Born out of necessity and a passion for expression, IoD is the UK’s only freestyle dedicated kendama competition. We give players the opportunity to battle it out in classic 1v1 knock-out rounds, similar to a dance battle, where three judges will vote on players based on certain criteria (for example Difficulty, Creativity and Flow). This is open to all experience levels and it is always encouraged to get funky with it – we applaud out of the box thinking.

Freestyle kendama is where players can truly put there own spin on the game and demonstrate however and whatever it is that gives them true enjoyment in the game. Kendama as we know is humble in its intention – get the ball onto the cup and eventually onto the spike. However, throw in some physicality, style, performance, music, an MC calling out your tricks and hyping up the crowd – and suddenly this toy is transformed into a tool for pure creation and joy. A real spectacle which can be enjoyed by not only the players but those in the audience too. Freestlye kendama is more than ball and cup on a stage, it’s a means of personal expression and performance art.

2023

We travelled across to the capital city to battle it out in an old Debenhams (Ocean Terminal, Leith –converted in an arts/circus/community space. We had players arrive from across the UK and a few from the EU mainland.

2022

Our first event was right here in Glasgow back when we still required negative covid tests upon entry! The setting was the Fakie SB store where we turned it into a mini-freestyle arena for the people to throw down. Sean Laughton provided the tunes all night. We had homies travel across from Edinburgh, up from south England and even over from Italy. Davide Leonardi (Krom Kendama) blew us all away with his effortless flow and true Euro steeze. It was a high-energy affair all in all and a great way to kick off our yearly offering.