About Kaoru Nakamura
Kaoru Nakamura (中村 薫, born February 11, 2002) is a Japanese 4A offstring specialist who began throwing in May 2012 after watching a friend play Hyper Yo-Yo. He joined C3yoyodesign’s contest team in June 2019, rising from the company’s Rising Force development squad to the senior contest team in 2021.
Nakamura’s competition record in 4A is among the most decorated of his generation. He won the Online World Yoyo Contest 4A division in both 2021 and 2022, took the Japan National Championship in 4A in 2022 and 2023, placed second at the 2024 World Yoyo Contest, and won the 2025 World Yoyo Contest 4A division in Prague — completing a sweep of the sport’s major titles. In 2022 he won seven competitions across eight divisions entered and is credited with the record score under the modern 4A ruleset.
His freestyle approach is characterized by deliberate pacing that masks extreme technical difficulty. Where many offstring routines prioritize visible athleticism, Nakamura layers high-volume, high-precision tricks into a calm presentation that reads as individually styled rather than exhausting. He is known for incorporating innovative footwork into his combinations and prefers a looser return setting in competition.
Beyond competition, Nakamura works full-time at Yo-Yo Store Rewind’s Shibuya location, producing tutorial and promotional video content. His first dedicated signature 4A yoyo, the Caldera — a POM-body, aluminum-rimmed offstring throw exceeding 70mm in both diameter and width — was released by C3yoyodesign in 2025; he used it to win the world title.