DESIGN MATERIALS
MANUFACTURE
MAKING
YOUR OWN SHURIKEN
These
plans are based upon information from a number of sources, including "Shuriken
Giho" by Chikatoshi Someya, "Shuriken-do" by Mr Shirakami, from
photos kindly supplied by Robert C. Gruzanski, and other generous visitors to
this website, as well as blades from my own collection. More will be added as
information comes to hand.
Mou
En Ryu
I don't
have much information about this style yet. Someya Sensei in his book only briefly
outlines details about the blade itself. The example shown in Someya Sensei's
book is clearly triangular in section, however Otsuka Sensei is quite certain
it is square, and said that there are no triangular blades extant, and that triangular
blades are very difficult to throw. I feel loathe to argue with Otsuka Sensei,
but the photo in the book is quite clearly triangular.
Chishin
Ryu
The dimensions shown here follow Someya Sensei's information,
although other photos show a couple of variations in overall length, and proportion
of straight shaft length to taper length. Consistency appears to be in the squareness
of shaft, and greater thickness in proportion to length as compared to other styles,
and the pyramidal finish to the end of the shaft. Chishin Ryu blades are sometimes
called kugi-gata shuriken, as they are historically made from the Japanese
nail, wakugi.
View enlarged photo of Chishin Ryu shuriken [1]
Meifu Shinkage Ryu
Someya Sensei mentions two sizes, 6mm thick X 16.5 long, and 7mm
thick X 17.5 long. Just to confuse matters, the examples shown in Robert's photos
have the longer blades as thinner than the shorter. The only consistency being
that they have a straight, square shaft. The blade depicted in Someya Sensei's
book has the tapered tip squared off to the tip, but the examples shown in Robert's
photos show the taper as rounded.
View
enlarged photos of authentic Meifu Shinkage Ryu shuriken [1]
[2]
Shirai
Ryu
There seems to be great variety in length of blades in this
style, and also a thinner version, almost like a needle or dart, which may suggest
connection or derivation to the earlier Chinese piau. Notable feature
of this style are blades with round shaft, which must have required considerably
more work to produce than the square or octagonal blades. Whether this demonstrates
a higher refinement of technique, a particular historical pedigree, or utilisation
of a different source material is not clear.
View enlarged photo of an authentic
Shirai Ryu shuriken. [1]
Katori
Shinto Ryu
As with Shirai Ryu blades, there also appears to be
considerable variety in the basic shape of blades in this Ryu. There are variants
of this shape that have a thicker shaft with the rear-end taper either a) shorter
and closer to the tail (and triangular cross section), or b) longer and closer
to the middle of the blade. In the case of a, the blade also has a triangular
cross section, which may suggest it is a variant of the Mou En Ryu blade (above),
although the tail end in that style does not taper, a feature which this variant
retains.
View enlarged photos of authentic Katori Shinto Ryu shuriken [1]
[2] [3] [4]
[5]
Below is variant a, with
the thicker part of the shaft to the rear. Photos of Katori Shinto Ryu blades
have included this shape among them, as have with variant b, so it is assumed
they belong to the katori school, but this needs to be confirmed.
Below is variant b, with the thicker part of the shaft towards the tip. This
variant notably has a hexagonal cross section, a feature exhibited by Negishi
Ryu Ryu blades, although those blades, which do not have a widening taper towards
the tail tend to have an attachment such as a ring, or a hole through which thread
or a tassle or animal hair is attached, so it is possible this blade is not of
the Negishi Ryu. As a point of interest, there is mention in the Negishi Ryu of
taping the blades to make the balance either forward or back, changing the centre
of gravity of the blade to make them more suitable for longer or shorter distance
flight. If these three blades are found to be all of the Katori Shinto Ryu, then
it may follow the same logic in that the weight of these 2 variants is further
back (a) or forwards (b), making them conducive to longer distance or short distance
throws, respectively. Will have to confirm this.
Variant c. Mention
has also been made of Katori Shinto Ryu blades being square hashi, or "chopstick"
shaped, and the only such blades I have been able to find are the design below,
often associated with the Ikku Ryu variant a shown below. A Japanese shuriken
retailer here
has this type listed as a Chishin Ryu blade. I think that a number of styles now
use this blade, possibly without knowing its origin. It is also said that Sokaku
Takeda of the Daito Ryu also used a hashi shaped blade, but it is thought
that he demonstrated skill in Negishi Ryu shuriken.
Here is an accurate plan,
supplied by a visitor to this site, of a Katori Shinto Ryu blade currently available
in Kendo supply stores in Tokyo. Note slight variation of dimensions.
Ikku
Ryu
Although Mr. Shirakami states in his book that he developed
the idea of a double pointed blade to avoid the necessity of placing the blade
either tip out or in the palm, according to distance, and thus called his style
Ikkyu Ryu, there does appear to be photo evidence of shuriken that pre-date
Mr. Shirakami's innovation, so I am hesitant to actually call the blades depicted
below an example of Ikkyu Ryu, because they may in fact be representative of another
style altogether. There are also a number of variations in the shape of this blade,
sometimes called ryobari-gata shuriken, primarily being the length of the
straight central shaft in relation to the lengths of the tapers. Figure
8 (bottom) , and example 2 below shows a blade with virtually no straight
central shaft - whether these are blades of different styles is not known at present.
View enlarged photos of authentic Ikku Ryu shuriken [1]
[2] [3] [4]
[5]
Variant a. Note that the
tapering extends the full length of the blade, rather than having a straight,
parellel section of the shaft as above.
Enmei Ryu
Tanto-gata are shuriken that are adpated from the short knife, tanto,
thus retain some of the shape. Tanto are classed as blades under 30cm,
over that length they are classed as kodachi, or short swords. The hole
in blade is the hole for the retaining pin that attaches the handle and fittings
to the blade. Some pictures of tanto-gata show string and tassles attached
to the hole - whether this is a fortuitous use of the hole or by design is not
certain.
Negishi Ryu
There
are many variation in shape and dimension between shuriken of Negishi Ryu.
It would be an exhaustive effort to record them all, so I include ones that I
can vouch for. This first one is what is currently available in martial arts stores
in Nagoya. They are rounded, rather than the characteristic octagonal, probably
due to ease of manufacture on a modern day lathe. Note that this type of blade
should be wrapped with either laquered paper or string around the tail shaft,
extending from the butt to about 7cm up the shank towards the head.
Below is my own Negishi Ryu shuriken, an exact copy of those used by Saito Sensei
and students of the Iwama Dojo in Ibaraki Pref., Japan. Note that the bulb and
tail are equal thickness, and the butt is rounded off on a more acute angle.
Tsugawa Ryu
Rather
large, long flat blades, with the appearance of a double pointed knife. They are
of the type called "teppan shuriken", which simply means shuriken
made from flat plate metal. It is thought they are adapted from certain parts
of the traditional Japanese armour, however this needs confirmation.
DESIGN
MATERIALS
MANUFACTURE
Here is another page devoted to manufacture here
