We’ve had fun touching on a variety of topics surrounding kendama, like the industry, competitions, and exposure. But now it’s time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Kendama is fluid, an ever-changing game with no clear identity, and in some ways that adds to what makes it so special. By the same token, it can also make projecting the future difficult. Without a clear-cut path forward, there is undeniable uncertainty regarding what direction we want to take the game. This brings us to our final and arguably most important question:

"What is your opinion on the state of kendama as a whole?"

•My opinion on Kendama as a whole right now is that it’s a niche hobby and will probably never become a mainstream sport. I think some company owners and people in the community are too focused on spreading Kendama to “everyone” when it’s really much more effective and rewarding to cultivate a close knit community of dedicated players. That being said, Kendama definitely benefits from being in the mainstream just like any niche hobby does. There’s always a chance a player sees a celebrity or a tiktok of kendama and then goes on to become a dedicated player. But I think the problem is that some people think a Kendama player is created from seeing someone famous do it. But those players are often the ones who buy a Kendama, mess around with it for a few days, and shelf it. What makes a kendama player grow and become an involved is when they are apart of a small community of friends. By doing that, you are growing Kendama.

•I love kendama and I’ve been playing most of my life, and since I started it’s always been a battle between everyone who plays, people make it political and it’s so annoying, it’s supposed to bring people together but everyone beefs all the time and that’s so stupid to me, I think the community could be doing so much better.

•I think Kendama has found a decent following and has leveled out, not sure how many new players are starting but I know the ones who play should keep playing for a long time if we have events to share the community and keep caring about the design and state of Kendama for future generations.

•I think that it has become somewhat shallow as it seems to rely so much on Instagram, TikTok, and clips. I do wish there was a future where it could be legitimized more, as do most people in skill toy communities. But overall, I still think it’s a good group that could always do more.

•It is in a crucial turning point stage. We are either about to see the biggest boom that we have so far, or the biggest drop off since it has started.

•The state of kendama is struggling, the companies are being affected by the economy. So are the seshers that can’t afford a new dama not because of choice but because of the economy.

•I think it's stagnated, a huge portion of which is currently being forced by the tariffs and current economic crisis. EKC and NAKO suffered in attendance I think there's too much talk of "what are we going to do to expand kendama" instead of actually doing something. Not enough people call out handed tricks online or incorrect tricks at comps and it really annoys me. Kentegrity used to mean something!

•Kendama has exploded in these last 5 to 10 years and I’m beyond proud to be a vet in this sport in the US watching and participating in its growth. It’s beyond amazing to me. I hope to see it continue to grow like it has. It’s given me so much personal joy and pride but also a sense of community and love in every corner of it. I can say this proudly “Kendama has been the best sport I have been involved in with the most passion and creativity. I will play it till the day I die.” PS shout out to Sam from Charlotte Kendam Jams, without you I wouldn’t have found this larger community as fast. You inspired me to build my company and become such a big part of my small corner here in kendama. I love you homie.

•I'm happy to see that Kendama is starting to resurface, especially on social media platforms like TikTok! I would like to see it in the Olympics one day, which is a goal that seems much more feasible today than it did in the past

•We all know Kendama hits in waves, we ride the sets waiting for the next big one to hit, paddle in and fly. Right now we are between big waves but I can feel another one is coming, it’s time we start paddling in again and get ready for the big moment to stand up and fly! Kendama is worth the work, Kendama is too powerful to stay down for too long.

•Kendama definetly has proven to be more than just a flash in the pan. I would love to see it grow to something even bigger, really make events big enough for people to make that a full time job. At the same time i love the "OG, close-community, you know everyone" feeling that kendama still has. It's hard man..

•In my personal opinion, Kendama should be about being the best version of yourself, not only in play but in life. And I see a lot of potential for people to grow with Kendama. But I also see people use Kendama as a way to get into a club that isn’t going to hold them to a higher standard of life because it’s an accessible avenue for them to indulge themselves in a destructive lifestyle. That being said, I admired players growing up as a kid who not only were extremely talented and creative, but also showed that they were also trying to be better humans at they themselves evolved. Even if it was through my distorted lense of watching YouTube videos, I saw that some players and people were actively bettering themselves as time progressed. I do not see that sort of culture in Kendama and I instead see an influx of negative people that do not encourage others to live up to the highest potential for their lives. I see a lack of respect from newer players to older players, I see a disconnect from players who have been playing for 20 years to each other, I see a lot of clout chasing and a lot of bitterness. When it should just be about Kendama, and what Kendama means to the individual.

•I think the Kendama community really hit its peak between like 2012 and 2016. Those years felt like the golden era— the energy, the events, and the sense of connection were just unmatched. I actually started playing in 2016, so I kind of joined right at the tail end of that peak. Most of my early exposure to Kendama came from watching videos and players from that era, and that’s what really shaped my understanding of the community. Since then, I’ve seen how much it’s changed, and I think that’s just part of the natural evolution of any sport or hobby as it grows on a global scale. With more players, brands, and competitions, things inevitably shift. It’s great that Kendama continues to grow and reach new audiences, but I still think that early era had a special kind of magic that can’t quite be recreated. I’d say the shape changes and scale and level of tricks we’ve gotten to is also quite insane to comprehend. It’s crazy to see how the possibilities really are endless, and how players keep pushing the limits of what we can do with this toy year after year.

•Kendama is in trouble, and it might be too late to right the ship.

•I think Kendama is the best most awesome and beautiful thing ever. The community and friends and everything about it is super cool!

•I feel like Kendama is in an alright space vibes wise, but as we all get older it’s getting harder for us all to make Kendama the top priority. We have formed a closed off circle that caters to us but not to others, and newer generations aren’t forming as much as they used to.

•So from a day-to-day personal perspective I believe Kendama is in a great state. The local communities are either growing slowly or staying the same, I didn't really notice any loss of players recently. On Kendama Events the atmosphere is as good as never before, from premieres more people keep getting sponsored which also gives people hope and motivation to try and get sponsored. On a bigger perspective I've heard from multiple companies that they struggle economically, with the most obvious one being krom going bankrupt 2(?) years ago. That's a sad thing to me since I'm not sure why this is happening but still it does happen... Generally, I would wish the kendama scene would be more inclusive. I don't know why but (at least in europe) kendama is dominated largely by men (>90%). I've talked to many (female) friends and I really can't find a reason as to why the scene is so appealing to men while women don't seem interested in it. That would be one thing I would love to see increase.

•Like Gabe announced at NAKO this year, the most important thing/support we need comes not from within, but from our crowds and spectators. We need to care more about bringing those people in while still having the fun we’ve always had supporting each other in our own tight knit community. I am not a competitor but I don’t have any huge problems with the direction it is taking competitively. I also run events so I kind of rely on people taking the competition seriously.

•I think we’re seeing a “silent” shift. We’re moving past the era of trying to be better than the other companies and making a shape that everyone plays exclusively. Company owners I think have finally realized that you’re never going to make the “perfect kendama” because there will always be people who have different preferences on shapes due to style of play. We’re moving into an era of Kendama where art and style is in the fore front. High Receipts, BIRL, any edit with Mags behind the camera are what people want to watch. And innovative, mind bending freestyle runs is what people crave.

•I think it's such a niche thing. It has grown considerably, but many of us focus too much on making it something it's not. I love the vision, but for me at least, part of what makes kendama special is how small of a world it is.

•It’s going stronger and close to grown up for real, I think it’s time to take some risk with investment personal or financial.

•Seems to be just be still growing just not as quickly. I will say thrush I go people either know what a kendama is or want to know.

•Kendama is very personal to me, I would play if no one else did. The scene as a whole is very wholesome and friendly despite the occasional bad apple, something within us connects us through this stupid little toy, I’ve met some of my best friends in the world through it and I couldn’t be more grateful. Anyone who has experienced even a fraction of the love and support from this community that I have should want others to experience the same thing and I think most players would agree. The focus should be on getting it front of the eyes of and into the hands of as many people as possible and the most practical ways to do that involve money that most players or companies don’t have. Social media is the next best step but despite many people who don’t play telling em they’ve seen it before only a percentage of people actually go out and buy one and then go on to play and stick with it and involve themselves in the community. How we cross that barrier I do not know but the more people who are in the stronger we are. Classical media tactics, news, ads etc will only get us so far and it’s actually about converting on the occasional opportunities like these that we do get.

•Its going great it growing.

•Kendama is on a good pace, but I think to grow it needs to translate to people who have no clue what they are looking at.

•With the ups and downs of kendama popularity, preparing for the lulls and enjoying the peak is something so unique because it’s such a niche hobby. I think social media especially TikTok is underrated in Kendama right now and may be the medium we need to implement to have long-term, mainstream kendama.

•Its meh, I’m happy its progressing since that means I get more kendamas and events are such but Juggles are boring, taps are done and hip-hop dance freestyle kendama is wack.

•I love the niche aspect of it at the moment. I’m afraid it will loose a bit of it’s magic if it get’s bigger

•It’s growing which is a double edged sword, I’m not gonna say that growth is a bad thing but negative things do come. If players in all don’t move over to TikTok, they will miss out on so many new opportunities for not just business but growth for exposure to new audiences, growth for personal brand/person growth. And with that in mind the people who have already converted to more platforms are already growing so much more than expected and Miguel is the best example.

•Its good, kendama its spreading again.

•About normal for how many people know about it. Every group has shitheads, every group has the dirty druggie crowd. It needs to stay kid friendly unless otherwise posted.

•I feel like it’s all about competitions right now. Who can land the gnarliest trick and win comps. I miss when kendama was about being with people, hanging out and getting stoked on progression and having cool clips. (Not just good tricks, but vibes and editing as well).

•Kendama is doing just fine. They were always be new players. It's interesting and intriguing.

•Events are growing which is great, but sales are slower so brands are struggling to give opportunities to sponsored players due to lack of funds, and newer sponsored players who are pushing tricks and competition level higher aren’t as loyal as the OGs. Overall I think kendama community is much better than it’s been in the past. Way less divided. Everyone right now is supportive and doing cool creative things! I love that!

•I like the state in which Kendama is at right now. Kendama is evolving to the point where it’s becoming more of a sport than a hobby. We are heading in the right direction when it comes to competitions and how there are “majors” or bigger, more competitive competition.

•I feel that it is in a place where everyone wants and is trying to move it forward, but no one is working together to achieve something bigger.

•It's a niche small community and there is nothing wrong with that!

•Too much drama, too much a game of names.

•It’s popping, but we can still make it even more attractive to new people and non kendama players so we can keep up with this trend

•I think trick wise it is getting exponentially harder to push the limits, which will likely mean that for those pros everyone follows and gains inspiration from ,there will be a return to more freestyle, flow-like, non-sandwich lines and more personal expression. I think both are incredibly important but it does feel very skewed at the moment towards progression rather than expression. Online community wise, I think broadly people should interact with each other more than just commenting fire emojis. I wish I could see more actual dialogue in the comments about tricks, events, kendama news etc. Overall, I think the plateau of new kendama interest since the covid boom has meant that the community has become incredibly tight-knit, and to a certain degree, a little closed off to new people. I wonder if the kendama community is truely ready for the next boom and ready to welcome more mainstream interest.

•Great but needs more people in the scene and especially a more diverse community where everyone really feels safe and welcome

•It’s in a healthy growth stage, seeing more kids engaging via online but, seems that in person is struggling mostly with cost of living and generally being tougher to travel….also non US people don’t really want to go to the US.

•I'm very hopeful for kendama's future. I believe persistence will pay off. So if you're thinking about quitting like those loser OGs, think again!! (jk) If we work together and identify where to invest our money and resources, we can make it happen. So if you're a customer, buy kendamas! Tell your friends to buy them. Share content that's NOT TRICKS. Share PSAs, cool kendama projects, EVENT POSTS,.. It's important to make sure you show kendama as a 3 dimensional multi faceted culture. Tricks are 2 dimensional and over hyped. There's a million other things to show off if you're really about this shit. If you're a company, SPONSOR EVENTS and invest in outreach projects. Do whatever you can to both support the most valuable real world asset for players (in person events), and what will allow our community to thrive (finding new customers)

•It’s not a secret that financially kendama is no where near where we were in 2016-22. We can’t help the economic state of the world, but we can help Kendama. There are a lot of people doing good things everyone just needs to use those means keep doing jams to grow the community. Share your story and personality. Give people something to invest in. Once more people care it makes it easier for new players to find their role in the community a lot faster. There has been some burn out it seems from some of the older players but they shouldn’t have to be stressed about kendama which leads them to not playing as much. Luckily a new batch of competitive players are going to events and making every event feel more important. I’m optimistic.