Part three of Candid Kendama is here, and it’s all about exposure. (If you want to get caught up, here’s part one and part two.) Kendama has made plenty of strides in terms of recognizability over the past 17-ish years. From making cameos in movies and television shows to signature models designed and promoted by prominent figures in other skill-based communities, there’s no denying that there has been a big push to get kendama in front of as many new eyeballs as possible. But while its had a few shining moments in mainstream pop culture, in the grand scheme kendama is still very much a little fish in a big pond, hence prompting our third question:

"What company, group, or individual is doing the most to spread kendama? Who do you think could do more?"

•I think players like Franta Mars are the best at spreading Kendama. Through his job, he travels to different schools in his city and shows kids Kendama in very cool yet instructional way. He then hosts jams at his city’s store that carries Kendama’s and then makes many mini competitions and games for the kids who come. What this boils down to is three things. 1. Spread kendama through in-person interactions. 2. Host a weekly jam to develop personal relationships to create an environment where new players can interact and create friendships between each other. (Bonus points if the jam location has Kendama available for sale) 3. Create mini competitions (think of a very broad definition of “competition” in this context) or even just some sort of challenge to guide players to become better at kendama. I think regular kendama players can do more. The most valuable thing to grow Kendama, in my opinion, is to host a weekly jam, and continue to invite new players to attend.

•Krom’s marketing and advertising is off the charts, same with SWEETS, the goat . I think Sol Kendamas and Lotus could definitely do more, the prices are out of control and the batches are really small so nobody can ever get anything. Also every company needs to stop making their apparel so expensive.

•I think the man right there is Matt “Sweets” Jorgenson. Sweets Kendama is leading the charge pushing events, kendama design, team branding and outreach more than any other company. I also really love Krom Kendama, they have been such a solid brand with quality, design, and consistency. I think they can do more right now because it sounds like the ownership changed hands. This has set them back a lot and they will need to build up their team, content, and competition representation. But it seems like they are already on their way back to one of the top companies

•I think Rod is a very positive soul when it comes to spreading kendama, at least in a positive manner. Plus, his knowledge from traveling the world, language skills, experience in the game, and general acceptance makes him a perfect candidate for spreading the sport. Other than that Miguel seems to be the king imo of giving kendama a more known presence. Him and the entire country of Romania too I guess 😂. I just think that kendama, besides the community itself, isn’t all about making damas but doing more community stuff, edits, promotions, events, etc.

•I think we could obviously all do more. But I think the Romanians are doing the best job of it right now. The advancement of social media has directly impacted this.

•I think Miguel has done a lot in the current state of kendama, his reach on ig and tiktok to non-kendama players has been huge. I think Occult could do more to spread kendama.

•Question kendamas, easy Tennessee Ken club, kendamacares, and Miguel himself. The dudes personality is very bright and he really loves the game.

•To spread is Kendama Depot for sure, they send raffle prizes, or give aways to nearly every comp in the U.S and comps over seas. It’s the presence in the community that makes them that guy. Also, the kendama map!!!! OG companies any company that was around since the start of the Boom in US. Yes, most host comps but it’s a deeper level to it than that.

•Sweets Kendamas and Krom Kendamas are both great ambassadors for Kendama-- part of that has to do with the amount of non-kendama events and beginner-friendly content that they provide to newcomers. In terms of individuals, many people who post speaking content on social media (Miguel, Casey, Erin). Many other companies seem to be overly concerned with creating competitive products within the community, slightly neglecting the importance of beginner kendama. Another group that does amazingly is East Tennessee Ken Club! They place a lot of emphasis on the positivity and community of kendama rather than simply the competitive aspect.

•I feel like everyone is desperately trying to spread Kendama both out of love for the game and to make sure the sport doesn’t die facing difficult financial times for so many companies.

•Teo with the EKC Project and Kenfest adds alot of value as a less competitive counterpart, more like a gathering. Honrui could be involved more i guess. We need non-kendama sponsors (drink companies, action-sport, clothing, etc.)

•I really like what KendamaUSA has been doing recently, but I’m never going to forget Chad Covington. Both parties are experts at collaboration, not only for the purist but for the newcomer. Welcoming those old and new to the scene. KendamaUSA is grassroots where I first learned about Kendama, so I’m gonna be partial to their story, the player history, and how they set the standard for what it meant to be a “sponsored Kendama player” by very strict criteria. KendamaCo around the same time held the same standard of play, and for me it’s always been about the standard of play. I feel like a lot of smaller companies are killing it too, but I’ve noticed some dwindle off due to means they can’t necessarily control so it’s not always on them. It’s hard to grow something like that from small to big.

•In today’s age I think a big spread of kendama is happening online through viral videos. Krom and, in particular, pros Bonz and Davide have been consistent over the years with creating captivating, intriguing, more unconventional type content. I’d say Sol had quite a moment as well with Alex being a powerhouse for engaging and quick Youtube shorts. Individuals like Miguel (aka erraticsquirrel) and Casey Henson have also created a lot of attention towards events and new gen tricks, that I think appeals to the younger audience naturally. As far as who can do more— I think a lot of people are already doing a great job spreading Kendama. It’s such a naturally eye-catching and community-driven toy that it kind of promotes itself when people are having fun with it. I don’t think it’s everyone’s responsibility to go above and beyond to spread it — not everyone has to make content or host events. Even just enjoying your own play, sharing it with friends, engaging online… As long as people aren’t discouraging others or giving it a bad name, I think that’s enough to keep the community healthy and growing.

•I think Miguel is spreading Kendama a lot and when I went to his jam every time a person passed through he would ask if they wanted to play which was really cool. I think lotus can do more giveaways because that can spread a lot of attention to the company and make companies have more control between other companies.

•Da originz and erratic squirrel are doing the most to spread Kendama, and all of the old top guys like sweets, kusa, and sol seem to be slowing down.

•Kendamanomics is doing the most nowadays. I think Kendama USA could do way more.

•Here in Europe I feel like Krom is spreading kendama the most, being at countless sporting/cultural events and being found also in skate shops (like blue tomato). Sweets used to be bigger in Europe but I think they are focusing more on the us now. I think most companies do the best in their abilities (and budget) to spread kendama, and companies that aren't spreading kendama that much are focussing more on improving the game (like hand turning companies such as AKA, Shardama, etc. and high quality kendama & paint brands such as originz or KISR).

•I wholeheartedly believe that Chad Covington and the Sol team are the best in the business, and Battle and the Border becoming the biggest event kind of proves that. Kendama USA holds a special place in my heart but in recent years they have seemingly slowed down their marketing/drive to remain on top, albeit I’m not sure that was ever the main goal of the company regardless.

•Anyone who does “Tik Tok” style vids are doing the most. That type of content spreads fast and reaches a very wide audience. Companies need to change how they try and spread kendama. It’s a toy that has every reason to spread into a world wide trend and I don’t think companies are able to figure out how to climb over the hump and ignite the spark that’s just waiting to be lit.

•I think everyone is going at their own approach and pace. Which is fine, however, I believe it sounds be spread more organically. Send a team out to a regular non Dama event with a bunch to teach with and give away.

•All the owner of the big competition like EKC, NAKO, BATB and KWC CFKC.

•Sweets. Probably myself.

•Mindfulness Through Play org is probably doing the best grassroots work to spread kendama, getting into the hands of local school children who have unlimited time to play and unlimited potential, this is where we’re most likely to find America’s Ryoga or the like. However it remains far too localized and obviously can’t operate at scale yet but it’s the best grassroots org that we have. Teo is doing the best job of making kendama “cool”, EKC is by far the most hype event out there and American events while they’re catching up still remain two steps behind in this regard. Part of this is due to europes older playerbase and willingness to let people smoke/drink/party at events with more ease, but most of it is the environment he’s curated for the event. They play by far the best music for freestyle and have by far the best venue (outside of Japanese events I admittedly have not been to) I forget his name but that Romanian tik tok dude makes the best slop content that gets the gen z and younger audience and Romanian events are blowing up, however due to the language and cultural barriers it hasn’t hit the same in America and most of Europe. Miguel makes by far the most engaging tik tok content in the west and gets tons of views but I don’t necessarily see it engaging new players to come to events and stuff just yet, maybe with time. Ditto for ET but with instagram content. Danielle (kendama squirrel) and Nonoka do the best job of opening up the playing space to women and other gendered kendama players, hosting an events in their hometowns for these players and that gets new individuals into a male dominated space which is awesome to see. Sweets/krom/sol/kusa seem to not do as much outreach as these individuals and instead rely on being the old guard of existing kendama companies that reached a level of scale and are happy to rest on their laurels of being the SOE and Ad maxxers and are only hurting themselves insulating themselves from the scene and keeping to themselves too much at events currently. Their market share is there to be eaten by other younger more engaging companies that integrate into the scene more smoothly like locked and lotus. Kendama depot does the opposite of this the best, the team and owner/employees are integral parts of the community and friends with nearly everyone at events which is awesome to see, those are the type of people you go to an event to see. Ditto for locked and lotus. Depot also has some of the best recourses for new players, a map of local players in your area, event lists, local community lists, active in community organization group chats, entry level prices, widest range of products, hosts their own jams in CT. I could go on. Local communities that are large and consistently host jams and events are also huge factors in this, mainly CO, Boston/the east coast, southern CA, and the Carolina’s all have thriving scenes For kendama to hit escape velocity we need publicity and conversion on that publicity.

•Teodore Fiorina.

•It’s difficult to narrow down the community that much but here are some pretty helpful people for the community! Miguel @erraticsquirrel & Casey Henson @caseyhenson have done a lot to use TikTok as a platform to grow kendama. So much so that it has started a boom period in Romania again. Isaac (Lotus & Kendamanomics), Bret (BIRL), MJR (Kendama Depot) each of these people look at kendama in a completely different way and have encouraged growth/more in depth projects that aren’t new but lost through time. Covid changed a lot about kendama, and I think we can grow it to a new level now that we are marketing to a larger group than just kids. There are also a lot of players pushing Kendama and on most platforms. There are less but still a lot of people spreading it at events, shops, or festivals. Question 2 There is a simple answer for this one. All of us. Companies with larger followings should try to develop relationships with brands outside of Kendama

•Don’t know, don’t know a lot of companies.

•Romania hit the most recent Kendama influence via social media as well as Miguel and Casey. POST YOUR TRICKS!

•The most is probably sweets everytime I see something from them its an event or a fair they’re at to spread kendama its dope I could do more lol

•The main few handful of people I can think of are the social media/influencer players. In our day and age people are looking towards influencers rather than actual companies. People like Casey, Miguel and Xremus are people who have so much influence on the scene that it’s insane. Miguel has shown that his influence is literally helping him sell damas. With him always going out of stock it just shows the handle he has on his audience as well as new people who just simply watch his videos. Our current society is being run by short form content. While long videos are always going to be sick, short form is king. Everyone can do more, simply posting on more platforms other than instagram would increase more opportunities for growth across all boards.

•KROM is the one pushing the most to spread kendama.

•Chad does a huge ammount of events and outreach, so does amanda and her crew out east.

•Sol/Chad. Wild running to companies and bringing a lot of people behind them. DWI has been pretty silent recently I wonder if they making a switch towards roller blading

•I'm not sure I've been out of the loop.

•GLOKEN, Sol, Sweets, Josh Grove, Teo, Davide do a lot of events and teaching! Anyone hosting events and making an effort to get people together, or teach to new people are crushing it! Smaller brands, new brands could be doing more just by participating in local festivals, events, japanese culture festivals, schools, etc.

•Jake Weins and Cody Griz do an awesome job with Spreading Kendama within other sports and subculture. Casey Henson, Mateusz Rudny, Miguel De La Torre and Dave Cherwak also do a Good job with how they spread Kendama within their social media platforms. Companies can only do so much to spread kendama due to the lack of fund and popularity. Kendama is more effectively spread through its players.

•Sweets is doing the most, GT could do more.

•Question kendamas is at so many festivals and events giving out damas and spreading the word, I think more stuff like the foundation sweets has should be done by the larger companies like Sol and Krom.

•Teo a legend fr.

•Miguel de la torre, Krom, Kendama Gent, Lotus Kendamas and sweets.

•KROM appears to be doing a lot of markets, they are consistently posting content that is friendly to beginners, and they support smaller events. I think Sweets new shipping initiative is great too and their livestreaming of events really helps bring the community together around competition. I do think that if they want to continue to be the face of kendama (and spreading kendama is still one of their main priorities) they need to drop the double big cup as their flagship model. New players are the ones who lose out the most with double big cup as you've removed a key element that allows for levelling up and progression. I think KUSA does a great job with the current community in terms of the content they put out, and the damas of course, but they could be doing more to actually spread kendama. It doesn't appear to be a high priority for the company as a whole.

•Krom (esp. Davide) is doing a lot, Teo, sweetskendamas.

•I think Kendamanomics/lotus is doing heaps. Birl also up there. It’s hard to say do more, it’s obviously a hard economic situation and even the big companies struggling (nako/sweets). Just want everyone to survive!

•Krom and Sweets are doing loads! Their main goals has always been to reach new players. Other than that, I think every single other company should do more. It's vital to make content and direct advertising that speaks to kendama players. But on the flip side, you HAVE to make the pool of players larger. It'll be the death of the industry if things stay as they are.