| Traditional Japanese Games |
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| Kendama is played with a ball that is connected to a stick with string. While visiting the Japanese schools, I saw students at the elementary and middle school levels playing Kendama. Students had many different strategies, depending on where they wanted the ball to land. The stick portion of the kendama is called the "ken" and the ball is called the "tama". To learn more about the kendama and different tricks visit the link above. |
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You don't have to go shopping to play kendama, simply go to this website and you can play a virtual game!
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While in Japanese schools I saw many groups of children settling their decisions based on Jan Ken Pon. It was fun to watch large groups (up to ten) come to a quick decision based on the results of this game. The students chant, "Jan, ken, pon" and show what they have chosen on "pon". According to an article I found, the rock (fist) is "gu", the paper (flat hand) is "pa", and scissors (two fingers extended) is "choki".
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Hanetsuki is a game for one or two players. The participants in hit a shuttlecock (birdie) back and forth using wodden boards. The goal is to keep the game going for as long as possible if you are playing alone. This game is much like our badminton, except there is no net used in hanetsuki.
The link above shows a picture of hanetsuki paddles and shuttlecock. It also has information about other Japanese "fun and games". |
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The students I observed tried to get the shuttlecock by his/her opponent. Much of what I have read online indicates that this is a game for girls. During my time in Kurume schools, I saw boys playing the game. The boys had decorated their own paddles (called hagoita) and many of them gave the teachers in my group their paddles and shuttlecock to take home with us.
This website shows that hanetsuki has even had an influence on Japanese art.
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The taketombo is something I had played with as a child, but was reintroduced to the toy while in Japan. In the middle school (lower secondary) the students used aknife to carve the propellor to make it go farther. The name means "bamboo dragonfly.
The students held the shaft between their hands, with the propellers at the top, and rubed their palms together quickly. They then showed me to release when my right hand was forward.
The Good From Japan site I provided sells the taketombos, but there are some great photographs and a link to directions for how to make and use the toy. |
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This North Texas e-News article has many pictures of taketombos being made and in flight.
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Shogi is a game similar to chess for us. The website link shows how the game is like chess. For detailed instructions on how to play shogi you can also go to http://www.ishigames.com/shogi.htm for more information.
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| Koma |
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| Students prepare to spin tops |
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The name koma (Japanese top) comes from the name of a Korean kingdom, through which tops came to Japan from China in the eighth century. The tops come in many sizes and can be made from a variety of materials.Some koma are wound up with a string--like you see in the picture. These tops were very difficult to get spinning (I was unsuccessful with this task).
To spin the top, the students would wind the string around the base of the top, starting at the bottom and spiraling outward. The students were careful not to let the string get tangled and if it did, they would begin again. Then they held the top in one hand with the top end of the string between the finger and thumb. They held on to the string as they tossed the top with a flick of the wrist on to the ground. The boys who showed us how to use the koma were successful in making the tops spin the majority of the time, but even they did not wind the rope or flick their wrists correctly some of the time.
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This site provides a brief description of a wide range of Japanese toys, games, and other activities of interest.
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