Kendama Connects the World

Where We Call Home.

A traditional Japanese toy - kendama.

This young man fell under its spell.

US-born Shelby Brown.

He moved to a small town in northeast Japan...

and works to invigorate it through kendama.

Just keep trying and trying,
and you'll succeed.

Kendama will liven up the town.

But promoting "the town of kendama" is proving difficult.

Now, Shelby is attempting to do so during the Kendama World Cup, an event where enthusiasts from around the globe compete.

Here's the story of Shelby and his dream of connecting his town of adoption to the world through kendama.

The city of Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture has a population of around 26,000.

It's known for its rice farming industry.

Also abundant in wood resources, it's one of the biggest producers of kendama in Japan.

Seems like everyone in town is skilled with the traditional toy.

The locals once held the Guinness World Record for the longest line of people catching the ball with 114 participants.

Nagai has made kendama its official sport.

The city set up "Spike" a center to help popularize kendama.

US-native Shelby Brown was appointed to work as its manager.

In addition to selling kendama, the center also makes them available for free to any visitors who wish to play and practice their skills.

It's got three cups,
a spike and a ball.

The ball is connected
to the handle by a string.

It's a very simple toy...

but you can do tons of tricks with it.

Tricks involve much more than simply putting the ball in the cups.

Some of the more "acrobatic" tricks are very much akin to juggling.

They can be freely chained together in all sorts of exciting combinations.

Here is one particularly difficult chain of tricks.

Experts continuously come up with new and more elaborate techniques and combos.

Born in Japan, kendama is now enjoyed by enthusiasts in more than fifty countries.

Gaining in recognition as a street sport overseas, it's a hit among younger generations.

And there are even professional players.

The world of kendama keeps expanding.

And so, Nagai City puts its hopes in Shelby to invigorate the town with kendama.

Today, he's teaching elementary schoolers.

What's that?

A five-cup kendama.

Put all five at once.

Pretty good!

Shelby believes practicing kendama encourages the children to build and broaden their connections with peers.

See you!

And the kids love him.

- Can I have your autograph?
- Really?

You want my autograph?

- Me too!
- Let me see!

Me too!

They were full of energy.
It was so much fun, really.

It was great!

From kids to the elderly, everyone
can communicate through kendama.

With kendama, I want to help
liven up the town.

This is where I live.

Shelby's house is provided by Nagai City.

He lives with his wife and their dog.

The day after Shelby and Aerial held their wedding in their hometown in Arkansas, they moved to Japan.

For dinner tonight, they're cooking fried chicken and mashed potatoes - a little taste of home.

Mashed potatoes always remind me of Nanny.

Maybe once, we can go back.

We'll go back, and we'll try it.

The two lead a rather modest lifestyle.

Shelby started his current work around ten months ago.

Compared to his previous work, his income has significantly decreased.

Aerial works a part-time job to help make ends meet.

You can tell they're crunchy.

Yeah, very crunchy.

Shelby came to work in Japan as an assistant language teacher in 2019.

While teaching at an elementary school in Fukushima, he learned about kendama for the first time in a textbook, which sparked his interest.

I bought one and tried it,
but I realized, ‘This is so hard!' I saw people do tricks,
and wanted to do the same.

Aerial agreed to live in Nagai with Shelby to support her husband in his love of kendama.

What do you think about me, like, being so into kendama?

I'm... sometimes I get a little bit...

Mm, I guess, jealous, in a way.

But, I'm just really happy that you found something to... that you really love, something that is...

you can express yourself fully and you can immerse yourself in.

So, I'm really happy.

Are you jealous because I spend a lot of time?

Yes.

OK.

Did you think it was, uh... strange for me to want to, like, move for kendama stuff or, like, getting into kendama at first?

Because I know you, no.

- Not strange.
- Really?

Yeah.

I... you've never been necessarily ‘normal,' I guess.

True.

Shelby wishes to energize the town with his passion for kendama.

Today, he heads to city hall for an important meeting.

They would like him to promote Nagai as the "Town of Kendama" during an upcoming gathering of enthusiasts from around the world, - the Kendama World Cup - in July.

The event that determines the world's kendama champion is held in the city that is said to be the toy's birthplace, Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Over its history, the competition has drawn players from a total of thirty countries and territories.

This is a chance to make Nagai City known to the world.

Online preliminaries take place in and out of Japan.

Contestants at these remote locations are given time to introduce their hometowns.

Nagai will be a site for preliminaries - an opportunity to promote the town's appeal.

I want to promote the town in English.

It'll give non-Japanese participants
a chance to learn about Nagai.

I'm excited.

Shelby's coming to Nagai helps Japanese
and foreigners get to know each other.

Shelby is already preparing for the event, starting with an appearance on local radio.

He will also compete in the World Cup where he intends to give it his all and rank as high as he can in order to increase the town's name recognition.

My guest today is the manager
of Kendama Hiroba Spike, Shelby Brown.

Thank you.

Shelby, you're like the town's
kendama representative.

I'm flattered!

I don't know if I'll make it
to the finals, but I'll do my best.

The people of Nagai too are putting their hopes in Shelby.

- The Kendama World Cup...
- I'll watch!

You can watch it streamed online.

You'll take part?

- Yes.
- Go for it!

I will!

Shelby's goal is to make it to the finals.

For this, he has to finish in 40th place or better during the preliminaries.

Contestants have a total of six minutes to perform tricks that are scored according to levels of difficulty.

Successful tricks are added up to make the final score.

Shelby specifically wants to try a difficult chain of tricks that he failed to achieve in last year's tournament.

Too fast to see...

A "two-turn airplane" followed by a "double jumping stick."

But he's having some difficulty.

Hi!

Dropping by is Akimoto Satoru, Shelby's kendama mentor.

Akimoto took third place in the first World Cup.

Shelby comes to him for advice.

I want to succeed this time,
to be better than last year.

Akimoto points out that Shelby needs to improve his stance.

Start as low as you can.

Launch the kendama,
then crouch again to catch it low.

Crouch really low, the kendama
will be in suspension longer.

The spin is slower and easy to see.

Go low...

Comparing before and after Akimoto's advice, we can see how crouching lower gives Shelby more time to catch the kendama.

But something else worries Shelby.

I still don't have much experience
with competitions, so I'm nervous.

Don't expect your best practice score.

"Master your sure-shot tricks - those you can successfully do every time," says Akimoto.

Shelby keeps practicing.

The day of the Kendama World Cup has finally come.

From the remote preliminary site in Nagai, eleven contestants will join.

Including the main venue in Hatsukaichi, 725 participants from 12 countries and territories have entered this year.

Everyone is welcome to compete, regardless of age or level of skill.

Those who qualify today will take part in the finals tomorrow.

There's a feeling of tension.
I'm nervous.

To release some of his tension, Shelby keeps practicing the techniques Akimoto taught him.

It's Yamagata's turn.

And the preliminaries begin.

Shelby opens with the trick he's been rehearsing.

He's having trouble.

He switches to other tricks...

But panic impairs his movements.

Go Shelby!

Stay calm.

- Do sure-shot tricks!
- They're all sure shots!

He shifts back to the two-turn airplane and double jumping stick.

And then...

Success!

However...

I was nervous.

I couldn't stop shaking.

But I got it this time.

- Too bad.
- Yeah!

Shelby finished in 325th place.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to meet expectations - the city's and his own.

But he mustn't forget the other important role he has to fulfill.

He tries his best to promote Nagai.

Hello!

This is Kendama Hiroba Spike.

So, I came to Japan three years ago!

He prepared a little homemade presentation to introduce the many attractions of Yamagata Prefecture.

There are many amazing shrines near Yamagata!

Here's a shrine, and here's a submerged forest!

Very beautiful!

Please come to Yamagata!

Shelby started a new project to boost Nagai's recognition.

He's going to design an original model of kendama.

This is close to what you're looking for.

Yes. I like the logo on top.

Shelby's dream of connecting people through kendama continues to grow.

I see kendama as a tool
for communication.

It lets people connect like body language
regardless of language barriers.

Seeing smiles on people's faces
gives me energy.

I want the town of Nagai
to be full of smiles.

Hi, I'm Daniel Patterson.

I am an artist of Ikebana.

I want to introduce this Japanese culture because it helps appreciate the connection between people and nature...

...celebrate the joys that we have and even express the difficulties that we face.

Hodogaya, Yokohama Good morning!

I am gonna make a few arrangements today for a client.

And so, right now, I am just looking for some flowers that'll match the aesthetic of her salon.

Her salon is called Aphrodita, and it's about the goddess of love.

So, I kinda want to reflect that through colors and shapes.

Hi, nice to see you.

Nice to see you again.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of arranging flowers.

The focus is not making something necessarily appeasing to the eye and beautiful, but something that is emotional and thought-provoking.

He shapes the flowers to express
the complexity of love and relationships.

And then, the thistles, they work nicely to complement the other side of the arrangement...

...and it also kind of gives to the image of entanglement and the fact that sometimes love hurts.

Thank you for waiting.

Oh, lovely, different.

Yeah, I wanted to make something really modern.

Yeah, that's your style.

Yeah, I think so.

Daniel came to Japan in 2006
to work as an English teacher.

He found a passion for teaching,
but something was still missing.

So, every once in a while, living in Japan, I would see ikebana.

But automatically I would say, ‘Oh, I can't do that.' And eventually, many years later, I saw this ikebana exhibition at my station.

And, I can't visualize exactly the arrangements of that day.

But I could just notice how they arrange the flowers and use the space.

And I looked at it and was like, ‘Oh, this is really nice.

I wish I could do that.' And I think I was in a point in my life where I wanted a bit of a change.

So, I just said, ‘Hey, at least I can give it a try and see.' Daniel regularly takes classes
at the Sogetsu School of ikebana.

That's about right.
Beautiful.

When they were all the same length...

the movement you added didn't show well.
Varying the lengths helps express it.

Growing up, sketching, drawing, painting, all those different art forms you have in school, I was never good at them and I almost failed art class.

So, I just kind of labeled myself as not someone artistic.

But then when I tried the flowers, I fell in love right away and just started practicing as much as I could.

After studying for 4 years, he finally
became a professional ikebana artist.

This is my teacher, Mori Sairin.

His style is really unique, his perspective, his eye for the art is really, really nice.

And he makes very large arrangements, ones that will fill the room and that's kind of the next step that I want to take when I am ready.

I'd like him to study many things,
absorb as much as he can...

and then incorporate that
and express it in his work.

I have a lot of motivation.

I am taking as many classes as I can and trying to learn as much as I can.

And I think that from this point, there is probably at least 15-20 years left.

Hopefully after that, I'll become a grand master teacher, then I'll be able to teach other people all over the world about ikebana.

I'm happy he wants to take it that far.

I too had a regular job.
I was an office worker until age 30.

I quit and joined Sogetsu in Tokyo.

What you're attempting is even harder.

Keep it up.

Why am I telling myself I can't do something?

That's automatic defeat.

Eventually, I want to learn how to make the very large arrangements, the ones that can fill a room.

And while I think it will take trial and error to learn how to do this, I think I feel confident that one day I'll be able to do it.

My treasure is my collection of 101 ikebana vases.

I've collected all these vases with the vision of teaching others.

I started 6 years ago when I just started ikebana.

And I am always looking forward, saying, ‘Oh I need to start collecting vases because one day I am gonna be a teacher.' I want people to see the kind of passion that I have for nature and flowers.

And I hope that when they look at it, they can feel that passion, and that maybe it will help them cope with something they've been living with or on their mind.

Or remind them of different dreams and goals that they have.