Best Kendamas
A kendama is a Japanese skill sport: a wooden handle with three cups and a spike, a ball on a string, and hundreds of tricks between them. Sticky paint on the ball is what makes learning kendama tricks so much easier.
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Kendama coach in the app
Learn kendama with pro player Davide Leonardi.
- 500+ video trick tutorials
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Sticky paint or smooth?
Sticky paint grips. The ball stops instead of sliding, which is why it is the right finish to learn on, and why the Starter Kendama uses it.
Smooth paint has less grip when new, but it stays consistent for the life of the kendama. That predictability is what advanced players want once they have more skill.
Every kendama here is standard size, modern shape, high grade wood, and comes with a spare string. The cheap ones in general toy shops are usually none of these - wrong size, random shape, whatever wood was available.
Can't decide? Get one of our kendama sets
The Starter Kendama Set is the kendama plus spare strings, beads and the tool - everything that wears out, included from the start.
Move to a pro kendama when your spikes are consistent.
Strings do not usually break, they wear and knot up. The Kendama String Pack has replacements in several colours.
Things people ask about kendamas.
Contact usThe Starter Kendama - standard size, modern shape, the right wood, spare string in the box. And sticky paint is what makes your first tricks much easier to learn.
Avoid novelty sizes and cheap toy-shop versions. You pay less but you will have hard time learning any of the tricks.
Starter KendamaThere is no single best brand. KROM, Sweets, Ozora and Kendama USA all make good kendamas, and most serious players own several. Ours are made by KROM to our spec.
What actually decides how a kendama plays is the paint, shape and the material, not the logo.
Some do, some do not - and that is not a knock on sticky paint. Sticky gives the most grip straight out of the box, which is exactly what you want while learning your first kendama tricks.
Over time it wears and loses some of that grip, so experienced players often move to a matte finish, which has less grip when new but stays consistent for the life of the kendama. Others play natural, unpainted wood, which starts slick and grips once it is broken in.
We recommend starting with a sticky grip finish.
A yoyo spins on a string and stays attached. A kendama is caught and balanced - the ball leaves your control on every throw.
Both are about precision, patience and flow. Kendama is easier to start with but gets more difficult later. Yoyo is the opposite. Plenty of players do both.
1. Get a sticky paint kendama.
2. Learn the three grips.
3. Land big cup - catch the ball on the big cup, knees bent, eyes on the ball.
4. Then around the block - all three cups in a row.
5. Then your first spike: pull up spike.
The SkillAddicts app takes it from there, trick by trick. The how to play kendama page has the overview.
Because the ball has to stop, not slide. Sticky paint grips for a fraction of a second when it lands, which is the difference between balancing the tama and watching it roll off.
Sticky paint has more grip which makes learning kendama tricks easier.
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