Spin?

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of an anime fan.

Anyways, I noticed that in these animes, when they are throwing knives, kunai, etc. they don't seem to have any spin or rotation whatsoever. (note: this is, of course, a generalization)

Is this based in fact? Is it possible to effectively throw a knife without spinning it end over end?

Yay, a knife throwing thread. I love throwing knifes. Ok, you can scoop-throw the knife and it flys straight within 10 feet, but not much farther though. Craddle the knife in you hand, blade facing your pinky side, the point protruding from the finger tips. Now with a wide scooping motion, let it gradually slip to an early release towards the target. With some practice it can be done pretty accurately.

On another note, if the knife has a long tassle (a "flight" if you will) on the handle end of it, then it will usually fly decently straight if thrown properly. The secret is an early release for less spin.

I did notice that early release thing.

Awesome post. Are there knives that are better for this sort of thing? Maybe a difference in weight distribution?

Forgive me for knowing almost nothing about throwing....is there a martial art that incorporates it? (other than ninjutsu, of course)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Foolsgold:
I did notice that early release thing.

Awesome post. Are there knives that are better for this sort of thing? Maybe a difference in weight distribution?

Forgive me for knowing almost nothing about throwing....is there a martial art that incorporates it? (other than ninjutsu, of course)[/QUOTE]

Thanks. Well, my personal favorite for throwing are the ones with the adustable weights in the handle. Double edge preferably for better penetration. These work great once you learn your distances. Also, look into Chinese throwing darts (knifes with flights), they fly very true.

As far as a knife throwing art, there's always Ninjutsu, but many styles of kung Fu actually teach throwing weapons too. I learned to throw from my first Sifu. I've been doing it ever since. I think he actually learned it from the army though. He was a special forces operative in Vietnam. He Studied Wu Ji, Pai Lum, and Shorin Ryu, so I doubt he was taught these throwing skills by his instructors. Those styles don't include any projectiles as far as I know.

In ancient China, the expert martial artists hired to escort and protect caravans (most medieval chinese famous martial artists belonged to this profession) were called piao-shi (the same "shi" as in shifu - or sifu in Cantonese), which means "master of darts". I used to wonder how it could have been possible to actually hurt someone bad enough with these little things to actually protect anything, but I since have seen a Shaolin monk throwing a mere needle with such tremendous force that it would fly through a glass window and leave a relatively "clean" hole (what I mean is, it didn't break the whole plate of glass: it properly pierced it). So I guess these piao-shi's art was something close to an alternative to firearms. They had achieved through qi training what we since achieved through technology...
So there is definitely a chinese art of throwing.
By the way, I hear that a certain Ralph Thorn developed an effective technique of combat knife-throwing which would not involve any spinning, hence sparing the trouble of evaluating the distances - a need that makes traditional knife-throwing simply useless in self-defense. Unfortunately, foreign books are extremely difficult to get hold of in my country (it took almost eight months after I ordered William E. Fairbairn's "Get Tough" to actually receive the book. And there's hardly anything more fundamental in the field of hand to hand fighting...). Anyone knows what this technique consists in? I'm extremely intrigued by what I read on the net about it...
Thanks!
Oh, and by the way, sorry for the ridiculous length of this post. If I get you bored, then, well... don't read me! [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]
(oops, I'm affraid it's too late now)

[This message has been edited by Tashiga (edited 01-30-2005).]

I use a throwing axe so the spin is essential, just posted to ask Tashiga why you would need to throw a knife in everyday self defence?! Surely after you have beaten your aggressor you would allow him to run away! he he he [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/wink.gif[/IMG]

I don't plan to use knife-throwing in self-defense at all! But the guy who developed the technique obviously does, and I'm extremely interested in a knife-throwing technique that's so supple as to potentially allow its use in self-defense... Not for self-defense itself, but because I believe this combat-effectiveness to be a sign of superiority over other techniques, if it's really what Mr Thorn claims it is.
As for letting my opponent escape after beating him, I must disagree: I support disemboweling as a self-defense strategy. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]