Four Points Morning Glory Throwing Star, by M.A.

Four points Morning Glory (a.k.a. the ‘Iga’) throwing star

In the upper image, you can see the star thrown accordingly to its design (with the flat side on its right). Thrown it this way, it uses the spinning effect to stick even more deeper).

technical specs:

Shape: ‘four blades’ shape (‘hira’ shuriken) with central hole.
Maximum length: 110 millimeters
Thickness: 4 millimeters at its center (awesome)
Weight: – 75 grams (little heavy, really good)
Writings: ‘Iga ninja’ and a couple of chinese symbols.

Other features:

+Blades: this star’s edges are of the ‘fake edge’ type, but with a very unique ‘chisel’ grind. In theory, the fact that the edges are ground only on one side makes this star wrong from an air drag point of view (it should curve during flight). In reality, this star flies as any other, but it’s edges are nearly the most powerful I have ever seen on the market.
+Grip points: yes and usable. Quite good.
+Grip overall: grip is not the easiest one, but more than acceptable.
+ Training usage: no
+ Paperbox usage: really, no
+ Wood targets usage: yes and only. This star is powerful and makes really large holes, so it will destroy your wood target sooner than other stars.
+ Sticking difficulty: really easy. This is almost a sure sticker.
+ Double throw difficulty: not available
+Triple throw difficulty: not available
+ Does this star has an upside? In theory it has, because the blades are not symmetrical to each other. In reality, you can throw it upside/down, and you will barely see any power loss.
+ ‘shuriken’ boxing? Yes, but use only two fingers and pay attention at what you do. It requires a little training and can be dangerous for yourself.
+ sharpening difficult: edges are straight and quite obvious to follow with your file or wet stone. So, sharpening is really easy.
+ How much does this star will damage itself if it hits the ground? a lot. The edges of this star have really a lot of power, and thus will damage themselves a lot if the star fall to the ground.
This is a professional star not to mess with.

DESCRIPTION

This is another high quality professional throwing star that didn’t ‘survived’ the nineties and is really rare to find nowadays on the market.
With it’s 75 grams of weight, it is a serious throwing star with a lot of power and a very unique design.
Despite having an asymmetrical design, the blades are not curved, so even if you throw it upside down, it will make a lot of damages anyway (with a little bonus if you throwing it the right way, with the writings on the left).
Anyway, right-handed users will immediately hold it on the right way (because the other side – the flat one – it is much more difficult to hold).
However you hold it, the grip is not so easy to master, but once you get used to it, the very particular shape of the star helps you ‘feeling’ if it’s really vertical during the throw, which is a very good thing for any professional thrower.

Pros:

+ heavy, thus powerful and professional
+ wicked, ultra-powerful blades
+ useful grip points
+ its flat side helps you feeling if ist’ really vertical
+ it hasn’t a real upside/down, but if thrown correctly it takes a little energy (power bonus) from the spinning effect.

Cons:
+ a little too much powerful for its blades (the first time you will hit a hard surface with those tips, you will destroy them. Pay extra care while throwing)
+ you can grip it only on one side. Holding it on the other (the flat one) is much more difficult.
+ left-handed users can’t take full advantage of the star’s asymmetrical design (they should grip it on the wrong side, to do so)

Overall, as any other 70+ grams throwing star, you should buy one*every time* you find a ‘real’ one (and not a smaller/lighter copy).
But if you think to throw it seriously, pay extra care: this is a really professional throwing star, that will do a lot of damages if you unluckily miss the target.