Hideaki Kondoh
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Hideaki Kondoh (Japanese: 近藤英章), better known in the pen-spinning community as HIDEAKI, is a Japanese pen spinner, science teacher, technical writer, and early online community organizer. He created My Pen Spinning History (私のペン回しの歴史) in 1997, one of the earliest dedicated pen-spinning websites and an important reference point for the developing Japanese community.[1][2] His work documented the development of individual tricks, proposed a systematic Japanese nomenclature, supplied downloadable demonstrations, and supported discussion through the Pen Spinning Research Room message board.
Early spinning and trick development
Kondoh first encountered pen spinning in high school in 1982. According to his own history, he learned Normal (Thmumbaround) from a friend around December 1984 and learned SemiReverse (Thumbaround Reverse 0.5) soon afterward. In 1985, he developed the movement he called Cardioid, although he later emphasized that many other people had independently performed the same movement.[3]
While at university, Kondoh saw part of the movement that became Sonic during a chemistry experiment. He continued experimenting with it, completed the trick around 1987, and named it “Sonic” because its rotation appeared much faster than Normal. He subsequently developed Sonic Reverse. His account also records techniques learned from other practitioners and techniques that he adopted after exchanges with them, making his contribution one of development and systematization rather than sole authorship of every movement.[3]
An official 2007 profile from Seijoh High School identifies Kondoh as a science teacher at Seijoh Junior High School and says that he had practiced pen spinning for 25 years. The profile lists Normal, Sonic, Gunman, SemiReverse, Double SemiReverse, Cardioid, Sonic Reverse, Harmonic Sonic, Tornado, Harmonic, and Shadow among the techniques he demonstrated.[4]
My Pen Spinning History
Kondoh opened My Pen Spinning History on December 1, 1997.[1] The surviving site organized tricks into Normal, Sonic, and continuous families. Its tables documented starting and catching fingers, the finger used to apply force, center-of-gravity movement, direction and number of rotations, explanatory notes, and difficulty. Other sections covered Kondoh's personal history, naming conventions, recommended pens, frequently asked questions, notable practitioners around Japan, research into the roots of pen spinning, community links, and a message board.[1]
The site received wider attention early in its life. Kondoh records that Yahoo! Japan contacted him on January 30, 1998 and selected the site as a daily recommendation on February 2. INTERNET Watch featured it on February 18, describing Harmonic and Sonic as named techniques and presenting the site as an unusually developed treatment of pen spinning.[3][5] The site was subsequently covered by Japanese computer magazines, local radio, and television.[3]
Terminology
Kondoh published a proposed system for naming tricks on May 20, 2001. It treated Normal, Sonic, and Gunman as base families and defined modifiers that could describe how a movement differed from its base form. These included Reverse for an opposite trajectory, Harmonical for alternating forward and reverse forms, Multiple for additional rotations, Faked for omitting an axis transfer, Symmetrical for a mirrored trajectory, Spread for multiple rotations with a transfer of the rotational axis, Fluent for changing the axis or propelling finger while preserving the trajectory, Slipped for adding a rotation by avoiding the expected catch, and Continuous for uninterrupted repetition.[6]
The page described the system as an incomplete proposal and left the boundary between a single trick and a combination unresolved. Professional pen spinner Kay later wrote that Kondoh's purpose was to avoid creating unnecessary duplicate names and that the method was modeled on the nomenclature of organic chemistry.[7] Later Japanese instruction has also preserved “HIDEAKI-style reverse” (HIDEAKI式リバース) as an alternate name for SemiReverse.[8]
Demonstration videos
Hideaki's archived 2007 homepage linked 24 named MPEG or AVI demonstrations. The Normal-family files cover Half Faked Normal, Normal, Reverse, Modified Single Axel Reverse, Double, Triple, Modified Triple, Triple Axel, Cardioid, Spread Double, Half Faked Reverse, Faked Reverse, and Single Axel Faked Reverse. The Sonic-family files cover Sonic, Sonic Reverse, Twisted Sonic, Single Axel Sonic, Faked Sonic, Pseudo Sonic, Drummer, and Symmetrical Sonic. The remaining demonstrations are Harmonic, Reverse to Single Axel, and Harmonical Half Gunman. The page also links one separately labeled submitted video.[1] These archived files are the principal surviving video set directly associated with Kondoh's website.
Pen Spinning Research Room
The website's message board was called the Pen Spinning Research Room (ペン回し研究室). A reconstruction of its migrations identifies the earliest recoverable board at tcup5.com/511/konhide.html. Posts discussed newly learned tricks, preferred techniques, questions about names, practice, and the ages of participants. Kondoh announced the board's relocation on November 24, 2000.[9]
A second Research Room opened the next day at ybbs.nazca.co.jp/1/konhide/ and remained in use until approximately 2003. The board itself is not recoverable through the Wayback Machine, but Kondoh's preserved past logs enabled part of its activity to be reconstructed. Around August 2003, access shifted again through a guide hosted on Geocities.[9] The later PenSpinning Reference Room describes Kondoh's site as a central Japanese reference and states that its author learned many tricks there.[10]
Media and event appearances
Kondoh's archived history records repeated television work between 2000 and 2007. He wrote that professional responsibilities led him to reduce appearances after 2002, although he later accepted selected programs dealing with pen-spinning history and technique.[3]
| Year | Program | Network and role |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Watcher (ウォッチャ) | Fuji TV |
| 2000 | The Wide (ザ・ワイド) | Nippon TV |
| 2000 | Zoom In!! Morning (ズームイン朝) | Nippon TV; live demonstration including Sonic Twist and Harmonic |
| 2001 | Appare! Nihon-ichi (あっぱれ！日本一) | TV Tokyo |
| 2001 | Bara no Butōkai (バラの舞踏会) | BS Asahi |
| 2002 | Ultra Shop (ウルトラショップ) | Nippon TV; performed 51 Harmonic cycles in 30 seconds |
| 2002 | Gerirappa (ゲリラッパ) | Nagoya TV |
| 2006 | Ippō (イッポウ) | CBC; feature on the roots of pen spinning |
| 2006 | Mezamashi TV (めざましテレビ) | Fuji TV |
| 2007 | Zoom In!! SUPER (ズームインSUPER) | Nippon TV |
| 2007 | Yurugami Dai Circus (ゆる神大サーカス) | Fuji TV |
| 2007 | Netchū Jikan (熱中時間) | NHK; historical reconstruction, appearance with aysh, and technique analysis using a high-speed camera at a University of Tokyo robotics laboratory |
| 2007 | The Best House 123 (ザ・ベストハウス123) | Fuji TV; evaluated and ranked younger spinners' techniques[11] |
Kondoh attended Penspinning Tournaments 2008 on March 30, 2008 as a guest. The event was the first Japanese offline national pen-spinning tournament; he was not listed as a competitor.[12]
Legacy
Kondoh is considered the "Grandfather of Pen Spinning" to the wider community, having been the first individual to document, expand upon and share information about pen spinning to the world. He directly influenced communities like JEB[2] and Pentix that directly built upon the work that he had done. His introduction of modifiers in Notation is still one of the foundations of the hobby today, and many trick families can directly trace their routes back to the original trick sets that he published online.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 「私のペン回しの歴史」 (archived March 20, 2007; in Japanese), HIDEAKI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 「進化を続ける“ペン回し”」 (in Japanese), imidas, September 15, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 「もっと詳しい歴史」 (archived July 3, 2007; in Japanese), HIDEAKI.
- ↑ 「ペン回しの達人」 (in Japanese), Seijoh High School, November 10, 2007.
- ↑ 「ヨーヨーの次はペン回し？」 (archived July 7, 2007; in Japanese), INTERNET Watch, February 18, 1998.
- ↑ 「技名のつけ方（案）」 (archived July 3, 2007; in Japanese), HIDEAKI, May 20, 2001.
- ↑ 「モダンペン回しの技名と表記法について」 (in Japanese), Kay.
- ↑ 「ノーマル系統の単体技」 (in Japanese), ペン回しの空間.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 「ペン回し研究室の移転に付いて」 (in Japanese), 薄幸柄, October 30, 2019.
- ↑ 「リンク」 (in Japanese), PenSpinning Reference Room.
- ↑ 「ザ・ベストハウス123」出演告知 (in Japanese), Seijoh High School, November 20, 2007.
- ↑ 「2000～2009」 (in Japanese), pshistory.