ベーゴマ名人のお宝工房

Introduction to Beigoma Master and his work

The beigoma master makes all these beigoma by his own hands in his old studio. Each beigoma is made for beigoma lovers, and is assured of superb spinning quality and strength.

1) Original beigoma and how it is manufactured

The original beigoma is made by casting of a copper alloy in a local small casting factory. There remaining only two beigoma factories, both are located in Kawaguchi city, Saitama, Japan. A client usually decides a design of the upper surface and orders the factory to carve it on his beigoma. A personal client may print his favorite character or number. A corporate client or a client that is an organization of a festival or competition may print the name of the company, name of the local city, or the logo of the festival or beigoma competition. Often, such a corporate client gives beigoma to the customers, festival attendee, and the tournament competitors for free. In many cases, two to several hundreds of beigoma are cast from one original pattern at one time. Therefore, we may see some beigoma of same design on the upper surface. As a customer (not a client), you can purchase such original beigoma at a low price from one US dollar if you don’t care what design is carved on the face.

2) The beigoma master and his works

The Beigoma Master, Shigeo Matsushita having experiences of playing and crafting beigoma for more than 70 years, now provides his hand-polished Beigoma to all Beigoma fans around the globe. Mr. Matsushita visits one of the two beigoma casting factories and chooses only several as-cast beigoma from hundreds of the castings with his professional eye. Such non-polished original beigoma can also be used to play spinning and battling with others, but may be needed for grinding and re-shaping to spin more and stronger. Often, the adjustment technique is the decisive factor to win the competition. The beigoma master is able to find the finest quality original beigoma at a factory, and bring these home to grinds and trims using burs, heat-treats, sandblasts, hand-polishes, finishes using soft brush, and coated with anti-rust polymer and color paints. All those procedures are implemented in his own craft studio.

Each beigoma adjusted by the master shows a perfect balance and precision to ensure ultimate spinning speed and strength at battle. He carefully grinds the outer beigoma surface and intentionally changes the vertical center of gravity, which is a key factor of strength to crash an opponent beigoma out of stage. In the craft studio, again and again he spins each beigoma after grinding and adjusting the surface a little until it possesses a perfect balance. The heat treatment at 800C for 90 min produces a tough surface that avoids scratches and damages that can occur when the spinning beigoma crashes with the opponent beigoma. In all these procedures, he avoids unnecessary reduction of weight, which can be a weakening factor for battling. His beigoma retains the maximum volume and weight while it obtains the perfect balance. With no doubt, all of his beigoma sold in this on-line shop are the masterpieces.

Today Mr Matsushita, born 1938 in Fukagawa, Tokyo, can make only one beigoma in one day and work only one day in a week, therefore each beigoma has a tremendous value for beigoma fans and players. As a player, Mr Matsushita has won numerous street beigoma competitions as well as two-time Championships of the National Beigoma Tournament (2008, 2015). In fact, since the years of his experiences as a beigoma player is far longer than the official history of the National Beigoma Tournament, he often refused to attend the tournament but acted as a supervisor of the competition for many years.

Mr Matsushita loves children, and he has been enthusiastic most about teaching children traditional street plays, not only beigoma but also flying traditional kites, bamboo helicopter, rubber-band gun pistol, and Japanese bilboquet (cup and ball game). He often attends children’s festivals in many places in and around Tokyo area to play with children and adults having a young heart.

3) Classifications of the Master’s beigoma of this on-line shop

A. Natural finish

The upper surface is finished with a natural sandy texture without a polymer coating. The sides and bottom are finished by grinding and polishing for balance acquisition, but the volume reduction remains minimum, to retain maximum weight for battle strength and spinning durability.

B. Glossy finish

The upper surface is coated with glossy polymer that protects the surface painting from scratches. The sides and bottom are finished by the same procedures as of the Natural finish. The volume reduction also remains minimum, to retain maximum weight for battle strength and spinning durability.

C. Eight-face mirror bottom

The bottom and side surfaces are finished to create eight-face by hand-grinding and polishing. The precise eight-faces are carved while the perfect balance is obtained during spinning. It is simply a marvelous work. Because more weight is lost during the carving for this beigoma, it is not highly suited for the battling.

When you choose your beigoma, there is no standard measure to select the best. If you want a strong beigoma, you may check the weight, height, diameter that are noted with each beigoma and the vertical center of gravity which you can imagine by seeing the lateral photograph view of each beigoma. While it is also a good idea to select your favorite design and color on the upper surface.

(Script by the shop owner)

We welcome international customers who are interest in direct contact to the shop owner. 

Please email to: matsu@baygoma.ocnk.net