Korisuya shuriken blog 2

Today I’ll talk about hira shuriken 平手裏剣. Hira shuriken are shuriken which are flat and usually have at least three points, an exception to this would be the enbangata(円盤型 round tray style) shuriken, which are sharpened around the entire circumference and have no points. Other names for hira shuriken are tashin shuriken 多針手裏剣, many needle shuriken, kurumaken or shaken 車剣 meaning wheel blade also used was shashuriken 車手裏剣 wheel shuriken. The origin of hira shuriken techniques probably lies in the use of tsubute which I talked about in my first blog, but it may also have been influenced by China. A throwing weapon in China known as Lo Han Tsin, a large coin, maybe have formed the basis of such shuriken as the hishigata 菱, hishi is a Japanese water chestnut but in this case hishigata refers to hishigane 菱金a large coin. The horizontal throwing style used for Lo Han Tsin is the same method that appears in Togakure ryu. Hira shuriken were also fashioned out of numerous flat items aside from coins, the most basic of which is the teppan shuriken 鉄板手裏剣, or metal plate shuriken. Teppan were just square thick sheets of metal thrown at the enemy with incredible force. These weapons were used in Kukishin ryu, Koto Ryu, and Kxxxx Ryu. Another souce for hira shuriken could be kuginuki 釘抜き, which are nail removers. As most people know, the Togakure ryu senban 銛盤(lance tray) shuriken is a kuginuki shuriken and is also known as kuginukiken 釘抜剣 or nail remover sword, but there are more styles of kuginuki than just the one that resembles senban, there were also juji shaped kuginuki. The last idea for a source of origin for hira shuriken is in the buddhist Horin 法輪 or dharma wheel. This tool is illustrated in the mid level secret scroll of Yagyu Ryu. Shuriken modeled after the horin are used in Kobori Ryu.
The first style of hira shuriken I will discuss is the Sanko shuriken 三光手裏剣, meaning three lights shuriken. The sanko shuriken available from Korisuya seen here

is from the Ikeda Ryu. There are also other varieties which stem from Shinkage Ryu seen here
and Yagyu Shinkage Ryu seen here
. The sanko shuriken was said to have been created by Shinkage Ryu founder Kamiizumi Ise no Kami Nobutsuna. Another name for sanko shuriken would be sanpo shuriken 3 directions shuriken 三法手裏剣 or, as used in another ryu, mitsubishi shuriken 三菱手裏剣 seen here
. These varieties will be posted on Korisuya shortly. That covers three point shuriken, I will move on to a different variety in my next blog.