棒手裏剣 Bō Shuriken Training in Japan Report Ten 令和6年

A few Shuriken at Nagase Sensei's House

I woke up early because I had to ride four different trains to go to a 棒手裏剣 Bō Shuriken training session with 菅 祐寿 Kan Hirotoshi. If you haven’t met him, he is the son of Kan Sensei and has become an expert with shuriken. In fact, they were training for the 棒手裏剣競技世界大会 Bō Shuriken world championships, so I might learn something! 

Kan Hirotoshi interview about Bō Shuriken

During the practice session, I interviewed him with some basic questions.
Q: How did you get interested in shuriken?
A: While doing Bujinkan practice, the shuriken is included as part of the training.
Q: Why do you like shuriken so much?
A: It’s the result you get. You know whether it sticks or not, that result comes out, and that teaches you something very good.

Michael with 菅 祐寿 Kan Hirotoshi and new Shuriken friends

They were training in the basement of a building that was converted into a dojo. There were just 5 of us there but each person was working on their own throwing style. The type that Hiro was throwing were 火箸型 Hibashi-gata with a square shaft. But he also had some that he designed himself that are hexagonal.

In 2022, I went into some detail about this shuriken design. He told me some secrets about the design, but I promised not to reveal them. I asked him about the design,

Q: What inspired you to make this design?
A: Ah. Well, like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to lighten the back end a bit. But it was hard to shave it down, so I made a little hole… I wanted to make the weight at the back lighter, and also, in terms of balance, I felt that this part would be difficult to use if it was too thin.
Q: Do you still practice Bujinkan?
A: Yes, at the Tezuka-dojo
Q: Do you use shuriken with your taijutsu?
A: Well, you see, all the training is the same. That’s why we use shuriken in our taijutsu and use our taijutsu to throw shuriken.

This last question inspired him to demonstrate. He showed doing a normal sanshin tsuki, but the finish was with a shuriken throw. Then he did the same with Jūmonji. And he finished with all types of ukemi while throwing.

Q: What do you hope people take away from training with bō shuriken?
A: Well, I want people to enjoy it with a lighthearted feeling. Don’t give up right away if it becomes difficult… a little practice will surely bring results, so please keep practicing and enjoy it. And have fun if possible…

Hiro’s throws were light. Even when done from long distance across the dojo, the throws were light and on target. And then it was my turn to throw.

I tried the light feeling, but many of my shuriken hit flat and fell to the floor. Then I went to my normal power throws and they all stuck. One of the other students there also threw this way. They told me he was a student of Nagase Sensei, so that made sense.

My main goal for going was to make a connection with Kan and his training there. Hopefully in the future my students and I can visit. And I think he would like to encourage more Bujinkan students to join in.

We all went to lunch together. And then I had to catch four trains back to 千葉県 Chiba-ken. I didn’t want to be late for my class with Nagase Sensei. 

愚痴壺 Guchi tsubo rant

One time I asked one of my students to demonstrate a technique. He read 日撃 nichigeki from the text to demonstrate. He found the text confusing. This is common because the densho does not contain the full technique!

The full technique is densho PLUS kuden, or direct transmission from a teacher. This can only occur if the connection of our lineage is unbroken, from the founders of the art down to Soke Hatsumi, and then to the teachers who train with him. If your teacher does not train with Soke, you will probably be missing something!

I can always tell when I see videos or demonstrations from teachers who have not trained with Soke. Because they do the technique wrong. It is obvious they learned it from a video or from trying to decipher the text.

Bō Shuriken with Nagase Sensei

It had just started raining when I arrived at Nagase Sensei’s house. He had set up shuriken targets in the garage. The sound of the rain on the metal roof muffled the chunk and clanging sounds of the spikes of steel as we threw them.

The garage was small, but he had two shuriken targets set at one end. And he had two shelves full of shuriken. These were all varieties, different schools, types, and lengths. He even had random things like knives, tent spikes, and scissors.

There were about five or six of us there. Each student was working on their own skills. But many were exploring an underhanded 三心 sanshin style throw.

At first, I didn’t do that well. But Nagase Sensei began to give great instruction. It was about walking and throwing. People often start from a static position. But he said that was unrealistic. In actual combat you would already be moving. He said that in a real situation, you wouldn’t start by taking up kamae. It would just come out from the walk.

Watching him do this, and get in a rhythm with the walk, I was able to get in a rhythm myself. And I started to have success. The thunk sound of striking true is satisfying.

He showed us the way to release the shuriken from the palm using the word 滑らす suberasu. He demonstrated quarter spin and half spin. Then he showed overhand and underhand. He also did side release and no look versions from behind.

He showed some senban. He did this to emphasize that it is not a failure when the shuriken don’t stick in the target. Senban are not meant to stick, they are meant to distract your opponent so you can escape. bō shuriken function the same way. Nagase Sensei said, that if you hit them in the face with a metal spike, it will still cause damage.

He next focused on aim. You should be able to hit a specific target. He had us call out our targets: right and left; high; middle; and low. I tried this with the 逆打ち gyaku-uchi version (starting with my back to the target) and I hit every one! This made Nagase Sensei very happy. He said it was Nagase style!

During one moment, he used some shuriken that were nearly one 尺 shaku in length. They hit with such force, that they pierced the tatami target. He called me over to look behind where the spikes were poking through.

He finished by showing shuriken connected to sword drawing. Then he even threw the scissors and a tent spike. I told him he was a very dangerous man. He laughed and said, “dangerous man… I know!”

I feel very lucky that I was invited to this training. I think it happened naturally because of the relationship I have developed with him over the years. More Japan updates coming soon.