"shu", "ri" and "ken", is literally
translated as "hand hidden blade". The character "ri" is composed of the morpheme (meaning
component) "i" as in clothing, in the sense of covering, as well as the phoneme (sound
component) "li", together representing the idea of "reverse, back, or covered.Ri (the on yomi
reading) is also read in kun yomi asura, which to us martial artists would be familiar from
expressions such as "ura waza" as opposed to "omote waza". In combination with the first
character, "shu-ri" suggests "hidden in the hand, or in the palm". "ken" means blade, and is the
same character as found inbokken, orshinken, hence "hand hidden blade".

"ri" which means separate, or to release, and this has sometimes led to the translation ofshur ik en as "hand release blade". Why this usage occurs is not clear at this stage, though it could refer simply to thowing of blades such astanto,

possibility is that people were not greatly literate in feudal times, and they simply used any
character that sounded correct. Mou En Ryu documents, the Mou En Ryu Shu Ri Ken Goku Hi,
held in the University of Kyoto library contain one particular example of this usage.

During the time of the Sengoku Jidai, (Warring States period, 1482 - 1558)shur ik en were also
once known asshir ik en, meaning "rear end blade", due to a popular misconception that the
weapon was the small utility knife (kozuka) held in the scabbard of the long sword, which was
thrown from a grip which held the tip of the blade in the palm, (the rear end of the knife thus
pointing outwards to the target). Of course,k oz uk a were indeed thrown as a weapon, but they
were not all that were thrown. As we shall see, there were many types of blades and objects,
small enough to be worn hidden on the body, but heavy and sharp enough to be thrown as a
tactical weapon.

), or knife shaped, that are flatter and wider,
and maintain a knife shaped appearance. Within these three bo shuriken categories, there is a
more detailed classification system, which mostly describes various blades based simply on their
shape, or the objects from which they were adapted. (Please refer totablebelow )

), which are the multi-pointed, star-
shaped design, and senban shuriken, which are lozenge-shaped blades. The source for these is
not clear and could be from the washers that sit under nails in the woodwork of traditional
Japanese buildings, from carpenters nail removers, (see below), from stones, fashioned into
throwing objects (tsubute) orhishi-gane, derived from coins. There is a 3rd type, calledteppan
which is a large version of thesenban, some as large as 12cm in width, that were adapted from

Throwing things has no doubt been a pastime of human beings for thousands of years, and when
early man learned he could protect himself and catch food by throwing hard objects at living
things, the idea of a throwing system surely developed from here on. A study of the development
of throwing things throughout human history would be a next to impossible task, so this site will
be mainly concerned with the highly refined traditional Japanese system of throwing concealable
edged/pointed weapons.

There is very little historical documentation, particularly accurate, detailed and objective
information, available today on theshur iken art, due to a number of factors. Possibly the primary
reason is that it was a rather secretive art...the technique of using theshurik en itself involved
deception and surprise, and the main schools that utilised such methods of battle were also
heavily involved in deceptive and secretive activities. This probably also contributed to a certain
amount of disdain held towards the art and its proponents, by the innocent population in general.
What documentation that may exist would be held by the individual schools in the form of scrolls,
the contents of which would only be shown to trusted students of the particular school.
Furthermore, the simplicity and utility of the weapon was probably not held in such high esteem
as that of thekenjutsu arts, which used highly developed techniques to wield swords of great
refinement and advancement in metal technology. Added to this is the fact that theshurik en itself
was a supplementary weapon to the sword and other weapons within the main martial art schools
of the time, and hence probably did not gain much popularity, even among students who were
initiated into the secrets of the schools they were member of. Nevertheless, it did hold some
historical and practical value, as there are occasional mentions of the use of throwing blades in
the literature showing them to be held in a positive regard.

The earliest Japanese work, theKojiki (around 600AD), contains a passage where Prince
Yamato-Takeru throws a cylindrical vegetable into the eye of white deer, killing it. Some
translations have him throwing a chopstick.

The Nihon Shoki (also around 600AD) mentions a stone throwing implement called anishihajik i,
but its possible this was a sling. Yet another ancient work, the 8th centuryMan'yoshu, in one
section describes throwing an arrow, and another section a flat stone calledtsubute (see below).

The record of the Later Three Year War (Gosennen no Eki, 1083-87AD), entitled Hiyori no Ki,
contains a passage describing holding a short blade hidden in the palm and throwing it from a
distance "shuriken ni utsu" (lit. strike with a blade in the palm). One researcher believes this may
be the origin of the termshuriken (1)

The Osaka Gunki (military record of Osaka) contains a passage that says: "Tadamasa saved
himself from his foe by drawing out hisw ak izashi and throwing it, as you would ashur iken". It is
said that Tadamasa later created the firstshurik en, called theTanto- gata from a short sword.

Today, there are many and varied types ofshurik en, which suggests that the development of the
art was rather fragmented and insular among various schools and areas. According to Yasuyuki
Otsuka Sensei, headmaster of Meifu Shinkage Ryu Shuriken-jutsu, there were no standardised or
formalised set of rules governing manufacture and use of theshur iken blades as there were with
thek a tana, or Japanese sword, and this would have aided in the proliferation of differing designs
and schools around the country. Chikatoshi Someya Sensei attempted to form some sort of
categorisation ofs hur ik en in his book "Shuriken Giho", but admitted that without historical
records, such categorisation is purely speculative, and that there were a number of examples that
could not fit in his categorisation method as well. Nevertheless, such categorisation can be useful
today for the purpose of describing and discussing the art and the items in use.

In discussing bo shuriken, Someya Sensei divides the blades into two main groups, needle, or
cylindrical, andtanto, or square. Thetanto group possibly derived from the early practice of
throwing knives, (tanto) and even swords. Blades such as those found in Chishin Ryu, Mou En
Ryu, Katori Shinto Ryu etc, are those that are believed to have originally been fashioned from the
Japanese nail, calledwakugi, having been found to be the suitable replacement material for knife
blades ground into the eventuals hu r ik en shape. These nails varied in size from small pins for
furniture to huge rods used to hold the support beams of houses and temples. Early nails up to
the Meiji period (1863) were square, with large heads of various size and shape, and
subsequently became round with the influence of western manufacturing methods. Of further note
is that theseshur iken schools were closely related to, or a part of thekenjutsu or sword schools,
and hence it follows that theshur iken would evolve from a thrown blade.