Shuriken can be considered kakushi buki (隠し武器, hidden weapons) depending on how they are used, but when people think of the term kakushi buki other small handheld weapons come to mind. Today I’ll talk about the kakute (角手 horned hand), which is a ring that has spike protruding to add pain in grabbing techniques, or to cause more damage in atemi. Kakute were normally worn on the middle finger with the points facing in, or on the middle finger and thumb when using more than one kakute, they could also be flipped and used on the outside of the hand for atemi. Some varities of kakute even have points on both sides requiring the hands to be kept open when striking, but devastating to the opponent no matter which fist is used. Kakute come in countless varieties and have equally as many names. Normally the name is based on the number of spikes or “horns” protruding, in that case the kanji 角 which is kaku in kakute is read as tsuno and the counting form of 本 hon, a counter for cyllindrical objects is used, i.e. 1 point ippon tsuno kakute(一本角角手), two points nihon tsuno kakute (二本角角手)
seen here , and so on as shown here.
However, these are very general terms, specific ryu-ha may use specific names. Seigo Ryu and Nanban Ippon Ryu refer to kakute as kakushu(角株） meaning horned jewel though the kanji te in the original word kakute is also read shu, but yet another variation on the original pronunciation of kakute is a change in the kanji kaku to this incarnation 隠手, meaning hidden hand. Yet another variation following this pattern is kakushi(隠し), which as shown above means hidden, but once again a substitution can be made and the kana for shi is replaced with kanji giving us this combination which is still read kakushi, 角指 meaning horned finger. A very obvious name for kakute was kakuwa(角輪), horned ring, and more obscure name was taka no tsume,鷹の爪 meaning hawks talon. Within Tenkamuso Ryu an ippon tsuno kakute was called senriki(千力） meaning 1000 powere, because it was believed that’s how much your ability was increased by using a kakute and their name for nihon tsuno kakute was senninriki （千人力） power of 1000 men for the same reason. Keeping with the kanji riki, meaning power, the Saihoin Buan Ryu also used a kakute, but it was very different. The kakute used in Saihoin Buan Ryu was a single piece of metal hammered around a pipe and sharpened at each end and bent up. This made what was essentially a one size fits all kakute, this weapon was given the name temanriki(手万力）, hand with ten-thousand power, ten-thousand being the Taoist euphemism for infinity this weapon was considered the ultimate force amplifier. A very strange kakute doesn’t appear to be a kakute at all can be seen below.
It can be considered a goshinyowa (護身用輪) self defense ring. As you can see it looks like a normal(depends on your taste) ring, but the design leads it to be used similarly to a traditional kakute. That’s about all I have to say on kakute. I am working on a wide variety for my store. If you would like any other information just ask.
Sanbon Tsuno kakute from Korisuya.
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