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[ta0]

I brought back several kyokugoma from the contest in Japan. This one has an interesting tip. It has a pointed crown that freely rotates around the tip:



It's a vintage koma that was restored by Mr. Ito, although he told me that he didn't guaranteed that it would work 

The idea is that the string is trapped between the crown and the axle. What I am not sure is if the top should wire walk by itself or just slide with the help of gravity. I did a test proving that the sliding works:



In theory it could walk due to the friction of the axle, but I don't know if it's supposed to do that (I should have asked Mr. Ito).

[ta0]

I did more experiments and it's definitely using the axle friction to help with the walk. If you pull up the line in the opposite direction it won't walk, it will just stall.
I have only experimented with one fishing line thickness, it might not be optimal.

Thinking a little more about it, if it was just a tip bearing it wouldn't make sense to put it high-up on the tip, it would make more sense to put it at the very tip. And in fact, there are kyokugomas like that.

I imagine that from a distance the public wouldn't be able to tell that the tip is not standing with the pointy tip on the line itself.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Beautiful top, simple but clever walking solution.

Hope to own a top like that some day. Where does the name "kyokugoma" come from?

[ta0]

Where does the name "kyokugoma" come from?

Kyoku (曲) by it self means song.
But kyokugei (曲芸) means acrobatic. The gei (芸) character by itself means artistic skill or performing arts.
So, as far as I can tell, kyokugoma means acrobatic top, with perhaps a second whimsical meaning of song top.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Kyoku (曲) by it self means song.
But kyokugei (曲芸) means acrobatic. The gei (芸) character by itself means artistic skill or performing arts.
So, as far as I can tell, kyokugoma means acrobatic top, with perhaps a second whimsical meaning of song top.

Thanks — very interesting. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished...

Q1: Do you know of any use of this kind of top — possibly historical — that would support the "song top" interpretation?

Q2: Have you ever seen a koma of this general design (bowl-shaped rotor on a thin coaxial metal rod) with (a) an adjustable rotor pisition along the rod, or (b) a starting method that doesn't involve throwing or palming the rod? Some string-pull gizmo perhaps?

[ta0]

Q1: Do you know of any use of this kind of top — possibly historical — that would support the "song top" interpretation?

Well, traditional kyokugoma performances were accompanied by somebody playing music, perhaps also singing.
Miki's 2022 traditional freestyle was with a chonkake, not a kyokugoma, but the idea is the same:

Q2: Have you ever seen a koma of this general design (bowl-shaped rotor on a thin coaxial metal rod) with (a) an adjustable rotor pisition along the rod, or (b) a starting method that doesn't involve throwing or palming the rod? Some string-pull gizmo perhaps?

(a)Yes, the rod can slide on some of these komas to adjust the tip to stem ratio (as well as in regular komas). In particular, the budget kyukugoma that Spingear offers is like this.

(b)The other traditional kyokugoma starting method is the swing technique between the thumb and the index fingers, specially for the larger ones (furikoma = swing top).
I don't recall seeing them started in other ways, but I bet it has happened.

[the Earl of Whirl]

One of the things that stood out to me when I met Miki was his size.  He is quite small, but this woman is way shorter than him.  Wow!!!  But she sure can play her instrument.  I appreciate the highlighting of his freestyle with live music.