Throwing Stars

PhotonGuy

Senior Master
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
4,224
Reaction score
575
The throwing star is one of the most commonly associated weapons with the Ninja but Im not sure as to their origin. The Ninja are from Japan but throwing stars I believe originated from China and that's why they're often called Chinese stars. They are no doubt still a very effective weapon in the right hands.
 

tshadowchaser

Sr. Grandmaster
MT Mentor
Founding Member
MTS Alumni
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
13,460
Reaction score
733
Location
Athol, Ma. USA
they still are against the law in most places
I have no clue as to their history
 

Langenschwert

Master Black Belt
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
1,023
Reaction score
353
Location
Calgary, AB, Canada
So's a beer bottle in the right hands! :D I remember in junior high the coolest kids had throwing stars. It was the height of the ninja craze, you'll have to remember. Too bad they're illegal, I think that's kind of silly.
 

Dirty Dog

MT Senior Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
23,358
Reaction score
9,096
Location
Pueblo West, CO
Considering how superficial the wounds these things are capable of inflicting are, it's truly silly to ban them.


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.
 

Chris Parker

Grandmaster
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
6,259
Reaction score
1,104
Location
Melbourne, Australia
The throwing star is one of the most commonly associated weapons with the Ninja but Im not sure as to their origin. The Ninja are from Japan but throwing stars I believe originated from China and that's why they're often called Chinese stars. They are no doubt still a very effective weapon in the right hands.

Okay… while the "throwing stars" are most commonly associated with "ninja", that's not really historically that accurate in and of itself. Shuriken were commonly used by samurai just as much as "ninja", with different systems having preferences for a wide array of different blade shapes and designs, ranging from basically just elongated spikes through to multi-point "stars", knife-blade shaped, or even some that had extra long spikes to use as a handle (to aid in throwing them). With regards to who came up with them first, that's not so easy to ascertain… the idea of projectile weapons are fairly ubiquitous throughout many cultures… starting from simply throwing a rock at someone. As time went on, these basic ideas got refined and developed… which lead to shaken and shuriken in Japan, and similar in various other cultures.

The term "Chinese stars" isn't really a reference to any genuine Chinese usage, of course… it's really a modern Western (American) term as accurate as "numchucks", and is based more than anything else in the usage of such weapons in the tv series "Kung Fu", as well as other movies and media. I'm not aware of any traditional Chinese system that teaches them, although obviously there are a number of Japanese systems that still do.
 

Latest Discussions

Top