I mentioned before in some posts over in the Beyblade Random Thoughts thread that I was looking to get into the Beyblade community here in Japan. During my search for the Japanese community, however, I accidentally tracked down the beigoma community. For those who don't know, beigoma is a traditional Japanese game that started several hundred years ago where players battle against each other with spinning tops. Sounds familiar, right? Modern beigoma tops are made from dye-cast metals (mine smell like iron, I think), although the original tops were made from sea shells that were filled with sand and sealed with wax. To reflect this, the metal tops have a spiral on the bottom, similar to a seashell. On the top, they can have any sort of design. They sometimes have kanji, roman alphabet letters, popular characters, or just neat patterns. This is the game that Beyblade stems from, and it plays similar to HMS in that the tops are very small and metal, and tops can be spun either right or left. But instead of a winder, these tops are spun by wrapping a string around them and then throwing them.

I found a beigoma club in the Tokyo area and stumbled upon their facebook page, where I saw that they were having a meeting on March 5 (today), so I decided I wanted to go. I sent a message to the group leader a private message, and he finally got back to me last night and said to stop by around 3:00 PM after the main event and he would teach me how to throw. So, as instructed, I showed up at 3:00 and I saw a pretty good crowd of people, both kids and adults - and even some elderly people - going at it and having fun. konnichiwa!, one of them saw me walking from off in the distance. First thing, they gifted me a fresh top and some string, and began teaching me how to throw it. I've never done this before, but I got it to spin on my first try. "Eh? Are you sure this is your first time?", even I was surprised. I got it to spin a few times, so next I had to learn how to wrap it by myself. Let me just say, wrapping is hard. It took me somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes to finally be able to do it, but once I got the hang of it I started to be able to wrap it faster and improve. But then, my throws were bad. But overall, about an hour into my time there I wasn't too bad overall. Jouzu! Jouzu! (Japanese for "excellent"), they were all so encouraging.

Originally I was taught how to wrap by a nice fellow from Taiwan, "How do you know beigoma?" he asked me curiously. I told him that I used to play Beyblade in America as a kid, and that at some point I accidentally learned about beigoma online as a result. "Do lots of people in America like Beyblade?" Having been in Japan for almost a year now, all I could say was "I don't know, but it used to be very popular and I'm sure it probably still is." That's when I did my perfect first throw, and he asked me surprisingly if it was really my first time. "He used to play Beyblade!" shouted the group leader, from across the park. We call him Chi Chi, it means papa in Japanese. I guess he's the beigoma papa? I'm actually not sure, but I think that's what the fellow from Taiwan told me jokingly.

I was having some trouble wrapping, but eventually Chi Chi came over and showed me what I was doing wrong. The stadium is a bucket with a cloth tied over the top, and there were several stadium scattered around. Lots of people were moving around and playing against each other, but I think the group was a little smaller than normal at this point. Earlier in the day they had some sort of grand tournament, I came afterwards because I'm a beginner to the game and had to be taught how to do it. I played with Chi Chi, a nice guy named Yuu and a few others. Everyone was so friendly, I felt really welcome.

They gifted me two tops, one normal type, and one customized. I don't know where you can normally buy tops, but when I asked Chi Chi he said I could buy them from him. 200 yen for a normal top, 500 yen for a customized top (That's roughly $2 and $5 respectively). Here's where I want to break into talking about the different types of types.  In Beyblade, there is attack, defense, balance and stamina. But in beigoma, there are only three types. Normal Type (New, uncustomized tops), Balance Type (customized with a pointy tip for stamina), and Unbalanced Type (shorter tops that move quickly with lots of attack power). To customize the tops, you have to scrap them by hand onto a metal file. The customized top I was given was a balance type, with a nice pointy tip. It's possible that their could be more types and maybe I didn't understand, but these are the basic three that they told me about. But another way that people customize their tops is to paint the top of them. They all use nail polish and then cover it in a sort of clear coating. I guess you can say that a top isn't really special unless you paint it.


Some people paint their tops using the design on the top, or some people just cover it completely in their own new design. Speaking of which, one of the guys today was sporting this. OBA!, in this case, means aunt. Three aunts.

[Image: UjAQ6y1l.jpg]

Now here below is my current collection of beigoma. The two I was gifted are the one in the middle with the wave-like pattern, and the one on top with a koi painted on top. The one with the koi is the balance type. The one with the turtle on the bottom left was given to me by a really nice girl, and I bought the other three for 200 yen each. The one on the bottom right I think has an interesting pattern and I'd like to paint the top black and fill the pattern in with red. The sun top, I'd like to do black and fill the sun design in with yellow. As for the top with the wheel design, I was thinking I'd give it a custom design (Maybe a Bomberman top? Nice and easy). The top with the wave-like pattern, I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. I like the design on top, and this was my first top so I'll probably fill in the pattern with some nice colors instead of giving a custom design. And for the top with the koi, I'm debating if I should attempt to remove the design and give it a new one. I also like the turtle and will fill in it's design as-is with colors that might match the theme. I'm not sure how I'll carve them down yet. The custom one I'll make, I might turn it into an unbalanced type.

[Image: lNoi3all.jpg]

[Image: pP4ikdNl.jpg]

Sadly I didn't take any pictures at the event, but I did take videos of two short matches. The first was a 30 second round that didn't go too well, and the other is a really short match that only lasted a few seconds. The videos can be seen below (edit: it's only letting me put one video in the post, so the second video can be found here), and I'll try to take more photos and videos next time, the majority of my time today was spend learning and practicing the game so I wasn't able to document so much. The group meets once a month, and they also told me about two other groups that meet once a month but on different days. I may check out the other groups in the future, but I need to practice more first. At the very least, I'll be playing with the Akabane Beigoma Club every month. Oh yeah, and they invited me to some sort of event in Asakusa at the end of this month. I have to look into the details, but I'll post about that if I go.

I'm going to continue updating this and talking about this as a series. I'll make a blog within the next few days when I get a chance, and link it in my description. I'll update posts here in this thread for discussion, and then I'll copy those posts over to my blog for easy access. I had so much fun today with the Akabane Beigoma Club and I am very excited to play with them again next time. Once I get good I hope to play with some of the other clubs in the city as well. Chi Chi said he goes to one of the other clubs as well, so that's two weekends every month. Sounds like a lot of fun. If you're ever in Tokyo and want to play, give me a shout and I'll try to give you all the information you need to come play with us. They're a very friendly bunch. I didn't understand everything they said today, but even when we didn't understand each other we were still able to communicate and have fun through this amazing game.

Now I just need to find Tokyo's Beyblade community...

Large quote removed.

Quick question? Doesn't Oba chan mean grandma. Cos In most subbed anime I watch they reference to their grandma as oba chan.

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My instagram @yb_one_

Quick question? Doesn't Oba chan mean grandma. Cos In most subbed anime I watch they reference to their grandma as oba chan.

You're correct. Oba-san/oba-chan mean grandmother. But oba by itself means aunt (the word for grandfather works the same way to make uncle). Despite this, I was sure it was 3 grandma's anyway, because there's no way he even had room to put San/chan, but my fiance was like "no, no, it's aunt"

Really interesting to read. Even though the sorts of customizations seem very limited and everything would therefore rely on the launch, it sounds like a lot of traditions are attached to beigoma as well as a lot of dedication. It really makes us realise why it was so special for Takara as a Japanese company to almost entirely follow in beigoma's footsteps, as you can see that a lot of the elements are respected. And then you come to the western world, where Hasbro has no idea of those traditions and just makes a button-push launcher that totally breaks apart from what bei is...

I don't think it's dependant on your launch. In Beyblade you pick your favorite pieces and put them together to make a top that's special to you. But in beigoma all tops are the same until you begin to customize them. Unless you want a normal type, it's up to you to carve away at it and make a top that's truly yours. Once you have your top painted and shaved down, you have a top that is truly unique to yourself. You can choose how tall or short it is, you can choose the shape of the tip, etc. You're not limited to pieces in your collection, it's down to whatever you can do that's still physically possible to shoot. Normal types have rounded tips and can move around the stadium decently. Balance types have a smaller tip and have more stamina allowing them to take out normal types. Unbalance types have lots of attack power that allows them to easily take out balance types. Normal types have better defence against unbalance types. I would argue it's not limited at all, you just have to be creative.

I think this game plays exactly like Beyblade, the types are the same but have different names. But since there's no individual parts, since every customized top is unique, there's so much potential for what you can make and there's no overpowered combos to make the game stale.

What I found interesting was that a lot of the techniques we use in Beyblade also exist in beigoma. Chi Chi taught me how to do a sliding shoot. In beigoma, it's just a bank shot and it's hard, I would argue impossible for beginners. I tried it, but my top just hit the stadium and flew out immediately. It went fast and flew high. You see characters practicing their launches in beyblade all the time, and I really think that stems from beigoma. This is a game you have to practice.

I definitely see what you mean about Hasbro. I always thought that Takara and Hasbro treated Beyblade like a completely different game, but after yesterday it's really easy to see where Takara is coming from and why theirs is the better game.

And then you come to the western world, where Hasbro has no idea of those traditions and just makes a button-push launcher that totally breaks apart from what bei is...

Then make dumb spin-off products like Beywheelz and Beyraiderz which aren't related to beyblade in the slightest, asides from both using winders and the beywheelz sort of looking like tops, I'll take Round Shell MS anyday. They were more like flywheel and speeders from Chima.

This blog makes me really want to try out a beigoma just for fun, because they were well known as the first battling spinning tops and the idea to customize it is cool. I presume Balance type for Beigomas meant precession and having more Balance, which was embarrassingly what I first thought Balance types were for beyblade.

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My Cho-Z Reaper Deathscyther .12.Cr concept render, click below to see!

Spoiler (Click to View)

No I don't plan on doing more yet.

I should probably go back to making fan custom Zero G beyblade concepts again

From what I understand, the designs on the top were originally family insignias pressed into the wax of the early shell versions, much like a classic western letter seal. After the game started taking on the same "winner takes all" element as our playground marble games, family names became impractical and so the markings took on various images but the most popular were apparently of kami and the celestial beasts.
The origin of beyblade's bit beasts and, most likely, your turtle bei.

Official TT word on the matter is that the "sport" of beigoma was lost when Japan went to war and toys became an impractical luxury, with beyblade being their way of bringing it back into the limelight. How true this is is unknown to me but it is interesting to see how it's reflected in universe, with beyblades evolving directly from bladed war beigoma instead of the hiatus period.

Anyway, aside from having witnessed electric beyblade-sized competition tops in a video here once, that's literally all I know about the subject, do keep us posted.

Then make dumb spin-off products like Beywheelz and Beyraiderz which aren't related to beyblade in the slightest, asides from both using winders and the beywheelz sort of looking like tops, I'll take Round Shell MS anyday. They were more like flywheel and speeders from Chima.

This blog makes me really want to try out a beigoma just for fun, because they were well known as the first battling spinning tops and the idea to customize it is cool. I presume Balance type for Beigomas meant precession and having more Balance, which was embarrassingly what I first thought Balance types were for beyblade.

Beywheels and beyraiders are just cashing in on the name. They don't have to be similar by those standards, but I still dislike the practice.

I've been wanting to try for a while, I'm happy I finally got to

From what I understand, the designs on the top were originally family insignias pressed into the wax of the early shell versions, much like a classic western letter seal. After the game started taking on the same "winner takes all" element as our playground marble games, family names became impractical and so the markings took on various images but the most popular were apparently of kami and the celestial beasts.
The origin of beyblade's bit beasts and, most likely, your turtle bei.

Official TT word on the matter is that the "sport" of beigoma was lost when Japan went to war and toys became an impractical luxury, with beyblade being their way of bringing it back into the limelight. How true this is is unknown to me but it is interesting to see how it's reflected in universe, with beyblades evolving directly from bladed war beigoma instead of the hiatus period.

Anyway, aside from having witnessed electric beyblade-sized competition tops in a video here once, that's literally all I know about the subject, do keep us posted.

Yeah, it used to be common to see family names or names of baseball players, but I don't know if they still make them like that these days. But that is certainly what led to the idea of a bit beast. My turtle bey definitely looks like something you would see in Beyblade, especially metal fight. As for the game probably disappearing during the war, I have no clue but I can easily see why considering the materials used for them were probably all put towards the war effort. But there's a lot of old people here that still play and like the game, so I think it probably had a resurgence after the war. After all, the game has been around for 400-500 years, so I don't think one war would kill it for good. But the game certainly isn't as it probably once was. After all, there's only one factory in all of Japan that still makes these.

But does anyone customize anything except the tip? I litterally never saw anything but octagons. And since you cannot possibly add metal to the top, then anything like a protruding platform in the centre similar to BD145 is impossible to do, or even wings like on DF145. That is where I see that basically two thirds of the spinning tops are just uncustomizable, or at least I have never ever seen anyone who had customized theirs on the top two thirds...

Oh, you meant like that. Yeah, I don't think it's possible. You need the octogon shape so that rlyou have can the string on it. You're only going to customize the tip and the height.If you do anything too crazy you won't be able to shoot it.

Oh, you meant like that. Yeah, I don't think it's possible. You need the octogon shape so that rlyou have can the string on it. You're only going to customize the tip and the height.If you do anything too crazy you won't be able to shoot it.

Could the top not be circular with two small notches on either end for the string?

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Spoiler (Click to View)

This is what we all want, Brad.

Could the top not be circular with two small notches on either end for the string?

I really don't know. The underside is circular and the top is octoganal. It would probably be hard to tie, but I think a circular top piece is certainly possible. I think the octoganal shape is partially for attack power. If it was a perfect circle, I don't know how it would fair. Maybe sometime I'll try shaving one into a more circular shape and see how it does. Maybe good for stamina.

Last week I went to an event in Fuchu and @[Kai-V] came along for the fun. You can read what I wrote on my blog (link in my signature) but it might be more interesting to read about Kai-V's experience in her own words after she writes it.

Also we might be starting a beigoma mini format on WBO for anyone who is interested in that (read: MAYBE)

@[Wizard] that starter beigoma looks like it could provide some pretty serious smash if modified correctly.

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BOWLS ARE JUST REALLY WIDE CUPS
PM me if you want me to analyze your combo.
Leader of Team Skogkatt

This is way later than I wanted, but cosplay oblige, here is finally my report of that faithful day on April 23rd hah.


A month and a week ago, I attended a beigoma event with @[Wizard] for the first time in my life, in Fuchu, Japan. I had high expectations for Beyblade's origin game, and let's say I came out of it with a lot of satisfaction and, for the first time in years, the thrill to practice a spinning top game until I became much better.

We met up a few minutes before the start of the event at the local train station and made our way to the community centre where everybody would gather. I had been warned: beigoma requires a lot of time to master the string wrapping, and some more time to learn how to launch your bei. Ideally, I should have practiced by buying some yo-yo string and wrapping it around a probably fake metal bei I had before leaving Canada, following a tutorial he had showed me online, but even though I eventually found some rope that could be suitable, it was impossible for me to find any time. Therefore, I came that Sunday with no experience  at all hah. Josh was patient when teaching how to wrap, and since I had glanced at the tutorial before, I remembered the method quickly, but it still took both of us some time to wrap our beis. We hoped that matches would be spread apart, otherwise we would look like the unexperienced gaijin's we are and we would slow the whole process.

Very early on, an old man came up to me and, knowing I did not speak Japanese, he showed me how to wrap and how to launch because he saw my poor attempts hah. At first, it was annoying because these were my very first few tries and I found I was doing quite good for a beginner already and I just knew I had to keep practicing, but this old man, considered a "sensei" in the local community, definitely just had my interest at heart and he gave me tips as best as he could throughout the whole event.

The first tournament eventually started (the event was suppose to start at 10 o' clock, but even though Japanese trains are reputably always on time, Japanese people are barely ever able to start any activity early, as I have seen so far hah).  After registration, where I got known as "bye-gee-nee" essentially, we lined up and each person picked a wooden stick out of a can. You would then go to the arena of the same colour as the painted tip of your stick. The first format consisted of twelve rounds of random battles like that, with four players at each stadium. There was only one winner in each match, and they were the one who would write the result of that battle on their record paper and everybody else's at that arena.

As far as I remember, I won none of my battles in that first format hahah. Whether from that or from having more time to observe me in the next format, again people, mostly the older players, came to my help and tried to get me to launch right, as my problem was mostly missing the stadium or my bei slipping out of the stadium right upon launch.


Because as it turns out, launching in Beyblade and launching in beigoma is probably the biggest difference between those two series, one that I now find myself almost glaring at TAKARA-TOMY for. Not only is the difference huge, but it is what makes beigoma almost superior, to me.
Once you have the wrapping method down, throwing your bei is so natural, in a way, and so closely related to how much you worked for it, that it just makes so much sense. The catchphrase "Chichi no chi" orchestrates the basic whipping motion, giving you an opportunity to practice the movement before the actual throw. Initially, at the very base of the theory, you basically imitate a DJ with their turntable. However, as the day passed by, I saw all the players merge into a magical stance, as if they had grown out of the rusty initial plays and were now one with beigoma: all at once, four around the stadium, every player ended up propelling their body all toward the left, to channel all the power and momentum they could muster into their launch. This dance that forced each player to twist their body and place their right foot toward the left, all simultaneously, was honestly beautiful and I knew just from looking at it that this was the ultimate throwing technique that all beigoma players would seek to master. It had nothing to do with the basic, amateurish forearm rotation move anymore.

So overall, the launch essentially uses the same length of string as everybody else, because it depends on the volume of the bei only. You are entirely responsible for whether you wrapped it well, you do not depend on a mechanism that 'filters' your power and sometimes literally skips, you control where it lands (once you are good at throwing, of course), etc. Whereas Beyblade can be seen as an obvious evolution from its origins in beigoma, the throwing method is an aspect in which Beyblade completely distanced itself, probably for the worst. It is such an important part of this tradition, and it is very sad that it got lost in this modernization.

What also surprised me and which is most likely what every non-player wonders about is that despite the similar shapes of the spinning tops and their pointy tips, they definitely move a lot in the cloth arena and knockouts happen frequently, even late-game. And again, your launch has everything to do with this too.

Most tops are right-spin actually, by wrapping the string around the two knots underneath counter-clockwise, for some reason, however left-spin is possible and I have not had the opportunity to explore that option yet. Apparently, left-spin tops would have to be thrown with your other, left arm entirely. It may be possible to master the move with your right arm through a lot of practice, but it seems like it would be completely unnatural. Even for me, who launches Beyblades technically left-handed, I would not dare throw beigoma with my left arm hah. And the reason I launch with my left arm in Beyblade is because I have a restriction on my right arm not to break anything, which clearly would never happen with such solid tops and no fragile launcher. Even if the bei fall on the floor or on concrete, I doubt they would wear down much. Which brings me to customizing.


Customization, from what I have seen so far, is both very open but also not that varied. Essentially, you can use any bei you made as long as it does not weigh more than a certain amount, which leaves you with almost any opportunities to customize. However, most tops remain eight(?)-sided, sharp-tipped and the top section has no huge protrusion changes, for some reason. The basic way of customizing them is to use a filing bar or however you call that: by pushing (or pulling?) one side of your bei on that bar, it shaves and flattens it, and your goal is to repeat that process on all eight sides while keeping your top's tip as centred as possible, of course.



Flat tips are somehow not a trend at all. It is true that, as I mentioned, the tops move around the stadium well enough already, so it is not like they are not aggressive, but I would be really curious to try out a flat-tipped bei and see why they are so unpopular among veteran beigoma communities hah.

The top's circumference comes in mostly only two designs: the traditional octagon and the four-sided shape with engraved lines that are technically to help you learn how to wrap the string around beigoma. The second does not seem to be preferred for attacks at all despite the slopes it has.
Therefore, the top of a beigoma is mostly customized, from what I have seen, for decoration: people either paint the surface, add stickers, or even colour it and add liquid glass or other protective, solid substances to mark it as their own or to give their top character. Of course though, I could see this art being used to actually customize weight distribution however you want.


Coming back to the tournament, a sort of finals was held after that first event in which I lost every battle. Stadiums were lined up and people faced one-on-one in an order I did not really understand, but it seemed like a survival test.

Right after that, another tournament was organized, and it was such a different format that it was not repetitive at all despite playing exactly the same game with the same tops and against the same people. This time, we formed teams, or actually someone formed teams for us somehow. I think people of various records were teamed up, instead of having the best get together and form overpowered teams. Josh and I were together, probably because I had had zero wins and he had gotten one or two at least in the last tournament, and we were with two kids who clearly had a lot of experience. Our 'team captain' was slightly bossy, but I think he accepted his fate hah. Plus, during this second tournament, I actually scored a few great wins, since apparently knockouts are worth more in that format. I ended up with a better score than Josh actually, which really surprised but also excited the community and some of the sensei too, probably from seeing that I was learning and was really improving. I was rather surprised myself hah.

Before the tournament began, the whole community insisted to us that it was part of the rules to have to tap on the arena's cloth if you won, otherwise, from what we gathered, it would not count. They were so adamant about it, and that was the first and only thing they showed us and repeated to us in as many ways as they could think when they asked us if we understood the rules, but there were so many other parts of the formats that we did not get at all hahah. To this day, I still do not understand why this was the only rule that was so primordial.

Our team faced all or almost all of the other teams, but even with my improving win record, we did not reach the finals. Actually, I think that even though we were facing others as teams, those who moved to the finals were individuals, so we did not actually drag our captain down too much with our poor performance hah.


After this second tournament, my arm started hurting slightly and, even though they were probably going to keep playing until dawn like in other beigoma communities, Josh and I decided to leave probably halfway during the afternoon. At this point, or slightly before then, two or three sensei came to give me puresentos: the first was a Hello Kitty-themed beigoma with basically perfect diamond filing of its bottom side. It came from an old man I had not noticed that much actually, so it was moving to receive that gift from him seeing as it was clearly well-crafted and it came in a small padded box to protect it too. Another sensei, the one who had tried to correct me on how to launch the most, gave me a top and a string, I believe, which was very nice of him. Another old man gave me a string too. After that, we went to the front tables and saw that a guy was selling some tops from his collection, so knowing those might be my only opportunities in a while, I definitely stock up, without exaggerating hah. Then, we went to tell the organizer of the tournaments that we were going to leave, and he decided to show us how to file the sides of your bei. We also asked whether there were any stadium cloths for sale somewhere, and while at first he said there were none, after understanding that I wished to start a beigoma scene in Canada, he generously gave me one of the replacement cloths he had brought in his red trolley as well as one big rubber band that was already tied to the right diametre for the bucket needed to replicate the arenas, which he jokingly said should be available somewhere in Canada hah. We departed after that and although I did not want to disturb anybody in what they were doing, clearly the whole community seemed very happy to have met us and they all waved at us with smiles.

The Hello Kitty custom bei and its beautiful decoration.


Wizard's gift, and the bei I used for the whole tournament.


Overall collection.

And now, the weather is nicer and I really look forward to practicing my throws outside (because you really do not want to try in your house if you value anything around hah), in hopes of returning to the Fuchu community and prove that I really like this game, thanks to them.

After attending this wholly Japanese tournament, it really makes me rethink how we are currently acting as old players within this kids' game. Sure, we can be competitors and we have always advocated for all-ages tournaments, but shouldn't we be a lot more proactive in bringing kids up to our level? I am not talking at all about advising them before a specific battle: they rarely come out of it understanding why it is better and it is just unfair for the opponent. But between battles and before and after events, we should be acting way more as wise sensei's toward them, just like the welcome I received from the Fuchu beigoma community. What do you guys think? Wouldn't it completely change some parents' and kids' experience and their perspective of our all-ages policy? I am not saying that some of you are not already coaching younger players, but overall we have a duty to educate even the older ones among us so that they will be more involved toward younger players. Clearly, it does not require you to have a degree in customer relations or anyting: even with a considerable language barrier, the people of the Fuchu community were very much able to make me improve within a short amount of time.


(I did not take any photographs or videos at the event because I would have had to ask every single person's permission hah. You can see some on Wizard's blog at least.)

I might be forgetting something, but hopefully not too much hah.

Thanks for such a detailed report, Kai-V! I really hope I can try this when I visit Japan again this year.

Your comments about the 'throwing' aspect of Beigoma being lost on Beyblade was interesting. That said, I don't think it can really be implied that shooting technique doesn't matter in Beyblade; it's just not 'throwing' in the same way that Beigoma does it. I'd imagine they distanced themselves from it when developing Beyblade due to the level of skill that sounds to be involved in throwing a Beigoma; shooting a Beyblade sounds much easier while still offering strategic depth for competitive players as we all know.

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Actually when you throw you say "chichi no chi" lol. And the beigoma for sale weren't out of anyone's collection, it's just a thing. I'm pretty sure the organizer of the group manages that, at least that's how it is in Akabane.

Good write up! When. You come back, if you're here for the first Sunday of the month you'll be able to come along to Akabane, I actually like that group better (some of the same people, and it's in a nice park).

Today I went to an event in Akabane. I'll do a write up soon, but it'll probably be a shorter one since I mostly only did free play during today's event and I had to leave around mid-day to look at a wedding hall. But I did get invited to play with the group in Kawagoe next month, that's where the beigoma factory is and I was told the boss of the factory comes down to play! So definitely look forward to a write-up of that. I'm going to Kawagoe on July 1, and then Akabane is again in July 2. Oh yeah, and I might be playing in Nerima on the 24th, that's my one-year anniversary of coming to Japan so it's a big day for me I was supposed to go to Nerima last week but I got lost on the way so me and my friend I was with at the time ended up going to Ikebukuro instead.

This is peaking my interest, i'm going to have to do some research and see if i can find some of these tops online.

This is peaking my interest, i'm going to have to do some research and see if i can find some of these tops online.

You can get them on Amazon.co.jp. search for ベーゴマ and look for a seller named 日三鋳造所. The type of beigoma that we use is 新角六, but 角六 is also fine. Keep an eye out for that type, because there are shorter/flatter tops that are called ペチャ and they will be very hard to spin as a beginner. You will have to use a middleman just like you would when ordering Beyblades from Amazon.

You can also find them on Rakuten from the same seller.

This is peaking my interest, i'm going to have to do some research and see if i can find some of these tops online.

You can get them on Amazon.co.jp. search for ベーゴマ and look for a seller named 日三鋳造所. The type of beigoma that we use is 新角六, but 角六 is also fine. Keep an eye out for that type, because there are shorter/flatter tops that are called ペチャ and they will be very hard to spin as a beginner. You will have to use a middleman just like you would when ordering Beyblades from Amazon.

You can also find them on Rakuten from the same seller.

Sweet, thanks for the tip. I'm sure others will appreciate it as well. I'm interested in trying my hand at modifying and polishing. I look forward to future updates!

Thanks for such a detailed report, Kai-V! I really hope I can try this when I visit Japan again this year.

Your comments about the 'throwing' aspect of Beigoma being lost on Beyblade was interesting. That said, I don't think it can really be implied that shooting technique doesn't matter in Beyblade; it's just not 'throwing' in the same way that Beigoma does it. I'd imagine they distanced themselves from it when developing Beyblade due to the level of skill that sounds to be involved in throwing a Beigoma; shooting a Beyblade sounds much easier while still offering strategic depth for competitive players as we all know.

Overall though, the Beyblade throwing is a lot less organic and that connection is severed. It does make sense that Takara probably wanted to just making launching accessible to all with little to no practice hah. 


By the way, here is the link for the seller Wizard mentioned: 
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=bl_dp_s_w...0%E6%89%80


And here is a seller on Rakuten Global that has a set: 
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/takei/item/be-goma/

I am following this thread with such anticipation, tops have been a focal point ever since I was a little kid. I went from little wooden tops to beyblade, to basically nothing. This could be the next thing for me :)

Most definately checking the sellers out. Thanks Wizard and Kai-V!

On another unrelated note, seeing as you have acces to the direct community Wizard, why don't you act as the middle man :)?
You could easily be the same sensei to us as chi-chi is to you, not only teaching us about the game but also allowing us to find customized tops.

As a final question, seeing as how easy it is to mold and cast it is these days why don't some people in the community re-cast a customized top via heat resistant silicone and iron. It takes out the customization part but it could optimize performance by quite a bit. You could replicate the exact same perfect balance top every time. The beigoma factory uses ye olde sand casting method if I am correct, no?

I am following this thread with such anticipation, tops have been a focal point ever since I was a little kid. I went from little wooden tops to beyblade, to basically nothing. This could be the next thing for me

Most definately checking the sellers out. Thanks Wizard and Kai-V!

On another unrelated note, seeing as you have acces to the direct community Wizard, why don't you act as the middle man ?
You could easily be the same sensei to us as chi-chi is to you, not only teaching us about the game but also allowing us to find customized tops.

As a final question, seeing as how easy it is to mold and cast it is these days why don't some people in the community re-cast a customized top via heat resistant silicone and iron. It takes out the customization part but it could optimize performance by quite a bit. You could replicate the exact same perfect balance top every time. The beigoma factory uses ye olde sand casting method if I am correct, no?

Doesn't sound like a bad idea, I bet the act of modifying by hand is probably one of the main aspects of the game though. I personally am really looking forward to that part of it. That and struggling to figure out how to launch the things. I will probably buy a few of these this next week.

Aaargh The tops are definitely made via a sandcasting method. I'm definitely interested in casting my own tops, or at least learning more about the production of them, but carving your top is part of the fun and I think it's good to support the factory that makes them. Also if you basically cline the same top over and over and then lose one in a honko match, you might run into trouble if lots of people have that same "perfect top".

I'm just not comfortable being a middleman. It's cheaper, faster and easier for everyone to just purchase tops through the links provided. I'm more than happy to share knowledge like how to carve and throw, but I don't want to be a seller. However when I meet the boss of the factory I might explain that I'm trying to get a community going overseas and see what we can do about international bulk shipping of tops.

mechahate It took me a few hours to learn to hrow properly, I'm sure you can do it.

Overall though, the Beyblade throwing is a lot less organic and that connection is severed. It does make sense that Takara probably wanted to just making launching accessible to all with little to no practice hah.

And yet the anime has always gone out of its way to depict full body, organic launch techniques as the pinnacle of competitive play.