In this video, we will be going over how to change the string on your kendama and the
most frequent question we get here is how often do you actually have to change the string
on your kendama.
There are a couple of scenarios where you will want to change your string. The first
one, maybe you want to change the color of your string, the second being you want to
put a different tama or different ken together to get even weights between the two, the third
reason being that you played with it so much that the string gets really gross and grimy
and it starts to fray and sometimes it even breaks then you definitely have to change
your string. And the last reason being if you are left handed which is the most common
reason you will want to change your string because you will notice when you are holding
your kendama with your left hand with the big cup is facing up, the string is hanging
on the outside and actually it is supposed to be hanging on the inside. That way you
can perform the kendama tricks properly.
So in this video we are going to be teaching you how to string the kendama either if you
are right handed or if you are left handed so let's learn how to do that. There is actually
two types of kens that are going to be showing you how to do. There is the standard where
the sarado actually comes off of the ken which is what most typical kendamas use. We are
also going to show on a kendama where the sarado is fixed in and these are actually
designed to make stringing a lot easier so we will go over those in a minute.
So the first step, you want to take a handy pair of scissors and you are going to cut
the string. Like this, then you will just simply take the string off the tama here.
And then when you have a standard you will see this gets locked in place so you can not
slide it out so you are actually just going to twist the sarado back and forth and pull
the ken off like that. Now you can see that the string can slide right out. If you have
the ken where it is fixed when you cut you can see that you simply pull the string out
of this ken.
Now when we are stringing this kendama, you will notice in most string packs there is
a little tiny flosser and this comes in handy in a lot of situations because sometimes the
string is really hard to get through. So the first thing you want to do is you are going
to take your tama and you are going to take the end of the string and just slide it through
the tama like this on the top. If you are having trouble with that you can take your
flosser and you need to put the flosser in first. Then what you are going to do is you
are going to take the string and put it into the loop of the flosser and push the flosser
all the way through. You see it come out of this end and you want to pull this through
really nice and slow and you will see the string comes right through and comes all the
way out of the tama like that.
Now what you want to do, you want to take the bead that came with your string, make
sure you do not lose this, this is what holds the tama onto the string. You will slide the
bead onto the string like this and here we are going to tie a pretzel knot at the end.
You can do a double knot but I find that pretzel knots are much more secure. Now we are going
to do a close up of how to tie a pretzel knot. So what you are going to do, you take your
string and you go to tie a regular knot where it is just a standard loop and you put the
end of the string underneath. You will see now that the string actually looks kind of
like a little pretzel and you are going to take the end of the string and you are going
to thread it underneath onto this opposite loop. It comes underneath like this and you
are going to pull it tight and you will see that this knot is actually a little bit thicker
than the standard knot and this also locks in really really well. That way when you are
doing all of your tricks the bead is constantly pushing on the knot it will not come out.
So once we have done that, you will see that there is just a little bit of extra string
sometimes so you can take your scissors and trim that off and then give the string a nice
little pull to make sure that the bead is locked in there. If you do the pretzel knot
like I said you should be pretty good to go. So now you have to string the ken and it is
really really easy if you have one where it is fixed. Because all you have to do is you
want to hold the ken in your dominant hand with the big cup facing up. Then you are going
to take the string and you are going to thread it on the inside of your body in this case
it is going to be on the left side since I am holding with my right hand. If you are
left handed with the big cup facing up you will see that the string goes through the
right side and then once you thread that through you will just tie a simple pretzel knot at
the other end of the ken and then your kendama will be strung.
Now lets show how to do it with a standard ken where it is two pieces. The first piece
you want to string is the sarado and you will notice that there is a hole on the sarado
where you string the ken and you want to make sure that when you hold the sarado when the
big cup is face up and you want the hole to be facing outwards like this. You are going
to take the other end of the string and you are going to thread it through here. If you
are having trouble you can use your flosser again and do that same technique and you will
pull this through so that when you are right handed it is coming to the left side with
the big cup face up and when you are left handed it will come on your right side with
the big cup face up. Now once you have the string threaded through the sarado like this
you are going to take the ken. If you look at the ken you will see that there is two
different sized holes there is a bigger and there is a small hole. This big hole is where
the knot gets held so that it does not get jammed in between the sarado and the ken.
So what you want to do is you want to take the string and you want to thread it through
the small hole, right handed or left handed. Now at the end of the string you are going
to tie your pretzel knot again, just like this. Then if you have a little bit of extra
string you can just take your scissors and you can cut that extra off.
Now you will see that you still have three pieces of your whole kendama right here. What
I like to do is I like to use the weight of the tama and you will see that this keeps
the string tight so that the sarado can slide really easily. What you want to do is you
want to have where the strings coming out of the ken facing upwards and you also want
where it is coming out of the sarado facing upwards so you can see that they line up really
evenly on the string. You are just going to slide the string so it is nice and tight and
you are going to push this down. Once you feel a little bit of force and resistance
you are going to stop. You do not want to push the rest down with your hand because
then you can risk pushing the sarado down too far and you can actually ruin your ken.
So you want to take your tama and push down like this, you push it in where it stops.
That way you do not push your ken too far down and it is in the right place for your
balance tricks.
So once you have the string fully on like this you need to measure the length. The Japanese
Kendama Association says that it must be an average of two fingers when you have the tama
on the spike and you put your fingers through and you pull it so you can see right here,
two to three fingers is the average length and you see that I am right in between that
two which is perfect. If you have it too long, because some strings are longer than others,
all you simply need to do is take the string and if it is too long just pull a little bit
tighter and you can see, you usually need to adjust about a half an inch. Then you can
just slide the string back through the tama. You are just going to tie the knot, slide
the bead up, you will just tie the knot just a little bit farther up. Not much because
you do it like a full inch you are actually going to shorten your string by about three
inches. Just little tiny measurements are your friend on this. Once you have that, another
little tip, what you can do if your kendama is getting really old and you find the sarado
is sliding off a lot you can actually just take a glob of superglue and you are just
going to superglue at the top of the sarado and the bottom of the sarado. Just two little
dots and this will have enough for the sarado to stay in place but then if you do ever need
to change the string you can just give it a twist and break the superglue and slide
the sarado off. Another tip if you are doing a lot of tricks where the bead is coming out
of the tama when you are doing pull ups. You can actually tie a knot above the tama and
to do that all you will do is are going to tie a standard knot, use the end as the ball
and just make sure that when the knot goes, it gets really close to the tama you do not
want it too high up. Just like that. Now you will see that this knot prevents the bead
coming from out of the tama which is kind of nice during some ticks. Now you know how
to string your kendama.