With all due respect to Dimond Dave, the "Hillbilly Ninja," for his most wonderful quote. The implication of his         statement is that virtually anything can be used as a "throwing star," not just the traditional multi-bladed darts,         spikes, and knives created by the Ninja of feudal Japan. Of course, there is a deeper meaning to practice with         those as well. Namely that the trick is to be able to throw accurately, then anything becomes a weapon of self-         defense. The Throwing Stars are just a convenient way to practice developing that accuracy.

ORIGAMI

ORIGAMI is the Japanese Art of Paper-Folding, the technique of turning a small, square piece of paper into a miniature finished sculpture using only a few basic folds and angles. The most commonly seen example is the Paper Crane. The Crane is a symbol of good health in many Asian cultures. It is said that, "If one folds a thousand cranes, it will cure any illness." Traditional Origami, that which does not use cuts or glue, has been practiced since the Edo Period in Japan, but its history dates back much further. "Ori" means "folding" and "gami (or kami)" means "paper." Learning this skill teaches you patience and dexterity.
For our purpose, any standard typewriter or copy paper will do. These sheets are slightly heavier weight than true Origami paper and somewhat larger. Trim the paper so it is square, 8.5 inches x 8.5 inches Real Origami paper, sold in craft and hobby stores, is more like tissue, 6 x 6 inches, and may be colored or patterned on either or both sides. You can use six-inch squares to make this fold, but eight by eight square give you a star that is about four inches in diameter. Much better for practice and more realistic.

Shuriken Jitsu

In olden times, 13th and 14th century Japan, a "shuriken" was a spike or small dagger hidden in the decorations of a Samurai sword sheath that could be easily and secretly drawn and used to throw at an opponent as an opening strike to provide time enough for the Samurai to draw his blade and cut down the foe in a single stroke. Much like the Ninja technique of throwing sand in the eyes of the attacker so they could vanish and escape. Or, like a dagger to stab and be used as a missile at distance. Eventually, someone caught on to the idea that, "If you have more points, there is more chance one of them will stick!" There followed a period of aerodynamic experimentation, and a few basic types were found to the most effective. A 4-Point Star is the simplest and most obvious. Originally, these multi-bladed devices were called "shaken" (throwing blades) but during the "Ninja Craze" of the eighties, people started calling all such missiles "shuriken" because the throwing techniques and hiding places were essentially the same for most of them.

There are, of course, many other ways to throw the star at an attacker to "make him flinch" or "blink" and temporarily blind him so you can escape to safety. This is a great magician's secret- "Make sure you do the secret part of the trick while the volunteer or audience is distracted. That way the movement is invisible." This single trick is the foundation for hundreds of Ninja Vanishing techniques. Thus, "anything can be a weapon." even just your outstretched fingers thrown in his face so you can duck away. Rember, Ninjitsu is the ONLY non-violent martial art known to man. Because we value peace and harmony above all else, we have a simple method- RUN AWAY! No one gets hurt because we do not fight. Some of the other techniques for launching the Shuriken at an attacker are given in Secrets of the Ninja, Forbidden Fighting Techniques, and Forbidden Weapons of the Ninja.

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