Fukiya

The fukiya (吹き矢) is the Japanese blowgun, as well as the term for the associated sport. It consists of a 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) long tube, with darts approximately 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length. Unlike modern Western blowguns, the fukiya has no mouthpiece: instead, a shooter must maintain a seal with the lips as he forcefully exhales. The darts used in the fukiya are called fukibari. Traditionally, fukibari were two inches in length.

In Japan, fukiya is considered to be an archery sport, maintained by the Japan Sports Fukiya Association. In order to promote fukiya, the International Fukiya Association (IFA) was formed, based in Japan. The main organizations under the IFA are the American Association (ASBA), and the French Federation (FSBA).

History

The fukiya is often considered to have been a weapon of the ninja. It is known that in the past, there were numerous schools of martial arts and ninjutsu (such as Togakure-ryū) which used the fukiya and fukibari alone (as senbon).

A typical ninjutsu fukiya is around 50 cm, which is shorter than the sport fukiya, but does affect the effective range. Thus, even in theory, ninja would have had to use special darts with poisoned tips in order for it to work, and fired from a concealed location. Most likely, it was used similar to shuriken, as a distraction.