Today, kendama is popular in many parts of the world.

During the 2000s, kendama surged in popularity outside Japan.

Kendama play has also been used as a measure of accuracy, agility, and learning ability in robotic arms.

A prototype kendama minigame was also created, but did not fit into the resort theme.

As players worldwide began to put videos online, kendama continued to grow and has branched out forming its own global community.

Hatsukaichi City is considered to be the birthplace of kendama, a traditional Japanese toy.

In this film, the heroine wields a kendama instead of a yo-yo as in the original series.

Reportedly, kendama was initially a sort of adult's drinking game - a player who made a mistake was forced to drink more.

Based on a kendama.

However the modern kendama style takes influences from a diverse range of skills including yo-yo, diabolo, juggling and dance.

He is never seen without a Kendama, which he wears around his neck, and his animations frequently feature it.

She wields a kendama.

Kendama bears similarities to the classic cup-and-ball game, and the Hispanic world toy known as boliche or balero.

A similar toy with three cups and a spike called kendama is very popular in Japan and has spread globally in popularity.

The Japanese Kendama Association has held kendama contests since 1979.

In order to ensure that the toy was suitable for use in competition, the JKA also standardised kendama itself.

While most people play with kendamas for personal satisfaction, competitions do take place, especially in Japan, where many kendama shokūgekìs (Japanese for battle) are held.

Extra Kendama - Competitors play with a life-size kendama.

There are eleven prescribed moves on the kendama trick list for achieving a kyu ranking and several more for a dan ranking.

For cultural awareness in Japanese, students are involved in Origami, playing Kendama and making Noh masks.

An elderly dog goes to a time machine, which he plans to use to drive to the future so he can meet with "someone" who gives him a kendama.

The kendama arrived in Japan via the Silk Road in around 1777, at which point Nagasaki was the only port open to foreign trade.

A book published by the Japan Kendama Association lists 101 different tricks for the toy and there are supposedly tens of thousands of trick variations.

They have 60 seconds to swing the ball onto the large cup, then onto the small cup, and finally onto the central spike without dropping the kendama.

It was also Fujiwara who established the Japan Kendama Association, which established the rules for play, the grading system now in use, and organised competition.