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Common Kendama Trick Misconceptions

Discussion in 'The Sesh' started by KeeganS, Apr 12, 2020.

  1. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    Boise, Idaho
    With how widespread and varied kendama and kendama tricks have become over the last decade there are many misconceptions about tricks and how they are executed and even the name they are called.

    The purpose of this thread is to gather many of these misconceptions and clear up the doubt and confusion about them.

    First one I'll bring up, Juggle to Lighthouse and Throw/Toss/Kenflip to Lighthouse. Many players learning juggles eventually come across Juggle to Lighthouse (very popular 'level up' post on FKC). However many of those players post it as the first clip below and many (myself among them) know it as the second clip below.

    (Toss to Lighthouse)


    (Juggle to Lighthouse)
     
    Apr 12, 2020
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  2. Sam Oudekerk

    Sam Oudekerk n00b

    Joined:
    May 8, 2019
    I believe that you’re correct. I learned you actually need to do a juggle and then land the lighthouse. This could be an amazing thread with great clarifications to the game. Please keep posting!
     
    Apr 14, 2020
  3. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    For sure, this one is fairly popularly confused trick
     
    Apr 14, 2020
  4. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    Looking for some input on this one. What is Revolver, what is Gunslinger?


    I've always thought this was Revolver





    . . . and thought this one was always called Gunslinger.



    For reference here's what I've always thought of as Gunslinger (grip aside).
     
    Apr 16, 2020
  5. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    The top video with the tama on the spike I’ve always known as Loaded Gunslinger/Loaded Revolver while Gunslinger and Revolver are interchangeable similar to Small Cup Bird and Nightingale or Cliffhanger and Axe.
    Though I could be wrong about Gunslinger and Revolver being interchangeable, but Gunslinger/slinger has been the prevailing term as of late similar to Cliffhanger was the older name for the Axe trick which is how the trick is more commonly called.

    I’d also like to add that the two tutorials from that yoyo group is very dated by comparison, and though the player in the tutorial is skilled they do introduce some very unknown tricks or some that is not referred to in any kendama competition.
     
    Apr 16, 2020
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  6. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    Interesting about Cliffhanger since I learned handle stall (base cup stall), using the JKA grip, as Clifftop a long while back.

     
    Apr 17, 2020
  7. Aaron Gallegos

    Aaron Gallegos Slayer

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    The biggest one for me is people calling spike “in” (i.e. juggle in or bird one turn in)

    “In” is when you’re holding the tama and the spike goes into the tama.

    “Spike” is when you’re holding the ken and the tama goes onto the spike.

    It didn’t really bug me at first but now I’m starting to see this misconception everywhere.
     
    Apr 18, 2020
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  8. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    This is something I noticed as well when I went to my first kendama event, but can’t explain it away beyond just semantics.
    There are tricks that use the term ‘in’ for spike and others use ‘falling in’ for airplane. afaik i’ve only seen both the ‘in’ for spike and ‘falling in’ for airplane done in ken grip for the most part (bird flip in like you mentioned and big cup falling in as opposed to big cup airplane)
     
    Apr 19, 2020
  9. Donald Grant

    Donald Grant Member

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    Ok, I'll bite... :)
    One that really yanks my chain is people who don't get the difference between "Backhand" and "Penguin" catches. It's only a Penguin catch if your elbow is higher than your hand.
    All penguins are backhand catches, but not all backhand catches are penguins, folks.
    That's my lockdown mini-grumble for the day, stay safe, D
     
    Apr 22, 2020
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  10. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    O
    ooh, good one.
     
    Apr 22, 2020
  11. JHard502710

    JHard502710 Slayer

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    https://www.google.com/search?q=jug...ient=safari#kpvalbx=_63GhXuLNOO6i_QaIoIDwDg39

    it’s difficult for newer players to learn accurately when they get their info from tutorials like these.. I believe KUSA’s YT tutorial for juggle to lighthouse is the exact same with Kenyatta demonstrating if I remember correctly when I was trying to learn them.. I got called out(only in DM) on IG when I learned this trick and I guess mis-labeled the toss to lighthouse as a juggle to lighthouse

    *edit: would the name juggle up to lighthouse be more accurate than toss to lighthouse or vice-versa? In your all’s opinions??
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2020
    Apr 23, 2020
  12. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    Interesting, I don't remember this tutorial dropping at all haha.

    I've discussed this with Tim on FKC and for the most part a single juggle involves the 1 ken toss and 1 tama toss which is why when you see people juggling out of Airplane it's typically called 1.5 swap juggles. Which would make the tutorial here more of a half juggle since the ken is tossed up the same way a juggle is initiated but is 'incomplete' because the tama was not juggled as well.
    No one else has brought this tutorial to my attention when discussing if their trick was a juggle to lighthouse or not
     
    Apr 23, 2020
  13. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    I also wanna add that, though I have mad love for the Sweets crew and homies, they seem to have a bit of loose interpretations on some tricks.
    When I helped judge NAKO/MKO in previous years and we went over the tricks, Whirlwind was one commonly asked trick when considering if we should count it if the tama didn't do an Earth Turn. Everyone knows Whirlwind as a combination of Earth Turn and Kenflip, one of the first advanced tricks that many players learn but as judges we were given the ok to count it (or at the very least not miscount it) if someone did the trick without the Earth Turn (purposefully or not).

    This isn't to say that they're always loose with trick interpretations but there is a precedent for it.
     
    Apr 23, 2020
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  14. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    Speaking of precedent, how do you address situations where someone uses a particular video to support their interpretation/naming and someone else uses a different video for an alternative perspective? Do you go by post date?
     
    Apr 23, 2020
  15. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    Depends on how trick definitions and interpretations have changed between the 2. Like when Lunar Tres started getting popular and people wanted to set the differences between Tres and Lasers (I'm not a skater, I only really am familiar with the names of the tricks in relation to skating and the execution of Tres in kendama)
     
    Apr 23, 2020
  16. JHard502710

    JHard502710 Slayer

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    Sweets team isn’t the only one mislabeling though..

    Seems like the two biggest companies(most popular and been around longest In the States) both interpret the trick the same way.. I understand people having different opinions on what juggling actually is, but by definition juggling is tossing one thing in the air while holding another and releasing it to send the other object in the air.. when you “Juggle Up“ I would technically call it juggling because you are pulling the tama up initially which would be like your initial “toss” out of your non dominant hand catching in your dominant hand and releasing the Ken to send in the air so something is always in your hand and always in the air as well..

    By my personal opinion only I would consider it a toss/(Ken flip)/throw if you tossed the Ken at the same time you’re pulling the tama up(kind of like kenflip to spikes, but instead of catching the Ken u catch the tama and land lighthouse) not sure if his is accurate or correct, just how I see the tricks. The guy that called me out was a member of FKC too and I remember him saying there was a debate on there about it too, and I feel like he got called out and that’s why he DM’d me, so as to not publicly call me out but try and correct my mis-label.

    I do think if our sport of kendama is wanting to be taken serious and to a new level I feel like some of the top companies here should gather with some of the top Japanese companies and compile an official trick list and includes all new school tricks up to this point(yea I know people are constantly coming up with new tricks and variations). This time in the world when things are slowing down to a halt for most would be a good time to work on something like this too via video chats and whatnot. <— just my 2cents
     
    Apr 24, 2020
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  17. Mr.carlin

    Mr.carlin n00b

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    Apr 25, 2020
    is a bird that doesn't lean on the spike considered a wing?
     
    Apr 25, 2020
  18. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    That is actually called a perch! If it's not leaning on the spike with the ken vertical (well, as vertical as it can get for the trick) then it's a perch.
    With the ken horizontal, it's a wing
     
    Apr 25, 2020
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  19. htimSxelA

    htimSxelA Moderator Staff Member

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    Ooh, the elbow / hand position criterion is a good one. I too have had this gripe, but I usually would say "if you catch it above your nipple, its not a penguin"

    Anatomically speaking, it seems difficult to position your hand below your nipple, but above your elbow (while also performing a kendama trick). So the two measuring sticks seem complimentary :p

    "Backhand" is kind of a nice name, might start using that. I usually just called it "top".
    As an explanation: When in ken grip, 'top cup' just plays off the name 'bottom cup', and since my qualifier was 'above the nipple', well thats fairly high up relative to where you might catch other tricks. Thus, 'top cup'.
    Related: 'super top cup' was born from this as well. Also ken grip, but keep rotating your hand, past 'top cup', so that the big cup is facing upwards. It is very difficult to get into this position without having your hand above your shoulder.
     
    Apr 26, 2020
  20. Donald Grant

    Donald Grant Member

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    Nipples,eh? Does this mean we're going to have to refrigerate the stage at comps to help the judges?? :)
     
    Apr 27, 2020
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