A team of world champion kendama players touched down at The Republik in Honolulu this weekend, giving local fans a rare chance to watch elite freestyle tricks up close and meet the professionals behind them. The KROM Pro Team, a roster of international competitors and content creators, is offering demonstrations and meet-and-greet opportunities as part of the stop, according to KHON2.
The lineup includes four-time world champion Bonz Atron, whose competitive résumé stretches back over a decade. Atron won the inaugural Kendama World Cup in Hatsukaichi, Japan, in July 2014, just two years after he first picked up the toy, and went on to capture three Catch and Flow Freestyle World Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018, according to Ken Docs. Speaking to KHON2, Atron said kendama teaches patience, focus and persistence when a trick is not mastered immediately, and described the team as spreading kendama love, creating memories and having an adventure together.
A 10-Year-Old Prodigy Joins the Roster
Also on the team is Naru Nishimoto, described by KHON2 as a 10-year-old kendama sensation who has practiced the toy for about 10 years. The young Japanese player's tournament record backs up the hype: Nishimoto won the under-9 division at the 2024 Kendama World Cup and earned a full-mark score during the 2025 World Cup finals, finishing in the overall top 10 globally, according to borninspace.
The roster also features Nonoka Kyodo, who in 2025 became the first player ever, male or female, to win the so-called triple crown at the North American Kendama Open by sweeping the Freestyle, Open and Girls Open divisions before officially joining KROM's pro team in early 2026, according to the Sweets Kendamas YouTube channel. European team member Adrian Vilau brings his own title to the group, having won the Open Division at the 2024 European Kendama Championship in Leiden, Netherlands, an achievement that later inspired the design of his signature KROM Pro Model released in June 2026, per the KROM Kendama YouTube channel. Toto Balmes rounds out the visiting group named by the outlet.
Flow, Freestyle and a Global Toy
Team member Davide Leonardi, who started playing in Rome in 2015 and turned pro with KROM in September 2024, engineered a specialized kendama shape built around a continuous playing technique he calls Flow Like Water, according to the brand's YouTube channel. Leonardi, described by KHON2 as a kendama professional and content creator, told the outlet that kendama lets travelers immediately have something in common with people worldwide.
The game itself challenges players to catch a wooden ball on different cups and the kendama spike, per KHON2's report, and Bonz Atron says it creates connections between people wherever it's played. KROM Kendama, the brand behind the visiting team, was founded in 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark, by 2014 freestyle world champion Thorkild May, growing into one of the world's leading skill-toy brands, according to The Hub. The toy's modern form — adding two side cups to a traditional stick-and-ball design — was created in 1921 in Hatsukaichi, in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture, which has hosted the annual Kendama World Cup since 2014, per the Chugoku Region Historical Products Portal.
Hawaiʻi's Kendama Roots Run Deep
The Honolulu stop lands amid a broader kendama resurgence across Hawaiʻi this year, highlighted by community gatherings like the first Aloha Kendama Tournament held in Kapolei this month, which organizers say is aimed at giving local keiki a screen-free social outlet, according to Hawaiʻi Public Radio. It's not the island's first brush with kendama mania — between 2013 and 2015, Hawaiʻi experienced an intense craze of its own, when local school competitions and tournaments like the Yo-Dama battle drew as many as 1,800 registered youth players and 5,000 total attendees, according to Kendama USA.
The showcase took place at The Republik, a 10,000-square-foot Honolulu venue with a general admission capacity of 1,000 people and a 20-by-30-foot stage, according to venue information from The Republik. KHON2's Living808 section reported that the KROM Pro Team is bringing its kendama energy to Hawaiʻi, offering fans a firsthand experience of the community that has built up around the toy both on the islands and around the world.
