Krom 9 Year BDAY Kendama Review

Since 2016, Krom Kendama has released an anniversary kendama. We first saw the 6 Year Bday Mod which was then followed by the 7 and 8 Year Bday Mods that had different color variations of the same design.

I was expecting similar this year, however when I came across the design of the kendama it literally blew my mind. I personally told Rolf that I had never seen anything like that before. The Krom 9YBDAY mod is pushing the limits on wood lamination while incorporating the world championship quality of kendama that they have come to be known for.

Let’s take a look.

Krom debuts an all new AK SHAPE with the 9YBDAY mod that features bigger cups similar to that of Slaydawg 2 but a slimmer sword. It’s spike is kept consistently long, the right amount to be paired with their bevel but more on that later.

I found the ken feeling great in my hand, not too chunky thanks to the slimmer sword but also big enough to fit the modern play. It is a shape unlike any other on the market, further highlighted by the poppingly defined ringstall and handlestall that look beautifully cut. The ken also features the base cup warp hole for improved lunars.

It is important to note as well that the ken is 16.5cm tall, with the KWC limit being 17cm and the standard kens usually being 16-16.2cm.

You can also see how it compares to other shapes below. For consistency, we will compare to the Prime, Shift and BL Shape.

Note all text are in comparison, i.e. if the column/row says Prime, Cup, Bigger – that means in comparison to the Prime Cups, the reviewed kendama IS BIGGER.

Now let’s get into the design of the kendama. Where do we start? Each part of the kendama is so uniquely designed and somehow fits coherently so nothing looks “too much” or out of place.

I will start with the sword. The sword is a beautiful laminate of maple, birch and zebrano. At first glance you cannot tell that such a complex composition of wood is used. I clarified with Rolf and he shared that if you look from the side, the woods are as follows: birch, zebrano, maple, zebrano (middle/spike piece), maple, zebrano, birch.

How everything flowed so seamlessly blows my mind. A lot of prototyping must have gone in to getting all the lamination right.

The sarado applies a similar wood lamination process, going birch-maple-birch from top down. You can slightly see the lamination line, however I found that with sweat and play the sarado wood adopt a consistent colour due to the light tones of both woods.

The tama is another complex laminate, starting with a birch scope at the bottom followed by alternating zebrano and maple wood. It is then slapped with a ring of fresh holographic SMILEYGANG.

This is one of those cases where everything just comes together nicely. Nothing seems to be overly done. All in all the kendama has a total of 25 laminations making it incredibly unique.

I’ve dealt with sticky coated natty tamas before so I expected them to have a nice level of tack that lasts. This was no different. After playing for 2 weeks, I found that the stickiness was by and large there. The only challenge was my sweaty palms but a simple wipedown fixed that. I face it for most tamas anyway.

What I was worried about, was the smileygang faces that could potentially chip off due to their holographic nature and application method. After 2 weeks, I saw no chipping or peeling – only denting from my missed spikes. This surprised me, how durable it was and it is definitely a design risk Krom took which paid off.



This kendama is a joy to jam. It is big like the modern shape yet not too chunky. The increased height helps players with bigger hands get a better grip of the kendama.

Interestingly, Krom decided to go with a 60mm tama this time instead of the 62mm seen on the other BDAY mods. Initially, I thought that I would feel the difference considering that kendamas with these dimensions in the market today generally opt for at least a 61mm tama. However, after playing for some time, I noticed that while the cups were bigger, the ratio is well balanced with the width of the sarado and the tama feels pretty normal when paired with the ken. I have not tried another sized tama yet but if you own the other Kroms I suggest you do.

In the playability section, I test the smoothness and ease of landing tricks in the 4 criteria, Lunar, Stalls, Slings and Kenflips.

A difficulty rating out of 10 (1 being easier than usual, 5 being no difference and 10 being much harder than usual) will be given to each category at discretion.

In general, I found tricks easier to do on this kendama thanks to the dimensions of which it is cut. Bigger cups and bigger sarados always help. If there was anything that could be improved however, is the spike length. I personally prefer a longer spike length which helps me with grip for late slings as I push my finger against it – but this is a very personal play preference.

You are highly unlikely to see a similar kendama produced like this in the future by anyone else and therefore it is something worth considering collecting.