Hokuryu Kendama Festival @Hokuryu Town Sunflower Village - Play kendama while admiring the sunflowers in full bloom! Organized by the Hokuryu Kendama Club

Thursday, August 8, 2024

The Hokuryu Kendama Festival, sponsored by the Hokuryu Kendama Club, will be held at Himawari no Sato Lawn Square from 11:00 on Sunday, August 4th!

Hokuryu Kendama Festival

More than 40 people participated, including local Kendama members and children and adults from outside the town (including about 30 visitors, for a total of about 70 people), and everyone had a great time.

The afternoon Kendama competition was a heated battle that lasted for two and a half hours from 1:30pm to around 4pm.

Two-part program: morning and afternoon

The event was divided into two parts, morning and afternoon, with the "tsutsuken" competition starting at 11:00 a.m. and the "kendama" competition starting at 1:30 p.m.

• Tsutsuken 11:00~
  ・Tsutsuken's long throw catch, can you catch it? Can't you catch it? Quiz
  - Tsutsuken long throw catch is competed in pairs, parent-child division, and division for elementary school students and above!
• Kendama 13:30~
  ・Hokuryu Kendama Club performance, hand-held lighthouse race, Kendama Janken, can you do it? or can't you? quiz, guest performance
• Organizer:Hokuryu Kendama Club
• Sponsor:Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association, Sunflower Village Shop Association, Kato Farm
• cooperation:ROOTS (Kendama Pro Shop) ASAHIDAMA, GREEN BELT HIGH POWER, California Agricultural Cooperative Association, Las Vegas Free Information Center
  　
• Luxury prizes will be awarded to the top winners in each category.
• Kendama and Tsutsuken are available for rental, so you can participate in the competition without bringing your own.

Kendama is available for free rental

Kendama can be rented for free, so feel free to join in.

ASAHIDAMA (Asahikawa City) sells various types of Kendama

Chants of support!

"Please cheer on your teammates when they are playing.
Please give me encouragement when I fail and cheer me on when I succeed!"Akamatsu JOHN Masateru (John)These words.

1. Hokuryu Kendama Club Performance

Members of the Hokuryu Kendama Club will be showing off their hard work and their well-honed kendama skills!!!

Clear! Crackle, crackle!!!

The rapt audience!

Reception application corner

Various types of Kendama!

2. Hand-held Lighthouse Race

• Three Kendama placed on the table.
  - A technique called "lighthouse" is performed by placing the lighthouse on the hands and competing for the fastest time to complete three without knocking it over.
  ・Line up in order...



There was a tense moment in front of the three Kendamas lined up!



The moment of clearing!



Prize Kendama



Result Announcement "Prizes"

• 1st place:4.93 seconds - "Kendama KROM Kendama (Soushin Fujita model)"
• 2nd place:5.17 seconds - "Kendama Sweets (Kendama with good grip and easy to ride)"
• 3rd place:6.83 seconds - "Kendama Sweets"
• 4th place:7.16 seconds - "Sunflower Melon"
• 5th place:7.2 seconds: "1,000 yen gift certificate to be used at the tourist center"

The winners of the adult division will receive rice from Kato Farm!
　

• 1st place:7.55 seconds - Kato Farm rice
• 2nd place:8.04 seconds - Kato Farm Rice
• 3rd place:9.72 seconds - Kato Farm rice

3. Kendama Rock-Paper-Scissors

• The game involves hiding Kissy's hands and holding the Kendama in three different ways (with the ball on the plate, on the Ken, or on the middle plate). The person holding the Kendama in the same way as Kissy wins and remains the winner.

Let's challenge ourselves with "First, rock, paper, scissors!"



Yay!



Result Announcement "Prizes"

• 1st place:Kendama LEGAXIS
• 2nd place:Kendama USA Sweets
• 3rd place:Kendama USA Sweets
• 4th place:sunflower oil
• 5th place:1,000 yen gift certificate (can be used at the tourist center shop)

4. Can you do it? Can't you do it? Quiz

• A game in which players draw a piece of paper with a kendama technique written on it, decide the technique, and choose whether the technique they played will be successful or not. The person who gets it right wins the game.
• Four adults, John, Kissy, Tooru, and Daisaku, will play one by one.

Result Announcement "Prizes"

• 1st place:Kendama KROM YASU Champ Model (Champion model of YASU, a member of the M Pro Team and a four-time world champion)
• 2nd place:Kendama KROM - GAS - CREAM (wood grain visible type)
• 3rd place:Kendama KROM - GAS - GRAY
• 4th place:Sunflower oil dressing
• 5th place:Sunflower oil dressing
• 6th to 10th place:1,000 yen gift certificate (can be used at the tourist center shop)

5. Guest performance

• A veteran player shows off his masterful skills!



Greetings from Akamatsu John Masateru



"Thank you everyone for your hard work! It was Kissy who suggested that we could play Kendama in such a beautiful location with sunflowers.

Thanks to the cooperation of the people of Hokuryu Town, people from all over Hokkaido came to enjoy the event. We were worried that it might rain, but it was fun to be able to do it in such weather.

It's not often you can play Kendama on grass. Today was a great success. Thank you!!!"

Greetings from Naoki Kishi, president of Hokuryu Kendama Club

"I hope you will continue to work hard to popularize and develop Kendama. Thank you all so much for coming today!" said Representative Kishi.





With hearts as bright and lively as sunflowers, the Hokuryu Kendama Club connects the joys of adults and children alike with their summer festival, and we send our boundless love, gratitude, and prayers to them...



YouTube videos

Other photos

Photos (137 photos) from the Hokuryu Kendama Festival @Hokuryu Himawari no Sato are here >>

Related articles and sites

❂ Kendama connects people with a sense of fun | Souma Fujita | TEDxSapporo

　


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◇ Interview and text: Ikuko Terauchi (Photography and editing assistance: Noboru Terauchi)