Japanese Throwing Weapons. Daniel Fletcher

book. (Although there are some hints!) This is the way of many schools and is meant to encourage you to go to Japan and learn in person. Martial arts are not sterile, impersonal sets of factual information. They are living things that are passed down from teacher to student and they remain so to this day.

      The Meifu Shinkage Ryu is a small school of martial arts in Tokyo, Japan. They are relatively unknown in the martial arts world and have fewer than forty students. There are no dojos or teachers outside of Japan and there is only one dojo in Tokyo. That “dojo” exists only in rented spaces for a few hours a week. The school is growing, however. Recently a small dojo was opened in Osaka and there are now two keikokai (informal training groups) outside of Japan. The reason behind its growth is the amazing skill of the present headmaster, Yasuykui Otsuka. His ability to throw shuriken with uncanny speed, accuracy and distance is far beyond that of any other masters of the art.

      The Meifu Shinkage Ryu school was founded by the late Chikatoshi Someya. (1923–1999) When he was younger, Someya Sensei was a student of the Sugino branch of the Katori Shinto Ryu, a famous sword school. He was always very interested in shuriken-jutsu. In his later years, he decided to form his own school that focused solely on the shuriken. He maintained a good relationship with his former colleagues and to this day the Sugino Katori Shinto Ryu has a strong tie to the Meifu Shinkage Ryu. He devoted himself to refining and perfecting the art of shuriken-jutsu and some other concealed weapons.

       Someya Sensei

      At one time, there were several teachers of the Meifu Shinkage Ryu, but old age and illness have dwindled their number down to one. Otsuka Sensei believes that this number is going to rise very rapidly in the near future,

      The Meifu Shinkage Ryu training focuses primarily on throwing the shuriken, but they also teach some hand-to-hand shuriken techniques, sword, chain and some unusual concealed weapons, such as the sho-ken (a small stabbing weapon).

       Examples of the sho-ken (above left) and bo shuriken (below right).

      Someya Sensei developed a fast and powerful throw, a technique that is limited in body movement, making it hard to see. To complement this new technique, he modified the design of his shuriken. He experimented with shuriken from different schools, and he also made and tested many new designs, searching for the perfect size and shape for his refined technique. He decided on the design the Meifu Shinkage Ryu uses today.

       Shuriken prototypes developed by the Meifu Shinkage Ryu.

      The original Katori Shinto Ryu blades owned by Someya Sensei resemble a type of bo shuriken called uchibari (house needles). These shuriken are common to many budo schools in Japan, including the Kukishinden Ryu and the Togakure Ryu. Not all shuriken called uchibari are identical. The “square torpedo” shape can be seen in several examples, often varying greatly in size.

       These are examples of antique uchibari.

      Otsuka Sensei likes to refer to the school as a “research group.” He uses this term because the study of the school is not wholly limited to the use of Meifu Shinkage Ryu weapons. He enjoys practicing with shuriken from many different schools (most of which are now extinct.) Almost all of the students in the Meifu Shinkage Ryu are students of other martial arts schools. Training is somewhat informal and open-minded when compared to other traditional Japanese schools of the martial arts.

      Just as a modern police officer may carry a shotgun in his car, a service pistol on his belt, a backup pistol on his ankle, a baton, pepper spray, a taser and a knife, so too did ancient warriors carry an assortment of weapons, some were concealed and some were not. Samurai were allowed to carry any size and number of weapons they wanted, but they also carried shuriken secreted on their persons. A person of lesser status or a spy (ninja) would probably not wear any weapons openly but might have more than a dozen shuriken hidden in his clothing.

      The people who lived through those dangerous times left behind an amazing diversity of weapons in form and function that is reminiscent of the innumerable species of insects you might see in a museum. Nowhere is this more evident than shuriken. In general, there are three categories of shuriken:

      • Bo shuriken: “stick-like blades”

      • Shaken shuriken: “wheel blades” Also called Hira shuriken “flat blade” or Senban shuriken “lathe blade.”

      • Teppan shuriken: “iron plate blade”

      In this book we will be looking at all three major categories of shuriken. We will discuss the different types, how they are thrown and how they were used as hand-held weapons. It is a gross overstatement and a mistake to suggest that one group of military men used any one type of shuriken exclusively, however, for the sake of clarity and maximizing the educational benefit of this book, we are going to divide the shuriken between two main schools (despite the fact that both schools use shuriken from both groups). There will be overlap, but that is a good thing. Our two schools will be the Meifu Shinkage Ryu and the Bujinkan (which is actually nine old budo schools taught together). We will look at the bo shuriken-jutsu of the Meifu Shinkage Ryu and the senban and teppan use of the Bujinkan.

      Bo shuriken, as the name suggests, are stick-like (straight). They take many forms and sizes and most of them are between long 4 to 7 inches (12 and 18 cm) and weigh 1 ounce to 6 ounces (30 to 180 grams). In cross-section, they may be round, triangular, square, hexagonal or octagonal. They may be of constant thickness or they may taper sharply. Their shape usually depends upon their origin. Some shuriken designs evolved from common objects. Bo shuriken are often descended from nails, nail-drivers (kugi-oshi), metal chopsticks used to tend coals, broken arrowheads, broken spear heads, broken sword tips, unmounted knife blades, hair ornaments, by-knives, large needles, etc. Sometimes, however, they are original designs intended only for combat. The bo shuriken is by far the most commonly used type of shuriken in Japanese martial arts, perhaps because of the universal shape of its design. There are two major categories of bo shuriken: rod-like and dart-like. Rods are plain pieces of straight metal (non-aerodynamic). Darts are aerodynamic and have tails incorporated into their designs. The distinction is entirely subjective, but will help in understanding why the throwing methods differ between these two types.