page_title: Shuriken
section_title: Hira shuriken/shaken
hierarchical_section_title: Shuriken / Hira shuriken/shaken
caption_attribution_description: English: Iga-ryū Ninja Museum
context_page_description: A shuriken is a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect.
  They are also known as throwing stars, throwingstars, or ninja stars, although they were originally designed in many different shapes. Contrary to this nomenclature, the shuriken were not in the arsenal of those who practiced ninjutsu. Modern movies and tales portray ninjas using shuriken, but they were mainly used by samurai and ashigaru soldiers. The major varieties of shuriken are the bō shuriken and the hira shuriken or shaken.
  Shuriken were supplementary weapons to the sword or various other weapons in a samurai's arsenal, although they often had an important tactical effect in battle. The art of wielding the shuriken is known as shurikenjutsu and was taught as a minor part of the martial arts curriculum of many famous schools, such as Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, Ittō-ryū, Kukishin-ryū, and Togakure-ryū.
context_section_description: Hira-shuriken generally resemble the popular conception of shuriken. They are constructed from thin, flat plates of metal derived from a variety of sources including hishi-gane (coins), kugi-nuki (carpentry tools), spools, and senban (nail removers).
  They often have a hole in the center and possess a fairly thin blade sharpened mainly at the tip. The holes derive from their source in items that had holes—old coins, washers, and nail-removing tools. This proved convenient for the shuriken user as the weapons could be strung on a string or dowel in the belt for transport, and the hole also had aerodynamic and weighting effects that aided the flight of the blade.
  There are a wide variety of forms of hira-shuriken, and they are now usually identified by the number of points the blades possess. As with bo-shuriken, the various shapes of hira-shuriken were usually representative of a particular school (ryū) or region that preferred the use of such shapes, and it is therefore possible to identify the school by the type of blade used.
caption: Various types of shuriken at the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Ninja show at Iga Ninja Museum, Ueno, Japan", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T3i", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2012:06:14 23:53:53", "Image Artist": "Jaitra Gillespie", "Image Copyright": "Jaitra Gillespie", "Image ExifOffset": "330", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:05:17 02:18:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:05:17 02:18:14", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1245723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "331919/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "21/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "84", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "84", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "042022001081", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 200, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "18-200mm", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}