Vintage 80's Japanese Six-Point Shuriken Set - Blasted

"Some were chromed, others black, others treated with a rainbow surface like oil on water. But the chrome stars held his gaze. They were mounted against scarlet ultrasuede with nearly invisible loops of nylon fishline, their centers stamped with dragons or yinyang symbols. They caught the street’s neon and twisted it, and it came to Case that these were the stars under which he voyaged." — William Gibson, Neuromancer. 1984.

If there was a symbol of the 80's-90's Japanese cutlery industry in the USA, it had to have been the Shuriken. Every kid that was watching action cartoons, consuming cyberpunk and anime, binging cheeseball action flicks, or just haunting the local knife and gun stores can tell you everything they dreamed about was: a katana, a subcompact SMG of some kind, nunchucks, a badass motorcycle, and shurikens. It's funny how looking at a 30 year retrospective, some things never change… Often portrayed as the micro-sized BFG of covert weaponry, they just always seem to pop up in my favorite stories. Realistically portrayed or not, there is just something special about grabbing the disk of steel and giving it a whirl. If none of this is making sense to you, deep down, you might just want to save the read and look at other cool gear.

What these are: Shurikens, throwing stars, ninja stars - many names for one rad piece of kit!These vintage Shurikens were made by Tak Fakuta in his shop in Japan for Parker Cutlery Co in Japan in the 80's. They are stamped stainless steel with a bead blasted finish, each one featuring a six-pointed design with dragon engraved design in the center. Maker's marks are present as well as some other marks (note, marks vary a little over the size ranges, and no two are identical). Due to the stamped steel construction, the edges are 'flat' and do not come to a beveled point. You can fix that if you are feeling froggy, or you can whip 'em around at stuff just to smash things up! We aren't going to tell you how to have fun! Comes in a set of three stars. Full specs and details of each size are in the "More Information" tab.

How we got them: from our pal and expert finder of all things vintage, cool, rare and exciting: AJ over at Tactical Elements. Last year, AJ went on a whirlwind raid in Japan, visiting many current and historic sites from the "golden age of Japanese cutlery" (if you don't understand what this means, or know who Takao Fukuta was - you just had to have been there, man...). One of his stops was a workshop that made many knives from the period, that among other things made these very Shurikens. Well, as it happened, sitting in that very shop was a limited supply of these incredible vintage Shurikens, lost to time and from memory of most folks.... Until now!

Note: Look, we don't want to have to be the "use your brain" police, but keep in mind that these are 30-40 year old, vintage made shurikens that were a 'barn-find' in the family shop in Japan where these were originally produced. They were not hermetically sealed, wrapped in silk, oiled and stored in a secured lock box. They lived in and were moved around a real, working shop for years. Expect some surface wear, some dings, the odd bit of rust, etc. If you are cool with that, know that you are getting the real deal, full of 80's glory and nostalgia, and that at some point these things are going to be GONE from the open market for good.