Introduction to the Sai

[Elektrikkiss]

for stabbing? no hun the original sais were a completely deffensive weapon. they were NEVER sharpened like your cheap sai. sai's with sharp tips is a modern movie thing. the tip is suppose to be blunt.

[CommanderCooper]

@Elektrikkiss Sais with sharpened tips are called "sai daggers," and are also used in martial arts.

[aydooknow]

they actually originated in Antarctica where eskimos used them as ice-picks

[ak479877777778]

the sai was not used for digging, i was mostly used for planting seeds in Okinawa.. you would stick it into the ground and it would make a nice hole in the ground for a seed.

[MikeAlti2001]

look like Gabrielle's Weapon

[toxi87]

i had always been told it was weapon used by the okinawan police, much like the Jute used on japan.

[iceblood16]

@toxi87 they use a stick

[ak479877777778]

@toxi87 that is true, the sai is a Okinawan weapon, not a Japan weapon..

[gojuryukarateka]

Geez ... I just looked at the link for the DVD and all the Bo kata names are wrong. Bo katas are ended in Kon, not Kun. It list Shishi No Kun, when the correct name is Shushi No Kon.

This guy is a joke!

[gojuryukarateka]

The origin of the sai is not known, though it is believed it was always a weapon, not a farming instrument, developed in Indonesia or India.

Yes, the sai is a throwing weapon, but from the handle, not the tip like the demonstration in the video.

The guy in the video, Sensei Mike Reeves, surely should not be selling videos that state fallacies and demonstrate bad technique. This is why martial arts outside of Japan are a joke.

Sensei Mike Reeves? Sensei of what? Bad information and technique!

[mkjredemption]

could be used to block a samurai sword....yeah cuz everyone carries those around what would you do with a gun

[psychedashell]

@mkjredemption Throw one at the bastard, run in and knock him out with the other, just in case the first one didn't kill him. Even a guy with his own gun can be killed by another guy with a gun. That's just the risk you run when you decide to fight back.

[Specter1957]

this guy is not a qualified instructor....out of breath doing next to nothing

[Shivasyn13]

funny how americans pretend they are "masters" and they make youtube videos convinced that they know everything :D

[hempev]

@Shivasyn13 Couldn't agree with you more! This very mindset is why my sensei does not participate in any martial arts activities here in the U.S. - a busy acupuncture clinic supplies the income, the dojo feeds the passion for budou.

Most dohai take 7 years or more to get to sho dan, and Shihan always tells us "sho" also means "beginning", so you will be starting over with a better basis for learning once you get there.

[thewaffledude1316]

that guy has no clue what the hell hes sayin

[yuryf]

metal also was banned by the japanese when satsuma province was ordered to invade and take control of okinawa as a show of force to the chinese... sai is more traditionally japanese, that is not to say they don't know it or teach it in okinawa, just not practical at that period in time to train it.

[Fjerid]

Anyone noticed that when he "strikes" with the weapon he's holding, the tip of the weapon is directed at himself? Idk but ... if you have speed, you just have to dodge the attack and hit his hand (or bottom of the weapon) with force and it'll pierce the holder of the weapon.

[hempev]

@Fjerid If you mean when striking with the "butt" of the handle, yes, you are suppose to have the tip so that it is not pointing directly towards your body (but it is to the inside of the arm, so poor grip can still harm an inexperience wielder).

[jishin99]

lol tracing back to the origin, u may find the indian gods r wielding this weapon

[jimsim1001]

the hell kind o gd

[drummershooter]

0:29

[drummershooter]

0:29

[eliotudino]

salut jaime bien

[daudzegier]

The sai was used for one thing and one thing only, a pin to hold the harness on an ox together with a cart or plow, and was only used in that design in okinawa. the two hooks kept the central hook from going completely through the joint, like a nail dangling in a hole smaller than the nail's head.

[eacortes]

Digging? Rice? Beating down sugar cane? What a load of horse piss. How the fuck do you use a sai for cultivating rice and sugar cane? They say the kama (Okinawan hand sickle) was used for harvesting rice and other grasses, that I believe, because I use one daily to trim my yard. The only practical use for a sai in agriculture that makes sense is stabbing a neat hole in the ground for planting seed.

[VictoriaW1234]

They were NOT first used in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or by Electra or in Daredevil. Unless - of course - those MODERN creations were made hundreds of years ago. Then by all means, I'm sorry to have been wrong. I, myself, have trained with multiple Martial Arts weapons, ranging from the Katana (Samurai Sword) to the Bo (Fighting Stick) to the Zai (Plural of Sai) for a number of years since I was young, as well as in Hand-To-Hand, and the Sai, as the guy said, is LETHAL when used properly.

[VictoriaW1234]

I have seen people stabbed - accidentally - from the simple wooden TRAINING Sai, even when they haven't been fully sharpened and are blunted. They are also one of the hardest to Master in training. I've been using the Zai for about . . . 5 years now, nd I'm NOWHERE NEAR being a Master, though I do sometimes teach the Novices. Also, to own your own pair of Zai, in Australia, you need to get a Licence to show they are for Recreation use.

Basically, If you aren't commited to the Zai, DON'T TRY!

[hempev]

@VictoriaW1234 Can't agree more - you'd be surprised how many people freak out when they see my sensei's video of sai exercises: go to YT video 4Lg5FhrkyB0 and feel free to comment.

[psychedashell]

@VictoriaW1234 You sure that isn't just cause you're Victorian? Rules are different in NSW, you guys need a permit for everything, people in NSW can nab a purebreed dingo for the hell of it, no permit needed. I think you guys have zero tolerance for that, even a permit won't help you, so what's to say your weaponry rules aren't incredibly strict too? I know I'd need that licence for nunchuku, but I've never seen one for sai.

[sornostrasse]

not just Elektra, also Rafael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[stevenskywalker1993]

The Sai is one of my MOST favorite ninja weapon.

[usmcpvtswat]

@stevenskywalker1993 "Western popular culture often portrays the sai as a weapon of the ninja, but it was never actually used in any traditional martial arts from mainland Japan."

[mi8311]

Raphael.....AAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA­AAA!!

[jtimberlake255]

umm.... sweetie it was originally used to stab people in daredevil and elektra... duhh.

[ashdabest67]

bullshit

everyone the sai was originally used by elektra:)

[xXBallistic82Xx]

and Rapheal

[Nunogo]

@ashdabest67 I was about to object to point out that Raphael from TMNT was first, but a quick google proved me wrong, Elektra was indeed first =)

[ACULimoncelli10]

@Nunogo

they were turned into weapons by monks, just like they turned nunchucks from tools used to harvest corn to weapons, just like they started using staffs.

[thewearywarrior]

@ACULimoncelli10 dont forget commas

[ACULimoncelli10]

@thewearywarrior

What?

[MrCouchmen]

@ashdabest67 And by Neo for 20 seconds?

[cubaricanconch]

U GUYS DONT KNOW ANYTHING nobody knows for sure wat they were used for they were made so long ago that the stories kept on changin

[zombiefestival]

you both are idiots sai are used for throwing and stabbing it in balanced i use sai and practice with them next time you decide to comment some make sure you know what the hell you are talking about

[varva79]

Is not even from Okinawa! But from China! Is not fro trowing, stabbing (not balanced for that). Was only used in pair! Is a civil arrest tool, for disarming a sword-man or a bo-man! The only katas intended for its use are sanchin and seisan uechi and kusanku matsubayashi. See Kodoryu fotages, You will keep the idea!

[FlashMob22]

it was first yoused as a wepon in okinawa but it was not made there

[elgostine]

no.. your right.. it was originally chiineseand they brought it over, the okinawans liked it nd became the okinawan version of the jutte,

[serogers12]

"yoused"? You've got to be kidding me! "wepon" When did they stop teaching people how to spell?

[kempobrad]

yet most people call it japanese because as long as anyone has been alive, okinawa has been part of japan.

[Queijin84]

wasn't that jitte? sai with only two points. i'm not an expert but that is what i've seen.

[Beta252]

@Queijin84 jutte was a japanese police weapon and had 1 point and was know as a sword breaker

[Jiphie]

@hempev karate weapons are derived from farming tools commonly available weapons that people had available to them. you think poor farmers had the resources/materials to make fancy weapons for fun?? No, they used anything that was available - a stick, a sword, a farming tool. Same for Ninjitsu - ANYTHING is used as a weapon..a bo staff, sai, sword, even a NEWSPAPER or towel. THATS THE POINT. What good is training with a weapon that ISNT available to you?? what proof do you even have?

[Shichi7]

@hempev Okinawa is IN Japan.

[hempev]

@Shichi7 Okinawa is NOW part of Japan, but it wasn't when kobudo was developed - the reason Okinawans have an accent to their Japanese is because they use to have their own language, one that has practically disappeared by now.

[Vandermogo]

@hempev dude okinawa is a japanese island located at north western of japan, therefore is a japanese weapon.! and the other thing you said about the sai was the official weapon of higher police officials it´s wrong too, the official weapon of those officials was th Jitte! a variation of sai!

[hempev]

@Vandermogo "Dude", do you know how stupid this comment makes you appear? Okinawa is south of the main archipelago, halfway to Taiwan, and it was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom for centuries before Japan took it over. The Jutte/jitte was used by the Japanese "police", but the sai was used by the Okinawan "police" and uses a different technique. Perhaps you can take the few seconds needed to visit Wikipedia to confirm this?

[OhWayTheWolf]

@hempev it originated in India as a police baton and a sign of power and respect. it was then taken to china by monks on the silk road, from the to Okinawan by Chinese traders

[hempev]

@OhWayTheWolf I would expect that - a lot of things came from India, through China, and onward (acupuncture, Buddhism, Marco Polo). This happened more than a millenium ago, so Okinawan style would be different from its predecessors simply based on time (perhaps not much, but enough for experienced people to tell).

[OhWayTheWolf]

@hempev well i have thought about it some more and now that ii think about it both could be right. it could have came form india, and when it was brought to Okinawan they could have just used it to beat rice stalks. any comments on this idea, i would like to discus this farther.

[hempev]

@OhWayTheWolf Rice does not get "beaten down" - in fact, the grains are too fragile to use much force (which is why nunchaku would not be used with rice, but could work for soybeans). When done by a peasant, rice is cut with a kama (hand sickle) and then the stalks are held by the handful and beaten directly on a bamboo mat which is then also used for winnowing.

Farmers would spend the money on a kama blade, but poking holes in the dirt would be done with a stick.

[OhWayTheWolf]

@hempev well thank you for that bit of info. i did not know that. well it was just a thought right. i guess it is the only weapon in Isshinryu that did not originate from a farm tool.

[veshkeat]

@hempev actually, 'least the way i heard it, the chinese were using tools similar to this for farmin etc. Some okinawan dude saw it, realised its martial potential, and had one made with slight modifications (shorter spikes on the sides, i think it was). This might no be remotely true, but its what i heard somewhere

[hempev]

@veshkeat I'm not doubting what you were told, but it is another assumption (yet another gaijin with no direct experience). The Chinese were using these against law-breakers before they got to Okinawa, and that was over a thousand years ago, Okinawans *never* used them for farming. Something entirely of metal would be very expensive - unlike China, there were no mines or foundries in Okinawa, so all sai/zai were "imports" (a farmer protected his kama dearly, and only the blade was metal).

[yuryf]

@hempev metal also was banned by the japanese when satsuma province was ordered to invade and take control of okinawa as a show of force to the chinese... sai is more traditionally japanese, that is not to say they don't know it or teach it in okinawa, just not practical at that period in time to train it. besides its a lot harder to hide and make metal sai than just use your broom, and make it into a staff.. things were made to last and be strong back then.. especialy if your invaded by samurai

[Kaisertoji]

@hempev Yes the Sai was never used as a farming tool, it wasn't used by Okinawan farmers. It was used by the fishermen in Okinawa. The weapon you said used by the Samurai law enforcers known as Yoriki is called a Jitte w/c differs from the Sai.

[ARCDBEACH]

@Kaisertoji Jitte was used in mainland Japan, Sai in Ryukyu shoto. Doshin, kinda like 'cops' would've used the Jitte, 'yoriki' are more similiar to 'detectives' and actually had katana on their hip. Okinawan fishermen had their oars and their kobudo with that. Jitte has one yoku (prong), btw, sai has two...

[hempev]

@Kaisertoji The closest I could see a fisherman using one would be on the end of a nunti - having one without the staff seems like an easy thing to lose at sea, and at a dear price, so better to have a long piece of less-slippery wood to hold on to! Then again, since all metal was imported, maybe they would be more seafaring and be able to afford direct purchase, since they did the "importing".

[imsroll]

@hempev i thought it was used as a pitch fork/or to be used to pick hay up...

[hempev]

@imsroll If the sai was created in the West, that might have been the case, but even American farmers used pitchforks carved from wood as late as the 19th century (and maybe still in Amish country) - again, the value of metal puts it beyond what an Okinawan farmer could afford, especially if there is a plant-based version around.

[heartattackjak]

@hempev The sai is also called a Tjabang and was originated in Indonesia and was based on the Trishula and they were pointed.

[heartattackjak]

@hempev In Japan they are sai, in Indonesia thay are tjabang. A different name for the same tool. Maybe you should check into things before spouting off at the face. Tjabang( the Tj makes a Ch sound this is the Dutch-Indo spelling) is also spelled cabang if you want to look it up( it means branch or limb) They have also been around longer there than anywhere else. I have actual history of one of the oldest cultures on the planet so you can go fuck yourself.