Japanese Skill Toy: "Kendama"Cup-and-Ball Toy

This "kendama", a traditional Japanese toy, consists of a "ken," Japanese for sword, and "tama,"Japanese for ball, connected by a string. The ball has a hole. The sword has three cups: two opposite each other and one at the end. The sword also has a spike which fits into the hole in the ball. In essence, the toy is an elaborate cup-and-ball toy.

Basic kendama tricks consist of catching the ball in the cups and on the spike. However a huge variety of kendama tricks can be performed by juggling the ball between the cups, balancing it in various positions on the sword, balancing the sword on the ball and juggling the kendama. The Japan Kendama Association, founded in 1975, lists 101 tricks.
Source:
http://kendama.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendama