Secrets of Shuriken-do, the Japanese art of blade throwing homepage

Anyway, My name is Larry Miller and I came across your webpage dedicated to shurikenjutsu. To say the least, I am very impressed and very much appreciate your work on your website to "enlighten" the rest of us! I am studying in the Bujinkan in Salinas, California (under Greg Dilley-http://www.bujinkanwakodojo.com/) and posted your web address to our Yahoo dojo discussion group for everyone to enjoy! They all say, "Thanks!"

Anyway, thanks again for all your hard work! Without a doubt your website is the BEST and MOST COMPLETE out there, BY FAR! I know that I will reference it much in the future due to my interest and beginner level!

Hello, my name is Lars Palo and first of all I’d like to thank you for your wonderful website. I came across it a year ago and it triggered my interest in shuriken to such an extent that I began making and throwing shuriken myself.

However, your site made me so interested that I ordered a few books about Meifu Shinkage ryu and to hear that you are in close contact with that school is even more interesting. Please, write some more about it. Now for some other critic. In your design plans you have listed the sizes for Meifu Shinkage shuriken to 16,5 and 17,5 cm. Even though I barely can read japanese I think it’s perfectly clear that Someya Sensei means 14 and 15 cm including the 2,5 cm tip. It also matches with the Meifu Shinkage ryu website and the gift pack of shuriken you mention in your collection.

Again, thank you for your website, it’s a great resource. Keep up the good work and publish more about the Meifu Shinkage ryu kata.

Hello, my name is Jon, and I just wanted to comment on your shuriken site. It is by far the best site concerning shuriken and techniques. The tutorials and history are very informative and a great introduction to the art of shuriken-do.

Although I have been "practicing" martial arts for the past few years, I recently became very serious about training and becoming physically fit. It's been a little over a month now and I am very suprised by the results. Muscles are popping up everywhere and my form has greatly improved . (tae kwon do & Jeet Kun do)

Anyway, I believe that if one seriously wants to practice martial arts, that they should learn to use a weapon, so as to focus themselves even more. That's where you're site comes in. I'll be honest, I watch anime, so I partially chose to learn shuriken throwing techniques because I think the art is really neat...and the romanticized anime ninja is really cool. And with ninjas of course comes shuriken. But before you completely disreguard my e-mail as being from some spazzy otaku fanboy, I didn't choose it because of anime. I chose it for the following reasons:

-It's practical, because you can take your weapon pretty much anywhere without drawing attention to yourself (ie a sword hanging from your side at burger king)

-You can practice shuriken do just about anywhere. All you really need is a target and about 10 feet to throw.

-anything that's weighted correctly can be a shuriken to practice with (in other words, its cheap :D )

-In my opinion, shuriken are the most deadly weapons, assuming they are tipped with poison. Short of a gun, nothing beats a shuriken. (or any art that uses projectile weaponry)

...woah, sorry about that, I just noticed that I have been typing a lot of needless stuff about myself :P Now, back to your site and the reason I am e-mailing you.

After much deliberation between the staff, sword, and shuriken, I finally decided that shuriken do was the best fit for my personality and fighting style. SO, I went to google, typed shuriken, and your site was the first one on the list. So I clicked and here I am. Just to be sure that there weren't better sites out there, I checked for a few hours, and didn't come close to anything like your's.

I have been training using the techniques on your site for about 2 weeks now, and the results are amazing. In just 30 minutes of reading the tutorial for the first time, I was already able to throw a straightened out paperclip into a cardboard box from 10 feet away. After closely following your tutorials and modifying the techniques a little (just because it felt more comfortable and easy), and after buying some weapons off the internet, I am able to accurately and consistently throw throwing knives and throwing spikes/darts at a target 15 feet away. I have also successfully learned how to do the sideways throw and the underhand backward throw. Also, in case you are wondering, I found it easier to do the straight throwing technique, rather than the one where the object rotates. Your site has helped my training a lot and I probably wouldn't know how to do any of this stuff if it wasn't for your free and easy to understant instructions. It's soo hard to find any type of lesson on the internet without having to pay a fee, and that actually works. So I just wanted to say thank you for providing people like myself with this information and making it soo easily accessible. Your site has also encouraged me to buy several books about shuriken, including the one on your front page.

So, in short, I just wanted to say thank you for making this website and introducing people like myself to this wonderful art. - Jon 3/2004

Hello, Jason. I am writing to say that I really appreciate your site and the level of detail -- it has been quite illuminating and I constantly refer to it. I am currently studying sword in California. I have a few questions about the shuriken you use: are they tip heavy? Or is the balance more in the center? Are there any specific shuriken or sellers you'd recommend? Also, do you have any advice on throwing shaken? (Not as intuitive as I thought.) Thank you again for the wonderful site! - Nicholas Lauridsen (May 2003)

Came across your site while surfing the net looking for information on shuriken-jutsu. My compliments on a job well done. Nice seeing something serious regarding the subject at hand. I´m a 5 dan with the Bujinkan organisation ( ninjutsu) and have as such come across the art of shuriken-jutsu.And in case you were wondering, I don´t run around with av black mask scaring little old ladies. Once again, well done Regards Anders Björklundh (26/01/03)

Dear Jason,
I'd like to compliment with you for your site about shuriken, which is both very technically correct and written well. I'd like to inform you of certain points of connection between Negishi-ryu Shurikenjutsu and the art I practice, Daito-ryu Aikibujutsu. In Abashiri, Hokkaido, the current headmasters of the school (Shigemitsu Kato Sensei and Arisawa Gunpachi Sensei) teach shurikenjutsu as a part of the curriculum of Daito-ryu. They teach placing the practitioner one meter from one old tatami used as target, and having him throw various type of shuriken (mostly Negishi-ryu's style, with the "fat" part of the blade shaped octagonally, but even the kind that resembles an iron hashi with sharpened point) for two months, one hour a day, and then increasing the distance until at about 5-6 meters, no more, since they say it becomes uneffective, but even in shorter distances, the principal use of a shuriken is to distract an opponent. One interesting point in common is the kata: during training they make the students throw very naturally, using a gyaku position and using mostly the hip, like they teach the atemi-waza. During demonstrations, however, they use a technique that I find very similar to the Manji No Kata you put in your site, combining the hands together in front of them, then opening the arms, turning a throwing using a strict shomen-uchi movement, propelled by the hips' movement. They also throw shaken, though I never threw them, and the use the "frisbee-like" method, I'm saying this as a contribution of the shaken debate (even though they say shaken are even more ineffective than the other types of shuriken).

As you may see, I liked your site, since it appears to be the only one in the net which makes me confirm (not that it would have been necessary, actually, what my Senseis told me). - Giacomo, (June 2002)

Jason-
Thanks for your web site. My interest started with a throwing star given to me by my nephew ( a Navy Seal ). Your site gave me information on the weapon and its use. Further you peaked my interest in other forms. I have been experimenting with a bo shuriken design using a half inch cold chisel with an eighteen inch length of braided poly rope attached. I comb out the last five inches of the rope to form a bushy tassel. Using some of the instructional throwing material in your site, I am developing some consistency and accuracy at distances far exceeding conventional throwing knives. The weight of the modified chisel provides a real punch.....much like a 45 cal. Again thanks for your interesting and informative site. - Regards, Carl (June, 2002)

Mr. Jason. My name is Pedro Nantes, and I´m a student of Iwama ryu in Portugal for the last 8 years, associated to the master Tristão da Cunha.I´ve been to Iwama a couple of times, last time this present winter time.The reason I´m writing you is to give you my sincere congratulations on your web page of shuriken, I found it trough your post in Aiki Journal, and for me was an excelent revelation.I just wanted to thank you your hard work that gave me a lot of information. I myself learned negishi ryu at Iwama trough Saito Sensei, that as you migth know is in very bad health condition right now.I hope one day I could retribute your kindeness in sharing that amount of information for me, I really apreciated that. AgainThank you vey much. Pedro Nantes.Iwama ryu 2º dan. - Pedro (Feb 2002)

Dear Jason,
Thank you for this. I am again impressed with the depth of research you have presented here. At one time I investigated the throwing of a knife and enjoyed it very much. The Head Uchi-deishi at Iwama said Saito Sensei was at one time a champion shuriken thrower and has seen him do amazing things. - Matthew, (May 2001)

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