What happens to a kendama after the first session?

The spike leaves dents in the ball (the tama) where it lands, which is normal from the very first session. The paint should stay in those dents. The cups can already feel a little loose, which is fixable.

What does normal wear look like after a week of regular play?

The edges of the cups start to show wear and more dents appear in the tama. The paint can chip slightly but should stay in place and not affect play. The bevel breaks in and stops being sharp, and natural oils from your hands work into the wood so it gets smoother and slowly changes colour. The spike can slowly get flatter if you don't look after it.

What is normal after a month or more of play?

More dents come into the tama. Early on, losing a little paint doesn't affect play, but the more and harder you play the more paint can chip, and by a month or two some of that is normal. The cup edges get rougher, which can make balance tricks like the lighthouse more wobbly. On some kendamas a piece of wood can chip off around now, which is unfortunate but not uncommon.

What counts as a defect rather than wear?

If the ken splits along the grain in the first weeks of normal play, or the paint or wood starts chipping in the first week, that's a defect, not wear. The same goes for anything else that clearly isn't from playing. Email us at info@kendamasenses.com with photos and we'll sort out a replacement or refund.

Can I return a kendama I've played with?

You have 14 days to change your mind, on everything we sell. Unpack it and see whether it is to your liking, hold it with clean hands, and you can toss the ken or tama and catch it in your hand to get a feel for the weight. Don't play it, even carefully. Playing leaves marks, and a kendama with marks cannot be sold again, so a played kendama gets nothing back. Tell us you want to return something and we send you a shipping label; its cost comes off your refund. That is for changing your mind. If it arrived damaged or turns out to be faulty, we cover the costs instead, including the postage back to us.

How do I keep my kendama's grip?

Don't let the ball get greasy, because grease kills the grip. A little dish soap, or rubbing a plastic bag over the tama, lifts the grease out and brings the friction back. Keep the ken and tama dry, since water changes the feel of the wood and can warp it.

Drops Saved

We are celebrating our new website with a giveaway!Complete assignments to earn raffle tickets before Nov 1stCelebrating with a giveaway!Earn raffle tickets before Nov 1stJoin in

Care & wear

Made to be played.

Q: Is it normal for a kendama to wear with play?

Yes. A kendama is just wood and paint, and they wear with play. People new to kendama often expect theirs to keep looking like new. It won't, and that's normal. Most of what shows up with play is your kendama breaking in, not breaking.

What normal wear looks like, how to keep yours going, and when to reach out.

Wear is normal

A kendama is just wood and paint, and they wear with play. People new to kendama often expect theirs to keep looking like new. It won’t, and that’s normal. Here’s what’s normal, what isn’t, and when to reach out to us.

What normal wear looks like

Most of what shows up with play is your kendama breaking in, not breaking. Here’s roughly how it goes.

How fast this happens depends on your setup and how you play: things like how the spike is glued, the wood, and how hard and often you play. Take the timings below as a rough guide, not a stopwatch.

After your first session

The spike leaves dents in the ball (the tama) where it lands. That’s normal from the very first session.
The paint should stay in those dents. If the paint starts letting go of the tama straight away, that is not normal.
The cups can already feel a little loose. That’s fixable. See “How to make it last” below.

After a week of regular play

The edges of the cups start to show wear.
More dents appear in the tama. The paint can chip slightly, but it should stay in place and not affect play.
The bevel (the edge of the hole on the tama) breaks in and stops being sharp.
Natural oils from your hands work into the wood. It gets smoother and slowly changes colour.
A piece of wood chipping off, or a crack in the wood, is not normal.
The spike can slowly get flatter if you don’t look after it. Our Iron Tip Kendama Glue keeps it in shape.

After a month or more

More dents come into the tama. Early on, losing a little paint doesn’t affect play. But the more you play, and the harder you play, the more paint can chip, and by a month or two in some of that is normal. It isn’t ideal, but it’s quite common.
The cup edges get rougher. Depending on how worn they are, that can make balance tricks like the “lighthouse” more wobbly.
On some kendamas a piece of wood can chip off around now. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not uncommon.

Breaking in your kendama

As you play and the kendama wears, it usually gets “broken in”. You get used to the setup, and the setup itself gets better for tricks like stalls, where you balance the ken or tama on a cup.

After a while a kendama passes its peak and slowly gets less nice as it keeps wearing. That phase can last a long time, because by then you’re used to how it plays, and most players only retire a kendama once it’s really worn out. Often the tama or the ken outlives the other and goes another round with a fresh ken or tama.

When to reach out

Most wear is just play. A few things are not. A ken that splits along the grain, paint or wood that starts chipping in the first days, or anything else that clearly did not come from playing, is a fault and not wear.

Email us at info@kendamasenses.com with photos within a month of getting it, and we sort out a new one or your money back. We judge these from the pictures, and after a month of play there are enough marks that a fault and ordinary wear start to look alike, which is why we ask early.

Where the fault is genuine we cover the costs, including the postage back to us. Wear from normal play is not a fault, so it is not replaced.

Worth doing: take a photo when your parcel arrives, especially if the box looks knocked about. It is the one thing that shows whether something arrived damaged or happened later.

How to make it last

The First Aid Kit covers most of this. It includes glue to turn the spike into an iron tip so it holds its shape.

Get the setup how you like it

Put on our Lovely Knots Kendama Speedstring: a soft, flexible string that improves play and tangles less.
Use our sandpaper to reshape the spike and keep it healthy, then glue it again after reshaping.
Glue a chipped piece of wood back on with the glue and sandpaper.
Melt beeswax in with our lighter where the cups sit on the spike, press the cup on firmly, and wipe off the excess, so the cups stop coming loose.
Swap in a bigger or smaller bearing from our stringtool bag for the feel you prefer.

Keep the feel right

Don’t let the ball get greasy. Grease kills the grip. A little dish soap, or rubbing a plastic bag over the tama, lifts the grease out and brings the friction back.
Keep the ken and tama dry. Water changes the feel of the wood and can warp it.

When one half is past its best, you can replace just that part. Swap in a fresh ken or a fresh tama and keep the rest of your setup, or start over with a complete.