a lot of time to get through the matches, especially if you’re in the loser’s bracket and staying alive. Anyways, moving on. If you want to take a look at how your favorite player did this year for the open division, check out this link https://challonge.com/Sakuraclassic. FYI, the scores aren’t accurate, so while some people did get 3-0’d, not everyone did. DAY 1 Day 1 of the event was pretty jam packed. We did the first round of open, speed ladders, and then the freestyle. It was a warm, sunny day as the dama fam jammed on Post St. A bunch of people stopped by the booth and asked about kendama. A lot of people actually ended up buying some kendamas as well! The day started off with the open division. We only got through one round before realizing that we were getting pressed for time, so we moved onto the speed ladders. Once we narrowed down to the top 6 players, we moved into the freestyle. Freestyle is probably my favorite event of Sakura Classic because it generates the most traffic, since everyone crowds onto the middle of the street and makes the typical freestyle circle. It draws a lot of spectators and shows what kendama is all about: having fun. [MEDIA] Around 5 or 6pm, everybody migrated over to the main stage next to the pagoda. When it was time to shine on stage, the finals of speed ladders as well as the rest of the freestyle rounds that hadn’t gone yet all went down. Long story short, Nick Gallagher actually ended up winning both the freestyle and speed ladders (typical). Major shout out to Jake for emceeing the stage as well as Eli for running the freestyle/speed ladder rounds. [MEDIA] After the stage performances, everybody went their separate ways to go get some grub or chill at their hotel for a little bit before the midway party at the Hatch. DAY 1: MIDWAY PARTY Just like last year, there was a special midway party at The Hatch in Oakland. The Hatch is a bar in Oakland that Jake Wiens frequented back when he lived in Oakland. Because of the person Jake is, all of the people that work there know about kendama and are always willing to let Jake host kendama events there like the GT vs JPN party. Kendama edits are played on the wall of the bar, which is kind enough to let all ages in until 11. Another parallel to last year was that there was a special announcement from the GT squad. If you didn’t already know, during the midway party of Sakura Classic 2017, Kristian Aynedter and Ben Herald were both announced as Grain Theory Professionals. Their announcement edit played on the wall of the bar as people cheered from above and below (oh yeah the Hatch has two levels, I forgot to mention that - so cool). This year, another GT member was promoted, this time from Flow to Prospect: Steph Lussier, check out her edit here: Jake also came correct with some new new for the announcement as well: the Steph Lussier prospect mod. Her mod is a blue and pink GT-1.5 with a San tama. There were only 10 of them there and they sold out on the spot. After that, everybody kind of chillaxed. It was a pretty mellow night since everyone knew that Day 2 was going to be a long one. [MEDIA] DAY 2 Day 2 was pretty much just one long day of open division. There were no other competitions to worry about, so it was all a game of waiting until your match was up. We had only gotten through one round of open the day before, specifically the first round of the winner’s bracket. There were still a ton of games that had to be played so all of the effort was put into the Open. There were 3 games going on at a time all next to the GT booth. I was a card holder for the majority of the day, so I can tell you that some matches were neck and neck. The battles were heated and many of them were 2-2 all the way until the end. For example, Nic Stodd and Kevin DeSoto’s match had 11 nulled tricks. The level of consistency was unreal. Unfortunately, it started to rain towards the last quarter of the rounds. The streets of Japantown cleared as many of the people here for the actual festival went home, but not the kendama players. We all huddled underneath the GT tent as the rain poured down on us. The finals of open division were originally supposed to be held on stage like they were last year, so that the spectators could see what kendama is all about. However, since most of the vendors decided to leave because of the rain, the tent across from ours was vacated. The Open division finals that were supposed to be on stage got moved to the tent across the street as everyone huddled underneath and watched the remaining players battle it out. [MEDIA] I actually only caught the last matchup because I was sort of encompassed in what Josh Grove was doing in the rain. [MEDIA] When Josh eventually decided to move on from his trick, I decided to go watch the finals. Much to no one’s surprise, Nick Gallagher actually ended up winning against Bonz to become the 2018 Sakura Classic champion. The amazing thing was that Nick had to win against Bonz twice because he was coming from the loser’s bracket. To cap that off, it was also his and Zack’s 18th birthday, so everyone sang both the Gallaghers happy birthday after Nick won the comp. One cool addition to this year was that the winners of the Open division were presented with official certificates from the Consulate General of Japan. Speed Ladder Podium: 1st: Nick Gallagher 2nd: Keilan Cancino Freestyle Podium: 1st: Nick Gallagher 2nd: Bonz Atron 3rd: Kevin DeSoto Open Podium: 1st: Nick Gallagher 2nd: Bonz Atron 3rd: George Marshall After the comp finished and the rain managed to die down, everyone said their last goodbyes as we all parted ways. The Sweets crew went off on their own while the GT squad and a smattering of other people went inside the Japan Center to grub on some KBBQ. And we GRUBBED. Sakura Classic 2018 was one for the books! Jake always manages to throw a great event every year. Special thanks to Jake, Grain Theory, everyone who helped out, and the Consulate General of Japan for giving us the opportunity to spread kendama on stage and at the booth. Another thanks to everyone who came out this year, because it truly wouldn’t be anything without the players who travel from all over the country. Can’t wait for next year’s!

YOU ASKED FOR IT! Finally - GAME OF KEN - Wyatt Bray vs D Westy! Arguably the most BIG DOG game of K.E.N ever recorded. For real.. Wyatt vs Dwesty, Scags on commentary & Alex Smith as special ref! Comment below who you think is taking the W before you watch! We are SUPER hyped to drop this game!!! -kusa

Don't miss the goings-on in April! Get yer' steamin' fresh world kendama news right 'ere!

Azrin downspike.com 29 April 2018 The KWC Tricklist - Behind the scenes. As April rolls by every year, kendama players find their eyes invariably glued on the Global Kendamas Network YouTube channel, eagerly awaiting a series of 12 videos to be released over a span of two weeks. And these videos are none other than that of the infamous Kendama World Cup tricklist. But, what is it? Why is it so special? And why are people paying so much attention to it every year, even though only 3-5% of the world's kendama population attend KWC? The History To attempt to answer that, let's first enter a crash course in the KWC tricklist history, and inevitably, KWC history as a whole. Despite its perceived beginnings in 2014, KWC actually had its roots in the year prior to that. It was Tamotsu Kubota's vision of seeing players from around the world gather in the birthplace of kendama, and enter fierce competition to seek the title of "World Champion". And to that end, Tamotsu and Hajime Ishibashi, decked out in full ninja gear, armed with Mugens (not Musous, mind you), and with the help of a young Zoomdanke and a Handicam, set out to film a series of 70 tricks for the 2013 GLOKEN Cup. As you may have guessed, these were then arranged into 7 levels of 10 tricks each, in ascending levels of difficulty. Not long after, about 50 people, and amongst them some of the biggest names in kendama (at the time), including Alex Smith, Keith Matsumura (who was then Dama Fest 2013 champion), Matt DeCoteau, Trevor Starnes, Matthew Ballard, Thorkild May, Rodney Ansell, and Kristin Olinyk gathered at the Uchi Gymnasium, at Tamotsu’s hometown of Nara, Japan on the 15th of July 2013, and duked it out, in what those in attendance agree to be the best kendama event, of all time. (2013 GLOKEN Cup attendees.) Japan's Masatoshi Hamazaki (pictured right) went on to win the event, and Thorkild May won freestyle, and the GLOKEN Cup set in motion, what was to be the greatest kendama event for the years to come. The Sorting The following year, GLOKEN announced the Kendama World Cup, and with it, a set of 100 tricks to choose from, in of course, 10 ascending levels of difficulty. But many seem to overlook a simple question - how do they choose and sort these tricks? It usually starts with GLOKEN showing up at competitions or events that they sponsor, such as : 2014 - Yo-Dama Hawaii 2015 - NKR 2016 - GLOKEN World Tour 2017 - MKO & Various And GLOKEN shows up with a camera in hand, and requesting prominent and notable players and figures in kendama to perform a trick (or some tricks) for them. Pro players are usually approached first, before GLOKEN finds more players at events. GLOKEN also opens submissions to the public, beginning 2018, and prior to that, GLOKEN has been accepting email submissions (though, not a widely known fact), so long as the tricks are recorded with a good resolution (generally 1080p, 60fps and above), in focus, the kendama themselves to be recorded within the frame at all times, and unobstructed. For this year alone, GLOKEN recorded over 450 trick videos, mostly above Level 5, and to add the cherry on top of the cake, an additional 200+ trick submissions came in from the public. Once the tricks have been recorded / submitted, players are asked not to leak tricks, either via social media or by word of mouth, and the tricks are then brought back and compiled. Hajime and Kota Kagoshima take on the arduous task of naming the 650+ video files, and organizing them to a list before they are brought to the KWC trick committee, which usually consists of Tamotsu, Hajime, and Kota, with the addition of kendama legend Katsuaki Shimadera, Zoomadanke's Hiroki Ijima, and KWC emcee, Nobuaki Komoto. GLOKEN takes pride in knowing that no KWC competitor possesses any decision making power, let alone insider knowledge on what tricks will be selected for KWC. Sure, you could find a way to get GLOKEN to receive your trick video, but there’s no real guarantee that your trick will be used. (KWC trick planning.) It generally takes around 2 months to decide what tricks will make the cut, and the process is nothing short of easy. Shortlisting 120 tricks among over 650 submissions (which is a meager 18%) is indeed, a daunting task, and GLOKEN hopes that players who submit tricks do not get disappointed that their tricks aren't chosen - after all, GLOKEN wants to make the best trick list every year (i mean, we are choosing a World Champion, after all). Speaking of shortlisting, at its infancy, the GLOKEN Cup started out with 70 tricks in total. GLOKEN soon discovered several flaws in this approach, namely the scarce variety of tricks, and that it wasn’t that difficult to rack high points in the final stages, by spamming mid level tricks. The following year, GLOKEN went with 100 tricks, which remained until 2017, where the trick list was then expanded to 120. This is done to keep kendama spreading and growing, to keep up with the frighteningly fast evolutionary pace kendama tricks go through, and make KWC much more enjoyable for beginners, who simply want to experience some fun in a competitive kendama event (the Tosta family is a fantastic example of this). (The 2018 KWC tricklist) Okay, let’s consider the following: If there were still 100 tricks to this day, tricks from higher levels of past years trickle down a few levels, leaving no room for the very basic tricks, which might mean you’d find a trick such as juggle spike at Level 1! It’s hardly vexing for the capable, but you end up with a lot of players who just want to come by and enjoy the experience, and end up feeling marginalized. And that surely won’t fit with the “Even More Fun, Even More Global” tagline that KWC adopted this year. As for the trick selection, GLOKEN considers several factors, such as new, creative, unique and inspiring tricks, tricks that are not lengthy and are easy for the judging panel to judge upon, and also the current trend and flow of tricks (BBs in 2015 for example, taps and cushions in 2016, ghosts and fasthands in 2017). For this year, i am told that swivel and gravity drops are the new thing, and that trends are really difficult to determine. GLOKEN always keeps an ear to the ground in making sure they don't get left behind in trends. The Release Once everyone has sorted the tricks out, Kota gets into action and starts editing the trick videos to be published on YouTube. Generally taking about two weeks, and done on Adobe's Premiere Pro, Kota mentions that stitching the tricks according to the assigned levels is not too difficult, but what adds to the bulk of the editing process is the addition for the trick description (which is on the top left corner of the video in both English, and Japanese), and the trick performer's name, country of origin and represented company / group on the bottom left corner, plus the country flag. The addition of the name and country began in 2016, as a way to easily identify who's performing the trick, and for which team, and country. Kota and the GLOKEN crew replay the videos over and over again to find tiny mistakes to fix, taking extra steps to ensure the videos go up on YouTube without complications. Having taken up the position of in-house editor since 2015, Kota has been ecstatic to receive so many submissions from the public. In a way, the KWC trick list would not have been possible, if not for the overwhelming help and support kendama players give towards the creation of the trick list. He hopes that future submissions keep coming, as long as they are not filmed vertically, and enough space on the sides are given for Kota to place the trick description, name and logos. Once the videos are complete, they are uploaded on GLOKEN's YouTube channel in mid April (with the exception of 2014, which was uploaded during the month of June). Competitors then have approximately 3 months of grinding, practice and preparation towards chasing the World Champion crown. GLOKEN also provides a trick list in PDF format, for ease of viewing. In the earlier years (2013-2015) however, the links pointing to the PDF files were quite obscure, and is usually released within a week after the final trick level has been published, and for competitors who were a little impatient, that meant resorting to compiling tricks in their own PDF files (including yours truly), and distributing it to everyone who needed it. GLOKEN made links to their PDF files more prominent in 2016 (and with it, a revamped KWC splash page on their website), and Japanese app developer Shinya Hata released the KWC 2016 Trick Master Sheet app on Apple's App Store platform. Thanks majorly to the hype surrounding KWC, and the immediate availability of the trick list, everyone wanted to have a crack at it, to see if they really have what it takes, or even a glimpse of what it takes to be World Champion. It helps that a huge number of prominent players are on the list, busting out difficult tricks, and others wanted to try and hit it, too. The KWC trick list became a de facto litmus paper of sorts, acting as sort of a skill level gauge for a player. The Day Once you manage to make the pilgrimage to Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima for KWC, you're given a swag bag, in which contains, among other items and trinkets; your player number, and two pieces of paper - the score sheets. This is where you write down the trick level, and trick description (10 tricks for each paper in Prelims) to be brought to the dama check counter to be verified by event officials, where one copy will be handed over to them. During the GLOKEN Cup, written text made it a little difficult for the event officials to inspect, as everyone had different writing, and some proved to be borderline illegible, and then there’s the bit where writing everything down takes time. Lots of time. So, for the following year, the process is improved upon and simplified even further, where players were given an adhesive, pre-cut KWC tricklist sheet, in which you are able to detach your 10 desired tricks and stick them onto the two pieces of paper. (KWC registration counter.) (Sticking time!) (KWC sticker trick list) The officials will then bring a copy into the judging room - where around 4 officials work together to group every single score sheet into a cumulative level of tricks chosen, and then pair you into groups of three. This is done to ensure that you are paired with players who have roughly similar capabilities as you are, which in turn makes scoring much more efficient and easier. Once the preliminaries are over, the second score sheet is surrendered to the KWC officials, who hastily transport them to the judging room, where our 4 officials tally and ensure the points are correct, then sort out the preliminary ranking, where the names of finalists will be given to Nobu and Jake Wiens, to announce, and then the complete preliminary ranking list will be printed out, and pasted on the wall just to the right of the judging room. (The start of Day 1, KWC 2017.) (KWC judging room. The gentleman seated calculates scores mentally while the rest wait to sort.) When the final round commences on Day 2, a special judging table is set up at about 10 or so feet away from the stage, and is occupied by 3 individuals; Katsuaki Shimadera as the head judge, Hajime, who writes down every single trick the players attempt, and the results of each trick attempted, and finally Kota, who figures out the trick level and number (e.g. 8-6, 4-7, 12-9), and relays this information to Hajime, while Kota himself mans a review camera, pointed at the player, where said camera is generally equipped with slow motion capabilities, should there be a need for settling disputes. The Aftermath After all is said and done, and the World Champion is crowned, GLOKEN’s job doesn’t quite end there. Everyone might be outside, mingling, and having fun at the afterparty, but Hajime and his crew spend an additional 2 hours of clean up. Hajime himself has been sacrificing his own afterparty time ever since KWC began, relying only on photos and videos to catch a glimpse of what the afterparty looked like. And then of course, once everything is completely dismantled and the crew head back to GLOKEN headquarters in Nagano, there is still more work to be done, such as uploading complete finalists score sheets, updating the World Kendama Ranking list, and tons more. Being honored guests to the world’s best kendama event, and by extension, the kendama birthplace of Japan, it’s easy for us (even myself) to overlook and take for granted the hard work GLOKEN puts in to make KWC a successful event, year after year. This article is merely a tip of the iceberg; there are things that aren’t covered in this article like planning, logistics, funding and sponsorship deals, this article alone is more than enough for one to truly understand the scale of what is necessary to ensure a smooth operation for KWC. It’s a monumental amount of work and effort for a motley crew of 7, so whenever you see the GLOKEN crew, give them a hug, because they really worked their asses off to pull this event, and the worldwide kendama community together. Afterword (The current GLOKEN crew, plus Zoomadanke) Special thanks to the GLOKEN family for making this article possible. Kubota Tamotsu, Ishibashi Hajime, Kagoshima Kota, Hyuga Yuka, Matsuzawa Tomoyuki, Yoshizaki Reiko, Kamishima Kazuya, thank you all from the depths of my heart, especially to Tamotsu, Hajime and Kota, for endlessly barging you with questions, and quite possibly annoying you to a certain level along the way. Thanks also to Shimadera Katsuaki, Matt DeCoteau, Thorkild May, Philip Eldridge, Alex Smith, Trevor Starnes, and the community at Downspike and the Facebook Kendama Community for your help in answering some queries i had. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as i had fun writing it. I also hope you learned something from it, as much as i did, and i hope to get to meet every single kendama player at KWC (i am unfortunately not going this year, though), and any kendama event in the future.

From The Sweets newswire: Calling all creatives! This is your chance to be an official Sweets Kendamas designer! Our #DesignAPrime contest is live! How it works: 1. You draw a (realistic) prime kendama design 2. Sweets picks their 10 favorites 3. The public votes on their favorite 3! The top 3 designers win 5 of their own kendama and their art featured in a line of Prime Customs. Designs will be chosen based on: ORIGINALITY CREATIVITY COLOR CHOICE UNIQUENESS ABILITY TO BE PAINTED PLAYABILITY . Submissions are due May 16th. https://sweetskendamas.com/pages/designaprime RULES: Enter as many tama design as you’d like. Only 1 design will be chosen per artist. Create your design any way you can. Digital designs are preferred but hand drawn pictures will work too. *All submissions should be original designs created by you. Upload designs to your public Instagram feed and use the hashtag #DesignAPrime to enter the contest. 10 semi-finalists will be chosen by Sweets Kendamas staff and posted to our Instagram where the public will vote for our 3 winners. Each of the three winners will receive 5 kendamas of their own design. All submissions are due by May 16th. . Check out all the entries by clicking #DesignAPrime . #SweetsKendamas #kendama#kendamadesign #design #draw #doodle#paint #color #contest

Just like last year's Sakura Classic, the GT squad made another team announcement during the Saturday night party. Steph is now GT Prospect! It was so cool to watch her edit playing on the wall of the bar! Her mod sold out within 10 minutes, everybody rushed upstairs to line up and cop. Congrats Steph! Peep the vid for some dope lines in the snow from Steph! We are very excited to welcome Steph to the GT Prospect team! Her dedication to kendama along with her creativity, consistentcy, and all around good vibes have influenced kendama players around the world. From Steph "Never thought back in 2011 when I picked up my first kendama that I’d be here today. This wooden toy quickly became an obsession and took over my life and I couldn’t be more thankful for it. The reason I chose pink and blue for my prospect mod is because my 2 first kendamas were those colours. (Baby Blue Sunrise and Pink UV Sweets Focus) I just want to take time to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting my kendama journey. Nothing would’ve been possible without you guys. Shout out to all the OG and new gen players for inspiring me, you know who you are. Thanks to Kristian for supporting me since day 1. Thanks to YYC kendama crew for pushing me and helping me getting better on the daily. Thanks to the GT family for constant love and support. And last but not least, thanks to all my fans. Much love, Steph"

ZOOMADANKE If you've ever wanted to know more about the duo, this is your chance. A+ cinematography, color grading, editing and storytelling set this edit apart. Cool to hear from Tamotsu, Jero, Thorkild, and Sweets in this edit. Enjoy! cop the Mugen Musou seen in this vid: https://shop.kendamausa.com/products/mugen-musou-zoomadanke-ruby-red-kendama follow Zoomadanke on twitter: https://twitter.com/zoomadanke?lang=en Featured in the Japan Times: LIFESTYLE Kendama: spin doctors BY MASAMI ITO On the streets of Tokyo, Zoomadanke’s “Kodaman” (Takeshi Kodama) and “Easy” (Hiroki Iijima) look like any other young men in their 20s or 30s. The second they start playing kendama, however, the pair will put on a performance that completely redefines the traditional wooden toy. Zoomadanke is a professional kendama performance unit that was formed in December 2010. There was no major company pulling strings in the background — just two men, Kodama and Iijima, who decided that they enjoyed kendama so much they would make it into a career. “It all just started out as something fun,” says Kodama, 34. “The image of kendama was rather uncool, and people mostly looked down on it as a plain and sedate toy. I thought that if we could change that image, people would see how great it really was.” The two met at a toy-consultancy course, at which Iijima introduced Kodama to kendama. Iijima, a college student then, and Kodama, a former salaryman, had one thing in common — their love for toys. “I think kendama has and will continue to evolve,” says Iijima, 23. “The amazing thing about it is the potential it has to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and create something.” Zoomadanke’s performances are a reflection of such a philosophy. Using hip-hop, beatbox and even traditional Japanese music, Zoomadanke performs tricks using a kendama with a combination of smooth, graceful and sharp movements. The pair’s choreography is unique and entertaining, completely in sync with each other as they jump, twist and turn — all the time while doing kendama. The two men have performed on television, at public spaces, parks and have even gone abroad to destinations such as Brazil and Hawaii. “When you think about the fact that most people outside of Japan have never heard of kendama, imagine the endless possibilities it has,” Kodama said. “And like all toys, the great thing about it is, you don’t need to speak the language — you can communicate through kendama with anyone.” https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/11/08/lifestyle/kendama-spin-doctors/#.Wqa5Q5PwZp8