1. What Is the Oldest Record of a Cup-and-Ball Game?
The Japan Kendama Association points to France in the 1500s. A writer named Pierre de L'Estoile is quoted as saying that in the summer of 1585, children were playing the bilboquet on street corners, and kings had taken up the game too. The association adds that a book about toys and games from around the world also says King Henri III enjoyed it [1]. Rich families had bilboquets made of ivory and carved, which made them very expensive [1].
It is tempting to say "the kendama began in 1585." But that would be a mistake. A record only shows that the game existed by then. It does not tell us who started it, or where, or when. The same association that quotes the 1585 record also says the origin is unknown [1].
2. Did the Game Begin in France, or Somewhere Else?
A museum in London gives a different answer from the French one. The Victoria and Albert Museum has a bilboquet made of ivory, with the words "Menus Plaisirs du Roi 1779 Versailles" engraved on it. Its description says the game "had originated in Mexico in the sixteenth century" and was very popular at the French court in the second half of the 1700s [3]. The museum's record also notes that the toy had a spike on the handle and a small cup at the other end, so that less skilled players had an easier way to catch the ball [3].
Here is the catch: among the sources we read, the Mexico idea appears only in this one museum description. We could not find a second source that backs it up, so it is best treated as one possible explanation, not a settled fact. Both sources agree that the game was around in the 1500s. They do not agree on where it started. The oldest record being French does not mean the game began in France.
3. When Did Cup-and-Ball Games Reach Japan?
The Japan Kendama Association says the toy appears in Japanese records in 1777 and 1778 (the Japanese era name is An'ei 6 and 7). It is thought to have spread from Nagasaki, which was Japan's main port for foreign trade at the time [1]. A Japanese government tourism database says the toy came to Japan through the Netherlands during the Edo period (1603–1867) [2]. Both use cautious wording such as "is thought to," so the route is a good guess, not something proven by documents.
The association also names two later Japanese books. One is from 1809 and shows a drawing of a ball shaped like a wooden sake cup, along with rules: players took turns and tried to scoop the ball into the cup, and the game was also used for fortune-telling. The other is from 1830 and writes the name of the toy with the characters 拳玉 (kendama) [1]. We read these books only as the association describes them, not in their original text. Even so, the records suggest the toy has been played in Japan for roughly 250 years.
4. How Did the Kendama Get Its Modern Shape?
The early kendama were not the toy you can buy today. According to the Japanese tourism database, in the Meiji era (1868–1912), woodworkers in Hatsukaichi, a city near Hiroshima, began making kendama and other wooden toys to sell to pilgrims and travelers visiting a famous shrine on the island of Miyajima. These early versions were mostly a handle with a single cup and a ball tied on with string [2].
The big change came in the Taisho era (1912–1926). The Japan Kendama Association says the kendama we know today was born in Japan in that time and was first called nichigetsu ball, meaning "sun-and-moon ball." A craftsman named Egusa Hamaji, from the city of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture, improved the Meiji-era kendama. The association says he applied for a utility-model patent on October 1, 1918, and that it was registered on May 14, 1919. His design had crescent-shaped cups carved into the handle and a pointed tip [1]. The tourism database says his version had three cups, a handle, and a spike, and that he had a local factory in Hatsukaichi make it [2].
The name is a clue. The tourism database says the round ball stood for the sun and the curved, crescent-shaped cups stood for the moon [2]. This is the only source we found that explains the name, so we treat it as that source's explanation.
5. Why Do Sources Give Different Years for the Modern Kendama?
Look closely and you will see that 1918 and 1919 are not the same event. The Japan Kendama Association gives exact days: the application in 1918 and the registration in 1919, which is about seven months later [1]. The tourism database simply says the toy was redesigned in 1918 [2]. So "when was the modern kendama born?" can mean the day the idea was filed, the day it was officially registered, or the day factories started selling it. These are different moments, so different sources point to different years. We did not find a source that dates the start of factory production.
One more caution. The 16th-century bilboquet also caught a ball in a cup, so it is natural to wonder whether it inspired the sun-and-moon ball. The sources we read say a bilboquet is probably the kendama's ancestor [2] [1], but none says that Egusa copied the cup from it. That link is a guess.
So the answer to "since when?" has three layers. The origin of the game: not confirmed. The oldest readable record: France, 1585. The first Japanese records: about 1777. The modern kendama: applied for in 1918 and registered in 1919. From the oldest record to the modern design is a gap of about 330 years.
6. How Can You Look at a Kendama and Read Its History?
If you can borrow a kendama, look at it with this history in mind. Count the cups. A modern kendama has a large cup, a medium cup, and a small cup. Find the spike on the tip of the handle, and think about the 1779 ivory toy in London that also had a spike and a small cup. Then compare the shape of the cups to a crescent moon. What does the ball remind you of?
If you want to dig deeper, you could read the history page of the Japan Kendama Association, or search the Victoria and Albert Museum's online collection for "bilboquet" and compare the objects with the kendama in your hand.