The diabolo, also known as chinese yoyo, comes from China where the earliest written record of a « toy no one can handle without proper instructions » is more than a thousand years ago. It arrives in Europe in the 19th century thanks to missionaries from Beijing, and then spreads around the World. Since the 1950s, diabolo cups are made of plastic and rubber, making the diabolo lighter, easier to handle, more durable and less dangerous.
CHINESE ORIGIN
The diabolo, as we now know it, originates from China. It is called « Kong-Zhu », « Tjouk-Pan-Oul », or « Che-Ling » depending on the era and the region.
There are many references to the diabolo throughout Chinese history. Here is a nice documentary on the diabolo in China :
THE DIABOLO ARRIVES IN EUROPE (19th CENTURY)
The « devil on two sticks », as it was called back then, arrived in Europe thanks to Beijing missionnaries with drawing of the toy being sent to the French ministre Bertin.
In 1811, Jean Baptiste Joseph Breton de La Martinière publishes « La Chine en miniatures ou Choix de costumes, arts et métiers de cet Empire », and thus offers to the general public one of the first representations of the diabolo.
Diabolo juggling becomes then very popular in England and France, where newspapers write about this « devilish new fashion ».
The name « devil on two sticks » comes from the noise the diabolo made and also the difficulty of play as it was a solid piece of wood.
The beginning of the 19th century is filled with stories of devilish experiments, for example, on the Champs-Élysées, a string, 117 metres long and 6 and a half metres high is put in place for diabolo enthusiasts to throw their toys on.
In the second half of the century, the game becomes even more popular and is described as a game suitable for boys and girls in several publications.
DIABOLO IN THE 20th CENTURY
In 1906, Gustave Philippart, a French engineer, reinvent the devil on two sticks by giving it the modern name diabolo and patenting a double cone made of wood, metal, rubber and bakelite.
The name diabolo comes from a suggestion from Charles Burgess Fry, editor of The Outdoor Magazine. It’s a play on words based on the greek verb « diabállô » meaning « throwing across » and the French name « diable » meaning devil in English.
From the 1950s, toys are made more and more with plastic and rubber and it allows diabolos to have soft cups with a metal axle.
Specialized shops launched different types of diabolos with different sizes, colours and new technologies such as luminous diabolos, bearing axles, wide axles, fire diabolos, …
Here is an example of an act from the 70s, by Wim Uijtdewillien and Joke Smith:
DIABOLO IN THE 2000s
In the early 2000s, with the DVD Diabology, juggling conventions and forums like diabolo.ca, diabolo tricks were shared between players, resulting in the invention of countless new tricks with one and multiple diabolos.
Welcome to the golden age of diabolo creativity and craziness!
