Kendama craze makes a comeback in Hawaii

News admin July 28, 2026 0 Comments

Kendama craze makes a comeback in Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Have you noticed? Kids are spending less time on their phones and more time playing with kendama — a toy that was everywhere two decades ago.

“It’s just really fun,” said Jameson Pahia, who is 11 years old. “I seen everyone having it and I just wanted one.”

The craze is back in Hawaii and bigger than ever with new moves and new tricks.

“This was popular when my other kids were young, but it kinda faded away and now it’s making a big comeback,” said Pahia’s father, Austin Pahia. “It’s cool ‘cause they are not on the phones as much, not on games, and just positive times for these guys and it’s a pretty cool community. You have braddahs get together and kids get together, and they share what they know. It’s almost like juggling and it’s kinda trippy.”

“They’re not on their phones and if they are, they’re recording,” said professional kendama player Chad Covington from Kentucky.

He explained, “Kendama is a toy from Japan and since around 2008 or 2009, it started to grow internationally outside of Japan. The basic tricks would involve catching the ball on the big cup, bottom cup and the spike. It teaches you patience, it gives you motivation and inspiration to learn something new and it’s a good opportunity to make friends.”

“Oh my god, everybody I challenged today, they’re like probably in elementary school and I lost every single time,” said first-time kendama player Cole Philips of Honolulu, who is 27.

Bryson Lee is the first and only person from Hawaii to win the Kendama World Cup Championship in Japan. In 2016, the Mililani native won first place and 500,000 yen, which at the time converted to about $4,500.

“That’s a lot for a 15-year-old playing with a toy,” said Lee, laughing. “Ever since I picked one up, I never put it down.”

Lee, who’s now 25, started playing kendama at age 12 and turned pro at 14.

“Back then, kendama was a lot more traditional,” said Lee.

Today, there’s a new generation of tricks.

“They’re throwing the kendama around like crazy,” said Lee. “Everyone posts their tricks online and everyone feeds off of each other. Now, all over the islands everywhere you go, you would see a kid with one. It’s crazy. I never would’ve imagined it would come back like this.”

Every week, groups of kendama players learn new tricks at Hawaii Kendama Club meetups.

“We’re the biggest kendama community in the world besides Romania,” said club leader Sean Abbott.

“The big reason why everyone loves to play kendama is the face-to-face interaction,” said Hawaii Kendama Club founder Ethan Santiago.

“You’re aiming to do a trick and you get so close, so close you want to do it one more time and one more time turns into 10 more times or 20 more tries,” Santiago said.