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There is very little historical
documentation available today on the
shuriken art. The primary reason is that
it was a rather secretive art. The
technique of using the shuriken itself
involved deception and surprise, and the
main schools that utilised such methods
of battle were also heavily involved in
deceptive and secretive activities. 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 the kenjutsu arts,
which used highly developed techniques
to wield swords of great refinement and
advancement in metal technology.
Added to this is the fact that the
shuriken 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.
Today, there are many and varied types
of shuriken, 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
the shuriken blades as there were with
the katana, 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 of
shuriken 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. |
