October '25 - Development of MSR Shuriken

Someya Sensei's book "Introduction to Shurikenjutsu" (手裏剣術入門) has a section titled "Theory of Shurikenjutsu" (手裏剣術の理論)   where he describes the experiments he performed to test out traditional ideas of shurikenjutsu. These experiments lead to the development of the Meifu Shinkage Ryu shuriken size and shape we use today.

It includes discussion on advantages and disadvantages of cross sectional shape, position of the centre of gravity, the claimed throwing distance of other existing styles verses shuriken length, and traditional ideas on the position of the shuriken tail in the palm verses distance. He experimented with different lengths of shuriken and position in the palm to identify the different limitations of shorter verses longer. His major finding was that there is a sweet spot in shuriken length where palm position does not need to be adjusted for different distances, a breakthrough not published anywhere else.

Other experiments and analysis go on to look at adjustment of your throw based on seeing the result of the previous throw, superior throwing methods, the effect of removing different visual cues by throwing in low light or in darkness, and hit rate percentages of different target sizes verses distance.

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