Shuriken

                                                                           Shuriken

The shuriken is a small hand held weapon that was designed to act as a distraction more then a killing weapon. The literal translation is "sword in hand". They were made from everyday items such as needles, nails, knives, coins, and a variety of flat plates of metal with sharpened edges. It was an inexpensive weapon to make, that would be easily hidden, and yet could be a tactical advantage in a fight or even a battle.

The shuriken was not just a ninja's weapon, but was part of the minor martial arts training for many martial arts schools back in fuedal Japan. It was a supplemental weapon to the Nihonto family of weapons, i.e. the katana sword, spear, etc.. Its exact origins are still unknown, but research is still going on. However, there is documentation showing that the shuriken and the art form of throwing it was around in the 1600's and was part of the general training. This particular school was called shurikenjutsu.

A common type of shuriken that was used was the Bo-shuriken. It was a straight piece of rod usually four-sided but sometimes round and had a single-pointed end. Their length varied from 5" to 8 1/2" in length and weighed between 1.2oz and 5.5 oz.. The Bo-shuriken was a very popular due to the many different ways it could be thrown. Overhead, underhand, sideways, and rearward, but in each case the release is about the same with the blade slidingout of the hand through the fingers to give it a smooth controlled flight.

There is a wide variety of forms of hira-shuriken and they are now usually identified by the number of points the blades possess. As with bo-shuriken, the various shapes of hira-shuriken were usually representative of a particular school or region that preferred the use of such shapes, and it is therefore possible to identify the school by the type of blade used. Hira-shuriken are constructed from thin, flat plates of metal and had a different number of points ranging from 3 points up to and including 8 points. These are sometimes called "ninja stars" or throwing stars as ninja are consistently seen throwing this which looks like a star. They often have a hole in the center and possess a fairly thin blade sharpened only at the tip. The holes provided a means of being able to secure the stars by tying them together and it affected their aerodynamics, of course the holes were originally in them because they were made from old coins, washers, and nail-removing tools.