Miyamoto Musashi & Shuriken

Miyamoto Musashi, famed for his two-sword style, was a master of Shuriken. Kanji Naruse, the martial arts researcher and instructor of Negishi School Shuriken, published his book Shuriken in 1941. He devoted two chapters to discussing Miyamoto Musashi and his use of Shuriken. The first chapter of his surprising book discusses the origins of Musashi’s Shuriken art and quotes various historical documents as well as the Okura Monument, a stone slab etched with a 1000 Kanji history of Musashi’s life produced by his adopted son Iori. It also discusses Musashi’s surprisingly influential connection to the famous Yagyu family and how a duel between Musashi and a member of the Yagyu family caused the Yagyu to develop new techniques to defend against an opponent throwing a Shuriken. The second chapter is Naruse’s interpretation of the Shuriken techniques employed by Musashi in duels. The next chapters will look at documents related to the Chishin Ryu, New Learning School, a Shuriken school that was founded by the descendants of Miyamoto Musashi. These documents were all transcribed by the early 20th century martial artist and researcher Fujita Seiko. A section of a recently authenticated work by Miyamoto Musashi is also included. This document gives specific instructions regarding how to throw Shuriken according to Musashi. Finally, documents related to the Yagyu school mentioning Shuriken will be introduced. This book is a bilingual edition with both Japanese and English.