History of Kendama, the most popular game of the moment

I must admit that I only found out about Kendama last year when my grandson received it as a Christmas present. At first it seemed very simple and I couldn't understand why he wanted it so much. Trying to play with it, I realized that it is really hard to get even the simplest figure to come out and I looked at it with different eyes. Since then I've seen more and more people playing, the other day even Prince Charles taking lessons from a skilled teenager. And I also found out that the lovely CRBL is an avid gamer with over 350 pieces in his personal collection. As the toy is made of wood, it piqued my interest and I tried to find out more about it and its history.

Kendama is a Japanese wooden toy, consisting of a hammer-like rod and a ball attached to the rod with a 40-centimeter-long string. The rod has 3 cups of different sizes, one at the bottom end and the other 2 at the 2 ends of the 'hammer'. It also has a spike at the other end, opposite the bottom cup. Basically, the game is to catch the wooden ball in one of the 3 cups or the tip that fits perfectly into the hole in the ball. More advanced techniques involve other ways of catching the ball that exclude the cups or the tip. Even though it may not seem like it, there are a huge number of specific catches and techniques for doing it.

Although it is very widespread in Japan, the origin of the game seems to be in Europe, in France. Here, in the 16th century, there was a game called bilboquet, which consisted of catching the ball in one of the cups at the two ends of a rod to which the ball was attached with a string.

The game arrived in Japan via the Silk Road during the Edo period (1603-1868), via Nagasaki, the only Japanese city open to foreign trade at the time. The exact date when the game entered Japan is not known, but it is thought to be 1777-1778, when it was used as a drinking game between drinking buddies in local pubs. Anyone who got it wrong was forced to drink an extra glass. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kendama was introduced by the Ministry of Education into a kind of curriculum for children's education, as it was considered a game that develops skills. It has become increasingly popular among young people.

In 1919, a precursor to Kendama called Nichigetsu (sun and moon ball) was first offered for sale. It was called so because the ball resembled the sun and the cups the rising moon. It was at this time that the toy became very popular, with all sorts of variations of the game appearing.

In 1975, Fujiwara Issei, a children's writer, founded the Japanese Kendama Association which standardized the game for use in competitions and created rules in order to allow competitors to play the same way. Thus competitions began and the passion spread massively among young people.

From Japan, the game has spread around the world via the internet and new fast communication possibilities. New associations have sprung up in other countries and started organizing their own competitions. In 2008, the Kendama Association in the UK was founded and organized its first tournament in the same year. In our country, CRBL plans to devote more time to the game this year. He will organize camps for children who want to learn the game, as well as competitions.

Similar games exist and have existed all over the world. But it's clear that Japan has managed to make this simple game into a much-wanted Christmas present.