Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Chapter 399 Sword Jade Immortal
"Brother Sakamoto, did I hear you wrong? Master Akita said 'kendama'?"

Tetsuda Teji slowed down and secretly asked Sakamoto Hide for confirmation.

"I also heard it was 'kendama'. Maybe they said 'kendo' wrongly? It's normal for Master Akita to be so nervous in front of the camera that he eats snails at his age."

Hideya Sakamoto confirmed that he heard the same content.

"Quickly...let's see..."

Under the guidance of Akita Satoru, they entered the large wooden dojo. A colorful wall attracted everyone's attention...

In the wooden grid on the wall, there are neatly arranged "sword handles" with colorful balls on the top.

“So many sizes, so many colors…”

"These are all kendama?!"

Recognizing the objects placed on the wall, the four guests looked at each other.

"Isn't that a child's toy? I miss it so much."

Even Xia Fan, who always had a "cold" expression, showed a look of surprise.

The program crew obviously concealed this on purpose, and close-up shots were presented in advance, capturing all the surprised expressions of the people.

Kendama is a folk toy made of a "sword" with three recesses on the left and right sides, a pointed wooden stick on top, and a "dama" with a hole in the middle, connected by a cotton rope.

This toy is said to have originated from the French "Bilboquet" game. After it was brought to Area 11 and combined with samurai culture, it was modified into the current "Kendama".

The most basic way to play is to use the base of the hilt or a wooden stick to throw up and catch the ball pulled by a cotton rope.

"Yes, just as I said..."

"As the contemporary master of the Yumegen Musou-ryu school and the president of the Kendama Association of District 11, I have devoted my life to reviving the way of 'Kendama'."

"The 'Ten Styles of Kendama' of the Yumegen Musou Ryuu is the standard move for today's competitive Kendama rank assessment, and it laid the foundation for the Kendama World Cup."

Akita Satoru sat down at the top, took the tea offered by his disciple, and took a sip calmly.

"Just now, this guy seemed to say that Kendama is a 'children's toy'?"

He stared at Xia Fan with sharp eyes, seemingly very dissatisfied with his "rude remarks" just now.

"Sorry, I just played with it when I was a kid, and I was just expressing my feelings when I saw it. I don't mean to look down on the 'kendama'."

Xia Fan explained sincerely.

"It doesn't matter. I've long been accustomed to people's prejudices..."

"I hope that the performance of these useless disciples of mine will change your mind."

Akita Satoru placed the teacup heavily on the table.

"Ah!"

"what!"

"Hey!"

On both sides of the dojo, disciples wearing kendo uniforms entered the center of the venue with sharp moves such as somersaults, forward rolls, and sliding tackles...

The colorful and different-thick sword balls in their hands flew, collided, spun, and swung in a dazzling manner... The most amazing thing was that no matter how fancy and exaggerated the movements were, these disciples could finally use their wrist strength to control them and catch the ball accurately with different parts of the hilt, such as the top, bottom, left, and right.

"Foreigners also play kendama, is it so international?"

What surprised Xia Fan even more was that among these performing "disciples", there were actually a few white and black people...

"You can control it so easily, what an amazing skill!"

"Kendama... can it be used to this extent?"

Faced with this sudden "multi-person kendama performance", the guests were stunned and applauded slightly exaggeratedly.

"I've heard about the 'Kendama Competition' before, but I didn't expect it to be so amazing."

Tietian Tier showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

About thirty or forty years ago, kendama enthusiasts, mainly those of the Yumemoto Musou-ryu school, established the "Eleventh District Kendama Association" and innovated the concept of "competitive kendama", or "combat using kendama techniques".

After that, the Kendama Association further developed unified standards for fairness in terms of the size, weight, material, etc. of "competitive kendama", as well as standards for the recognition of kendama ranks, and even compiled teaching books for beginners.

In recent years, the Kendama Association, with Yumemoto Musou-ryu as the president, has continuously promoted the development of the Kendama Association. There are branches of the association for Kendama training and rank certification all over the country in District 11. The "Kendama World Cup" has been successfully held for three consecutive years, and the short animation "Kendama Life and Death Fight" sponsored by the association is also being broadcasted...

More and more people are participating in the kendama rank certification and various specialized competitions are organized regularly. Kendama has also begun to become a trendy street competitive sport like skateboarding, yo-yo, and street dance.

"Yes, the first immortal we are going to visit today is the 'Kendama Immortal', Master Akita Satoru!"

"He has devoted himself to the practice of Kendama for eighty years. He currently holds many world records in Kendama. He is also the oldest holder of the 'Kendama Menkyo Kaiden' in District 11."

After the large-scale collective kendama performance, the disciples stood respectfully on both sides of the venue, and Yasuzaburo Ozu announced the theme of this episode off-camera.

According to the "production template", some handsome scenes of the "Kendama Sage" using kendama, which were filmed in advance, will be inserted here during the post-production of the program.

According to the ancient kendo hierarchy, "Menkyo Kaiden" is a higher level than the tenth dan, requiring the inheritor to reach an extremely high level of skill, to be able to master all the skills of the school, and to be able to effectively teach these skills to others...

This "Kendama Sage" Akita Satoru's high status in "competitive kendama" is evident from the fact that he holds a very high status.

"Today, a group of our guests will try their hand at 'Kendama KOF' against the direct disciples of Master Akita Satoru, and learn first-hand the fun and skills behind this sport."

While director Ozu was explaining the content of the next recording, a staff member handed a kendama to each of the four guests.

"Dear guests, please familiarize yourself with the kendama in your hands first."

Four handsome disciples with beautifully made-up and hair styles then stepped out, stood opposite the guests and saluted, acting as opponents.

"Tsk, isn't it just putting kendama toys under the guise of kendo, trying to replicate the 'yo-yo economy' that was popular a few years ago?"

"What a shame for the production team. They dared to accept this kind of advertisement. Aren't they afraid that the guests might accidentally say 'kendama' instead of 'jinyu'?"

"I guess we received a lot of advertising fees this time, so we should get a commission..."

Tetsuda Teji, a frequent guest on the show "The Secret of the Immortal", was trying out the kendama in his hand while whispering about the inside story to the other three.

Some of the "immortals" who appear on the show are indeed skilled craftsmen or professionals, but some are "businessmen" who are over-marketed and packaged and boasted about, and who spend advertising fees to appear on the show.

Anyway, for the program team of "reality recording", whether it can stand the test depends on the "immortal" himself. Whether he is a real immortal or a fake immortal, they can create highlights for the program.

(End of this chapter)