Fukiya (吹き矢) is the Japanese blowgun. It consists of a 1.2m (4 feet) long tube blowgun, with darts around 20cm (eight inches). Unlike American-style blowguns, the fukiya has no mouthpiece: instead, users wrap their lips around the pipe. The darts used in the fukiya were called fukibari. Traditionally, fukibari were two inches in length.
In Japan, fukiya is considered as an archery sport, maintained by 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).
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It is often considered as a weapon for ninja. It is known that, in the past, there are numerous schools of martial arts and ninjutsu (such as Togakure-ryū) which practiced martial arts using fukiya and fukibari alone (as senbon).
A typical ninjutsu fukiya is around 50 cm, which is shorter than the sport fukiya, which 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 similarly as a shuriken, as a distraction.
The blowgun can also double as a breathing pipe and straw to enable the ninja practitioner to better survive in the wilderness.
There will always be doubts whether it was truly effective compared to bow and arrows, since it has a shorter range. In the hands of experts ("Master" level), it can be very accurate, as testified by sport fukiya players today.
The range of a fukiya is determined by size (diameter), weight, length and material of its basic component, the tube. Pressure built up in the tube from the player's breath and the technique that the player uses to channel the breath into the tube affects the speed that the dart will exit the muzzle.
Weight will affect a player's ability to hold the tube steady, and arm fatigue level over a period of time.
Like any sport, fukiya has certain guidelines for its equipment. In general, international guidelines set by IFA are less strict than JSFA. Currently, the specs for international are as follows: