Picking a Kendama

Ok, I'm going to make a write up for beginners to read for when it comes to picking a kendama. I've done enough research and talk to enough people to know what to look for in a Kendama.

What is your style
Your style will depend on what ken you will favor the most.
Stalling trick I've taken what Tyler Marshall has said in this video Lunar Instructional


He like to use a Oozora because the ken lighter and I've also heard the paint is sticker but from my experience its not for me.
Oozora a also good because I think they are the only ones that come in different sizes. (Not quite sure on that one.)
They are fairly easy to fine most Kendama sites have them in many colors and the also come with 2 spare strings. Also Kendama-co.com has a service feature where they will Super Glue your kens for you and that applies to the Sunrises on there site as well. Only problem is they are made of softer wood so they ware faster so make super gluing a religion with the tips and hammer.

Shin Fuji
From what I've heard they come with a very smooth tip and most people don't like that with them. The wood is not as high quality. Steve you have shin fuji and you do a better write on this for me.

TK-16 The OG Ken
These are the Kens every other ken is model after kendama usa sells them they are very standard everything you need is on them. I've played with one and it has a nice weight to them and the ball paint can take a beaten. These are good starting kens if you are a person who man handles you ken. Only Con for this is the ball paint is slick and is hard to do ball tricks.

Sunrise
This is the first European Kendama based of the TK-16 like almost every other ken. These play as good as the Oozoras and TK-16 only Con people have with them is the paint chips really fast on these and isn't as sticky.

When you pick ken think of what you want to do if its ball tricks and speed I recommend Oozora and Sunrise because they are the lighter of the bunch and its a lot easier to throw toss around. If your not sure on what you want to do get a TK-16 and learn the in and out of the game then decide to pick other brands. I know nothing of Shin Fuji other then the weird spike.

A con for the tk is that the ball is soooooooo9ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo slick it makes lighthouse and lunar almost impossible

Ok Edit.

shin-fujis are balls lolol but ya they are ridiculously light, ball and ken making tricks oddly hard. Another weird thing about these damas is the sarado, on the big cup side, it like off center.... idk if that's how they want it or WHAT but it makes tricks like stilts and birds on the smaller cup side very hard. NOW as for the paint I have no idea, I only own one and it was painted with a freakin brush and the only other one i played with was brand new but it was wood grain...... sowwy.

another thing



OOZORAS ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!

haha, i'm gonna give my overview of what i think

Oozora ken's are nice and light, and usually so are the balls. Although with a kendama being made of wood the weight can vary slightly.
I have a green, sky blue and pink oozora. My green one is really light and what I think oozora's are probably designed to be like. Although my blue one is really heavy, and my pink one is slightly lighter than the blue, although all of the kens have been similarly light.
The paint on the balls seems to take a few days solid play before it'll start to show much signs of wear unless you drop it on concrete, that does no good for any kendama haha

TK16's are heavier and sturdier than other models and do generally take quite a while before they're worn in and they're very all round in their weight, probably being the reason they're 'starter' kendamas, because they distribute the difficulty of the tricks a little more. Unlike oozora's with the light kens suited to ball tricks.
The paint on TK's is very resiliant, I've seen few paint chips on these, especially compared to other damas.

Shin Fuji's also have light kens and very light balls. I think they're good for cup based combo's, bird tricks and air tricks, like spacewalks. I don't own myself but ,y friend Harry has a black one, and his paint hasn't done too bad yet. Although he's only had it like 2 weeks.
Rokurosen's, so I've heard are the lightest Shin Fuji's, I'll be getting one at some point so I'll let you know what I think when that time comes. If you don't know a Rokurosen kendama are thr Shin Fuji's that have coloured stripes around a grain ball.

Sunrise are okay but I'm not fond of them, I had a yellow one that chipped like fuuuuck. Although they play and feel nice. They've recently brought out a new line of Sunrise kendamas, basically V 2.0 which has incredible paint... apparently.

In the next week or two, I'll have a blue 80's Sakura model i'll let you know how that is.

In my opinion, oozaras are the best, but TK16s have very nice paint and are a good beginner kendama. Shin fuji wood seems a little weird to me and i just don't like the feel they have. I think the spike handle part (i dont remember the name of it) is too long on sunrises and the paint chips really easy, but these new sunrise 2.0s have much better paint. I really dislike battle kendamas. Sweets are very heavy and the paint kinda sucks. sorry that was kind of all over the place heh