# Ninja Stars



## Billy02 (Aug 3, 2018)

are ninja starts still being used in martial arts?


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Billy02 said:


> are ninja starts still being used in martial arts?[/QUOTE
> 
> what are you looking for people to say ?
> 
> ...


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## JR 137 (Aug 3, 2018)

Were ninja stars ever actually used?  Outside of 80s ninja craze type stuff, of course.


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

JR 137 said:


> Were ninja stars ever actually used?  Outside of 80s ninja craze type stuff, of course.




Hence I asked what I did lol


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

As there have been a few topics of late surrounding the "ninja" and as the original op's seem not to return it does make me contemplate if the posts are actually for the purpose of finding out or are they merely to start of arguments or are we again going to experience a return to the 80's  and the rise of the "ninja" again, I say this as there are now in publication many translations (I'm not going there as I ain't qualified to do that) of scrolls etc etc etc and is this again going to revive things that should be left where they ought to be , in the past. I just fear that things are again going to surface that should not and so many people are going to start arguing needlessly


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## hoshin1600 (Aug 3, 2018)

Billy02 said:


> are ninja starts still being used in martial arts?


i will assume by ninja STARTS  you mean ninja stars...
are they used in the martial arts?  in general no.  we dont use pointy throwing things in most martial arts.  if you want to be specific then i believe (and i could be wrong here we would need @Tony Dismukes  to confirm this)  throwing stars and spikes were taught in the Bujinkan system.  i would believe it still would be taught as one of the many skills in that system.
out side of the Bujinkan and the other break away groups we would be looking at Koryu systems and maybe someone here might know if they include any kind of throwing skills but i highly highly doubt they would use a hollywood "ninja star"

EDIT:  
clicking on the OP link you gotta love this sales pitch.
_"Now you can feel like a real Ninja in a secret operation without getting caught with this Titanium Khoga Ninja Five Points Throwing Star."_


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## JR 137 (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> ...are we again going to experience a return to the 80's  and the rise of the "ninja" again...


Would that really be a bad thing?  I grew up wanting to be a ninja in the 80s.

I remember I had this awesome ninja t-shirt that I found on the clearance rack at JC Penney’s for 99 cents (that was pretty cheap, even for ‘84) that came with the mask too.  My parents just had to buy it for me because it was so cheap.  And cool.  You have no idea how much time I spent sneaking around the house undetected doing ninja stuff.  I even wore it with my macho man Randy Savage sunglasses while break dancing on my flattened cardboard box and blaring Run-DMC’s Raising Hell on my huge boom box.  3rd grade was pretty cool.


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

JR 137 said:


> Would that really be a bad thing?  I grew up wanting to be a ninja in the 80s.
> 
> I remember I had this awesome ninja t-shirt that I found on the clearance rack at JC Penney’s for 99 cents (that was pretty cheap, even for ‘84) that came with the mask too.  My parents just had to buy it for me because it was so cheap.  And cool.  You have no idea how much time I spent sneaking around the house undetected doing ninja stuff.  I even wore it with my macho man Randy Savage sunglasses while break dancing on my flattened cardboard box and blaring Run-DMC’s Raising Hell on my huge boom box.  3rd grade was pretty cool.




Ummm ok glad ya didn't get caught by mom lol, 

Mind you then you could have got her to buy your super duper ninja pants ...........to evade the *** whooping lol


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## Ryan_ (Aug 3, 2018)

hoshin1600 said:


> i will assume by ninja STARTS  you mean ninja stars...
> are they used in the martial arts?  in general no.  we dont use pointy throwing things in most martial arts.  if you want to be specific then i believe (and i could be wrong here we would need @Tony Dismukes  to confirm this)  throwing stars and spikes were taught in the Bujinkan system.  i would believe it still would be taught as one of the many skills in that system.
> out side of the Bujinkan and the other break away groups we would be looking at Koryu systems and maybe someone here might know if they include any kind of throwing skills but i highly highly doubt they would use a hollywood "ninja star"
> 
> ...


Throwing stars are used in the bujinkan however an exception is made in the UK due to our laws banning them.


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## JR 137 (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> Ummm ok glad ya didn't get caught by mom lol,
> 
> Mind you then you could have got her to buy your super duper ninja pants ...........to evade the *** whooping lol


Oh I definitely had the parachute pants* too.  Tied up at the bottom to show off my Adidas shell toe high tops.  

*Sometimes people confuse the parachute pants and the MC Hammer pants.  Different pants, completely different eras.


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Ah but did your ninja skills manage to stop you getting the *** whooping ???


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## pdg (Aug 3, 2018)

MC Hammer trousers - anyone else heard them called sh*tcatchers?

Just me?


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

pdg said:


> MC Hammer trousers - anyone else heard them called sh*tcatchers?
> 
> Just me?




lol ummm no just a poor fashion statement (mind you it may involve more colourful words being substituted )


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## Tony Dismukes (Aug 3, 2018)

hoshin1600 said:


> if you want to be specific then i believe (and i could be wrong here we would need @Tony Dismukes to confirm this) throwing stars and spikes were taught in the Bujinkan system. i would believe it still would be taught as one of the many skills in that system.
> out side of the Bujinkan and the other break away groups we would be looking at Koryu systems and maybe someone here might know if they include any kind of throwing skills but i highly highly doubt they would use a hollywood "ninja star"


Yeah, the X-Kans teach shuriken-jutsu. (Shuriken can be spike or star shaped.) It's a pretty small part of the curriculum though. I think it can be found in a handful of koryu arts as well, but once again as a minor area of study.


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## Flying Crane (Aug 3, 2018)

Jeezuz, am I the ONLY one who carries three dozen stars secreted about my body, everywhere I go, every day???

‘Cause ya never know when ya might need three dozen stars to get you out of a jam...


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Flying Crane said:


> Jeezuz, am I the ONLY one who carries three dozen stars secreted about my body, everywhere I go, every day???
> 
> ‘Cause ya never know when ya might need three dozen stars to get you out of a jam...




three dozen ok hope you never go near a magnet lol

and I assume you wear the black pj's just as an extra insurance to let everyone know your a deadly ninja lol


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 3, 2018)

JR 137 said:


> Were ninja stars ever actually used?  Outside of 80s ninja craze type stuff, of course.



HA shows what you know...we used them in the 70s too 

Oh and the OP should note; the shuriken are illegal in some states and many municipalities


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Xue Sheng said:


> HA shows what you know...we used them in the 70s too
> 
> Oh and the OP should note; the shuriken are illegal in some states and many municipalities



As are many things that they market as the secret "ninja weapons" ..........get caught carrying them and ya might have a job explaining why


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> As are many things that they market as the secret "ninja weapons" ..........get caught carrying them and ya might have a job explaining why



They (LEO aka PD) took mine....forgot I had in in my leather jacket pocket.... back in the late 70s


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Xue Sheng said:


> They (LEO aka PD) took mine....forgot I had in in my leather jacket pocket.... back in the late 70s




ooops ...I guess you didn't read the bit on how to conceal them from the leo's in the training manual lol


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> ooops ...I guess you didn't read the bit on how to conceal them from the leo's in the training manual lol



"Them?" The PD shouldn't have been able to see HIM, let alone the stars!


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Dirty Dog said:


> "Them?" The PD shouldn't have been able to see HIM, let alone the stars!




Ok so he missed that chapter to ...


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## JR 137 (Aug 3, 2018)

Dirty Dog said:


> "Them?" The PD shouldn't have been able to see HIM, let alone the stars!


Beat me to it.


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## Flying Crane (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> three dozen ok hope you never go near a magnet lol
> 
> and I assume you wear the black pj's just as an extra insurance to let everyone know your a deadly ninja lol


No to the pjs.  That would be excessive.


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## Steve (Aug 3, 2018)

pdg said:


> MC Hammer trousers - anyone else heard them called sh*tcatchers?
> 
> Just me?


We called this 7 day sh*tters .


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 3, 2018)

now disabled said:


> ooops ...I guess you didn't read the bit on how to conceal them from the leo's in the training manual lol





Dirty Dog said:


> "Them?" The PD shouldn't have been able to see HIM, let alone the stars!





JR 137 said:


> Beat me to it.



Well that is true...if I were  Ninja... I was a simple TKD guy back then who just happened to have a ninja star...which I actually got when I was a simple Jujutsu guy...in the early 70s.....parents got their kids things like that back then......little did I know I lacked the ninja invisibility skills to hide it. And in my defense the first place I saw them was on Kung Fu the series.... the original one...yeah I know...they were thrown by a Ninja...but it was Kung Fu...... might be what lead me to CMA years later


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## now disabled (Aug 3, 2018)

Xue Sheng said:


> Well that is true...if I were  Ninja... I was a simple TKD guy back then who just happened to have a ninja star...which I actually got when I was a simple Jujutsu guy...in the early 70s.....parents got their kids things like that back then......little did I know I lacked the ninja invisibility skills to hide it. And in my defense the first place I saw them was on Kung Fu the series.... the original one...yeah I know...they were thrown by a Ninja...but it was Kung Fu...... might be what lead me to CMA years later




so there rests the case for the defense lol


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## Deleted member 39746 (Aug 3, 2018)

Awh, i have wanted one of them for a while.  but i think they are banned in the U.K, like the weaponized chains.        going back to the 80's when they were legal and subsequently banned.  


(in the spirit of the discussion and to see if i am right or not)   From what i have been told they are featured in samurai fighting styles and not in Ninjitsu ones and they are used to cut with not throw.     The primary source cited was some samurai treatise.


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## Ryan_ (Aug 4, 2018)

Rat said:


> Awh, i have wanted one of them for a while.  but i think they are banned in the U.K, like the weaponized chains.        going back to the 80's when they were legal and subsequently banned.
> 
> 
> (in the spirit of the discussion and to see if i am right or not)   From what i have been told they are featured in samurai fighting styles and not in Ninjitsu ones and they are used to cut with not throw.     The primary source cited was some samurai treatise.


Yes, banned in UK. Specifically told by my bujinkan instructor. Also, they can be thrown (in fact, I believe mostly thrown)


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## now disabled (Aug 4, 2018)

Look at shuriken not just the "stars" as that might give you a better idea


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 4, 2018)

Rat said:


> (in the spirit of the discussion and to see if i am right or not)   From what i have been told they are featured in samurai fighting styles and not in Ninjitsu ones and they are used to cut with not throw.     The primary source cited was some samurai treatise.



They're thrown. However, unlike what's shown in the movies, throwing stars are more an irritant than anything else. They lack the ability to penetrate enough to cause a serious wound, except in a few exceptionally unlikely scenarios.


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## Ryan_ (Aug 4, 2018)

Dirty Dog said:


> They're thrown. However, unlike what's shown in the movies, throwing stars are more an irritant than anything else. They lack the ability to penetrate enough to cause a serious wound, except in a few exceptionally unlikely scenarios.


I remember reading that real ninjas (as in, the old shadow warriors of Japan) had used them primarily as distractions and not necessarily to harm with the stars.


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 4, 2018)

Ryan_ said:


> I remember reading that real ninjas (as in, the old shadow warriors of Japan) had used them primarily as distractions and not necessarily to harm with the stars.



I can throw a chop stick though a thick cardboard box at close range and although Shuriken may have been more of an annoyance, when I was a preteen, at 12 feet I could stick them in a log, so they are capable of doing damage.


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 4, 2018)

Ryan_ said:


> I remember reading that real ninjas (as in, the old shadow warriors of Japan) had used them primarily as distractions and not necessarily to harm with the stars.



It depends on how you define "harm" I would say. Yes, they can cut you. They might even stick into you. But (speaking specifically about the stars) they're not going to penetrate deep enough (again, except in a few rare cases) to cause a debilitating injury. In other words, they wouldn't stop you from continuing the fight.



Xue Sheng said:


> I can throw a chop stick though a thick cardboard box at close range and although Shuriken may have been more of an annoyance, when I was a preteen, at 12 feet I could stick them in a log, so they are capable of doing damage.



Just to be clear, I'm talking about stars. A spike could be a different story entirely, depending on factors like weight and shape.
They can do damage, but not serious damage.


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 4, 2018)

Dirty Dog said:


> Just to be clear, I'm talking about stars. A spike could be a different story entirely, depending on factors like weight and shape.
> They can do damage, but not serious damage.



You could put and EYE out with that thing


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## JR 137 (Aug 4, 2018)

Xue Sheng said:


> You could put and EYE out with that thing


Ralphie’s mom got to you too?


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 4, 2018)

JR 137 said:


> Ralphie’s mom got to you too?



Actually I was thinking the late Kevin Meaney...but Ralphie's mom with suffice


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## pdg (Aug 4, 2018)

I just trod on a thorn thing.

It ended the fight...

(Bloody thing still hurts now - a good 5 minutes after pulling it out.)


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 4, 2018)

Xue Sheng said:


> You could put and EYE out with that thing



That's not what happened to my eye...
And you'll recall I said there were a few unlikely exceptions to the 'trivial damage' limitation.



pdg said:


> I just trod on a thorn thing.
> 
> It ended the fight...
> 
> (Bloody thing still hurts now - a good 5 minutes after pulling it out.)



Yeah, but you're clearly a wimp. Actually, I'd bet money that if you trod on that thorn while in a real fight (as in, kill or be killed, the sort of thing where weapons are involved) you'd not even notice that torn till later.


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## pdg (Aug 4, 2018)

Dirty Dog said:


> Yeah, but you're clearly a wimp. Actually, I'd bet money that if you trod on that thorn while in a real fight (as in, kill or be killed, the sort of thing where weapons are involved) you'd not even notice that torn till later.



No no, I'm clearly a wimp - nearly spilled my tea and everything 


In actuality, the amount of cuts and stuff I get while working and simply not notice until later is silly so it needn't be kill or be killed to ignore "little" things, just already occupied with something. I was clearing some hawthorn last week and my legs look like I'm some sort of emo teen...

The sort of scene in a film where a throwing star sticks a quarter inch in someone and they collapse in pain - yeah, not happening.


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## Chris Parker (Aug 5, 2018)

Okay.... 

Just to bring some kind of positive informational aspects to this.... "ninja stars" is just a common colloquialism (mainly due to the so-called "ninja boom" of the early 80's and associated media) for what are known in Japan as Shaken (pretty literally "wheel blades"), or Hira Shuriken ("flat side-handed blades"). They are a subset of shuriken, which is really almost any kind of projectile blade... although they can also be used as a hand-held in close weapon, the basic usage and predominant characteristic of a shuriken is that it is a thrown blade.

Over the centuries, there have been almost innumerable different shapes and designs of shuriken, from simple spikes and needles, to specifically crafted tapered shapes, to double ended, to ones shaped like knife blades, as well as the iconic star-shaped designs... which include three, four, five, six, eight, ten, twelve pointed designs... some of which are collapsable, others made with two spike-style (bo-shuriken) joined together, as well as specific designs such as Manji-shuriken ("flowing point"... either curved, or basically swastika shaped), ones with seeming "handles" (Araki-ryu shuriken, featuring an elongates spike among the other ones), and more.

Shuriken have been a part of Japanese arts for centuries, and have been (and continue to be) taught in many arts, such as Tenshinsho Den Katori Shinto Ryu, Takenouchi Ryu, Araki Ryu, Kukishin Ryu (Kukamishin Ryu now), Takagi Ryu, Namba Ippo Ryu, Negishi Ryu (a shuriken school itself, with little else to the syllabus), Shirai Ryu (no longer extant, it's methods have been subsumed into Negishi Ryu), Kiraku Ryu, Yagyu Shingan Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (there is a famous type of shaken known as a Yagyu shuriken, for instance... "star-shaped" blades were not really "ninja" in anything other than the movies), Kobori Ryu (five and eight pointed items), Chushin Ryu, Enmei Ryu (an early version of Musashi's Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu), Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu, forms of Itto Ryu, and many others... in fact, most sword schools would typically have at least some teachings for throwing blades.

In recent times, the Meifu Shinkage Ryu was created by Someya Chikatoshi in the 1970's, based in his training in Katori Shinto Ryu under Sugino Yoshio-sensei, and his further experimentation with various shuriken types and methods. Today, the school is under it's second headmaster, Otsuka Yasuyuki, is keeping the tradition of shuriken going.

So, in answer to the OP...  yes.


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