Miyamoto Musashi & Shuriken

This bilingual edition explores the Shuriken tradition of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary swordsman famed for his two-sword style. Kanji Naruse, a martial arts researcher and instructor of Negishi School Shuriken, devoted two chapters of his 1941 work Shuriken to Musashi and his use of throwing weapons.

The first chapter examines the origins of Musashi's Shuriken art, drawing upon historical documents as well as the Okura Monument, a stone monument inscribed with a thousand-character account of Musashi's life by his adopted son, Iori. Naruse also discusses Musashi's surprisingly important connection with the famous Yagyu family and recounts a duel between Musashi and a member of the Yagyu lineage that, according to the tradition, led the Yagyu to develop techniques specifically designed to defend against Shuriken.

The second chapter presents Naruse's reconstruction and interpretation of the Shuriken techniques that Musashi is said to have employed in actual duels.

The book then turns to documents concerning Chishin Ryu, or the New Learning School, a Shuriken tradition founded by descendants of Miyamoto Musashi. These materials were transcribed by Fujita Seiko, the influential martial artist and researcher of the early twentieth century. Also included is a section from a recently authenticated work attributed to Miyamoto Musashi, containing specific instructions concerning the throwing of Shuriken according to Musashi's own teachings.

Finally, documents from the Yagyu tradition that mention Shuriken are introduced, providing an opportunity to compare the Musashi and Yagyu traditions and their approaches to throwing weapons.

This edition presents the original Japanese texts alongside a complete English translation, making these important and unusual documents on the history of Japanese Shuriken available to an English-speaking readership.