Shuriken History

Copyright by Manuel Flory Bujinkan Rheinlandpfalz, Honbu Dojo (Hatsumi Sensei) and Matthias Bind

http://www.bujinkanrheinlandpfalz.de/

History of SHURIKEN

The word shuriken, composed of the letters " shu ", " ri " and " ken ", is literally translated as " hand-hidden blade ". The character " ri " is composed of the morpheme (meaning component) " i " as in clothing, in the sense of covering, as well as the phoneme (sound component) " li " which together represents the idea of " backwards, or covered ". Ri (the on yomi reading) is also read as ura in kun yomi, which we martial artists would know from expressions like "ura waza" as opposed to "omote waza". When combined with the first letter, "shu-ri" suggests "hidden in the hand or palm." "Ken" means blade and is the same character as in bokken or shinken, i.e. "hand hidden blade". However, there is occasional use of the character "ri" meaning separate or release, and this has sometimes led to shuriken being translated as "hand release blade". Why this usage occurs is not clear at this time, although it could simply refer to the swiping of blades such as tanto, kodachi, or even katana, where it is not necessary to hide the blade in the hand. The other possibility is that people in feudal times were not very educated, and they simply used any figure that sounded right. Mou En Ryu documents, the Mou En Ryu Shu Ri Ri Ken Goku Hi, kept in the library of Kyoto University, contain a particular example of this usage. During the Sengoku Jidai period (Warring States period, 1482 - 1558), shuriken were also once known as shiriken, meaning "rear end blade," because the weapon was the small utility knife (kozuka) held in the scabbard of the long sword thrown from a hilt that held the tip of the blade in the palm of the hand (so the rear end of the knife pointed outward toward the target). Of course, kozuka was actually thrown as a weapon, but they were not the only ones thrown. As we will see, there were many types of blades and items, small enough to be carried concealed on the body, but heavy and sharp enough to be thrown as a tactical weapon.(Kakushi Buki) Basic Shuriken Types There are two basic types of shuriken, Bo shuriken (), which are long, thin and cylindrical, with varying thicknesses and shapes, and Shaken (), which are made of flat metal plates.

Bo shuriken consist of three main designs defined by the origin of the material used for their construction, the first being cylindrical and rectilinear, called hari gata () or needle-shaped. The second type is square and is called Kugi gata (), or nail-shaped, and the third type is called Tanto gata , or knife-shaped, which are flatter and wider and have a knife-like appearance. Within these three bo shuriken categories, there is a more detailed classification system that mostly describes different blades simply by their shape or the objects from which they were adopted. Shaken are further divided into Hira shuriken (), which are the multipointed, star-shaped design, and Senban shuriken, which are diamond-shaped blades. The source of this is not clear and may have come from the washers that sit under nails in the wooden structures of traditional Japanese buildings, from the nail removers used by carpenters , from stones made into throwing objects (tsubute) or shishigan, derived from coins. There is a third type, the teppan, a large version of the senban, some up to 12 cm wide, adopted by the carpenters.

The basic method of throwing the shuriken varies little between schools, with the main differences being the shape of the blades and their origin. Throwing things has undoubtedly been a pastime for man for thousands of years, and when early man learned that he could protect himself and catch food by throwing hard objects at living things, the idea of a throwing system certainly developed from then on. A study of the development of throwing things throughout human history would be an almost impossible task, so this site will deal mainly with the highly developed traditional Japanese system of throwing concealable edge and point weapons. There is very little historical documentation available today, especially accurate, detailed, and objective information on the art of shuriken, due to a number of factors. Possibly the main reason is that it was a rather secretive art....the technique of using the shuriken itself involved deception and surprise, and the main schools, who used such fighting methods were also heavily involved in deceptive and secretive activities. This probably also contributed to a certain contempt of the innocent population towards the art and its proponents.

What records exist are kept by individual schools in the form of scrolls, the contents of which are shown only to trusted students of that school. In addition, the simplicity and usefulness of the weapon was probably not as highly valued as that of the kenjutsu arts, which used highly sophisticated techniques to wield swords of great sophistication and advancement in metal technology. In addition, the shuriken itself was a complementary weapon to the sword and other weapons within the main martial arts schools of the time, and thus was probably not very popular even with students who were introduced to the secrets of the schools to which they belonged. Nevertheless, it had a historical and practical value, as there are occasional mentions of the use of throwing blades in the literature, which show that they are positively valued. The earliest Japanese work, the Kojiki (c. 600 AD), contains a passage in which Prince Yamato-Takeru throws a cylindrical vegetable into the eye of white-tailed deer and kills it. Some translations have him throwing a chopstick. The Nihon Shoki (also circa 600 AD) mentions a stone-throwing tool called an ishihajiki, but it is possible that this was a sling. Another ancient work, the 8th century Man'yoshu, describes throwing a dart in one section and a flat stone called a tsubute in another. The record of the Later Triennial War (Gosennen no Eki, 1083-87 CE), entitled Hiyori no Ki, contains a passage describing holding a short blade in the palm of the hand and throwing "shuriken ni utsu" (lit. strike with a blade in the palm) from a distance. One researcher believes that this may be the origin of the term shuriken. The Osaka Gunki (military record of Osaka) contains a passage that says, "Tadamasa saved himself from his enemy by pulling out his wakizashi and throwing it, like a shuriken." It is said that Tadamasa later created the first shuriken, called tanto-gata, from a short sword. Chronicles of Japanese history, such as the Heike Monogatari and Gikeiki mention "ishi-nage," stone throwing. Stones were specially shaped to facilitate throwing and were called "totekibuki" and later "tsubute," meaning both to throw a small stone and the stone itself. Tsubute were later made of "iron stone", so called "tetsutsubute", and seem to be the forerunner of the diamond-shaped senban shuriken.

Today, there are many and varied types of shuriken, suggesting that the development of the art between different schools and areas was rather fragmented and isolated. According to Yasuyuki Otsuka Sensei, director of Meifu Shinkage Ryu Shuriken-jutsu, there were no standardized or formalized rules for making and using shuriken blades as there were for the katana or Japanese sword, which would have contributed to the spread of different designs and schools throughout the country. Chikatoshi Someya Sensei attempted to form some sort of categorization of shuriken in his book "Shuriken Giho," but acknowledged that such a categorization is purely speculative without historical records and that there were a number of examples that would not also fit into his categorization method. Nevertheless, such categorization can be useful today to describe and discuss the art and the objects used. In discussing bo shuriken, Someya Sensei divides the blades into two main groups, needle or cylindrical, and tanto or square. The tanto group possibly arose from the early practice of throwing knives, (tanto) and even swords. Blades such as those in Chishin Ryu, Mou En Ryu, Katori Shinto Ryu, etc., are those believed to have been originally made from the Japanese nail called wakugi, as it was considered the appropriate substitute material for knife blades that were ground into the later shuriken form. These nails varied in size from small pins for furniture to huge rods used to hold the supporting beams of houses and temples. Early nails up to the Meiji period (1863) were square, with large heads of varying sizes and shapes, and later became round under the influence of Western manufacturing methods.

Of further significance is that these schools of shuriken were closely related to or a part of the kenjutsu or sword schools, and therefore it follows that shuriken may have evolved from a thrown blade. Bujinkan Ruyha Shuriken gata Kukishin(den) ryu , 1 Koto ryu, 2,6 Togakure ryu 1,2,3,4,5 types of shuriken include Hirashuriken, Senbanshuriken,Teppan and Boshuriken. Togakure ryu shuriken Koto ryu shuriken 1. uchi barai 6.teppan 2. senban 3. itaken 4. iga happo 5. juji ken senban nage itaken nage hand position A point away from the hand B point toward the hand Basic principles of throwing A Without rotation B With rotation Body dynamics Tilts of the boshuriken on the hitting surface It can be read, among other things, whether the thrower has "let go" earlier or later. Variations of throwing A Za uchi B tachi hiza C Tachi uchi Lateral throwing variations Hon uchi Yoko uchi Gyaku uchi Hon uchi Yoko uchi Gyaku uchi Yoko uchi Hon uchi Yoko uchi Gyaku uchi(ura uchi)