Teachers in Sydney.

Q. Mr Wotherspoon,

I just wanted to say that you have created a very informative and interesting website that to me fully explains in the detail the art of shuriken. The style is so mysterious that you just want to keep searching deeper and deeper into its roots. Unfortunately I don’t have the opportunity of travelling to Japan, and I was wondering from your research if you know of any schools that are qualified in teaching the art of shuriken in Australia or if I’m lucky enough, Sydney.

Thank you for your time.

T.

A. Hi T,

Thanks for your enquiry. You are right, there is a certain mystique about the art that makes one feel drawn to learn more. I wonder if it comes from the boyhood satisfaction of being a good shot with throwing stones...

Unfortunately I do not know of any shuriken instructors in Sydney, or in Australia, who are qualified and only teach shuriken. The only shuriken teaching that I imagine you will have the chance to be exposed to would be through more traditional Japanese Budo schools who teach a composite art of hand techniques along with a range of weapons, such as sword, staff, knife, chain etc.

Your best chance would be through a qualified Bujinkan school, whose teacher still has regular contact with Hatsumi Sensei in Japan. Tim Bathurst and Ed Lomax are two instructors of Bujinkan that I have heard are very good, I do not know their contact details, but a search on the net should reveal more information.

I learned some shuriken from one of my Aikido instructors, Mic Marelli Sensei of the Aiki Shuren Dojo at Greenwich, he has trained in the art under our late grandmaster Morihiro Saito in Japan, who was an expert in the art. Our style is primarily a hand technique art but with a fairly extensive range of sword techniques, staff techniques, and to a lesser degree knife, however shuriken is typically not taught in Aikido until black belt, and then it is at the discretion of the instructor.

You may not wish to learn all these other systems just to get taught shuriken, however, that is generally the way shuriken has been taught, which is not a bad thing, as the body movements in hand techniques and weapons are all integrated seamlessly into a complete art.

Perhaps at this stage it is best to study the Secrets of Shuriken website and begin practice on your own, and develop a routine. Over time you may come in contact with someone with skill in shuriken to whom you could demonstrate what you have learned so far, and they would possibly be able to correct your technique or give some advice.

This is the only advice I can offer so far, though if you have any questions I might be able to help.

regards,

- Jason

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