Untitled Document

The shuriken exhibit at the Ninja House, at Ninja Village, Japan.

Takeshi Yoshizaki's webpage, called Shuriken Museum, has a few photos of old, authentic shuriken simply displayed in showcases. Yoshizaki san sent me one remaining photo he has of the exhibit, showing the kozuka and one bo shuriken (right), that were not visible in the photos he has put on his page. I show that photo below. The kozuka are small utlility knives that fitted into the scabbard of the sword, passing through the handguard.

The exhibit is housed in the "Ninja House" building at Ninja Village in Koga City, about 50km east of Kyoto, in Shiga prefecture. Apparently this region is famous for the "Koga" and "Iga" Ninja. Here is a link to the Koga Village.

Some new pictures of the same exhibit sent to me by Danny Fletcher

There is an interesting theory that shuriken derived from the Tibetan Buddhist "dorje", a religious implement of uncertain usage (depicted below). While there is some similarity in shape and design between the double ended blades shown at right in the above image, to the typical dorje shown below, 2nd from left, there does not appear to be any further documentation to support this. The link is probably mentioned because of the use by certain Ninjutsu schools of mystical practices, such as the kuji-kiri, from the Mikkyo school of Buddhism, which probably traces its roots back to Tibetan Buddhism.

I think this may be the website for Iga Ninja Village here at Iga Ueno City.