Sia (or Zia...whatever it is)

[DBZ]

That is something that I NEVER would have known if she wasn't sitting there. I've watched it done a thousand times in DVDs, live, etc.....but you need an instructor to watch and see those little things and poof...it works. Weapons are funny like that.

I have come to realize that I am goin to have to track down an instuctor for this. I want to do more than just flip them around, I want to ge good at them. I picked my nunchukus at class one day and started flippin them around, and the green belts watchin me thought it was great but anyone who really knows how to use them would have known I was just goofin of.

 

[Grenadier]

Then she said "Squeeze with your pinkies and try not to bounce back up after you stop." And the next cut, they all went out.

That is something that I NEVER would have known if she wasn't sitting there. I've watched it done a thousand times in DVDs, live, etc.....but you need an instructor to watch and see those little things and poof...it works. Weapons are funny like that.

Same here. I tried learning the Yamanni Ryu sai kata Kishaba No Sai Sho on my own, but just couldn't quite understand the one part where you're gripping the sai on the outside of the tines, no matter how many times I had looked at the video.

Working with an experienced Yamanni Ryu instructor who knew the kata, cleared it up in 1 minute, and cleaning up the rest of the kata took an hour of one on one instruction. Trying to do all of the kata correctly took a good bit longer, since I had to unlearn more than just a few things.

 

[still learning]

Hello, The Sai...was first use a farming tool and like most multiple use farming tools has duel use...Nunchucks, bo, and tonfa.

Sai was a good defense weapon against the swords...because Okinawans could not own any sharp instruments.

Just make sure you "Sai' do not have a sharp point..it is rounded and flat...for your safety.

You may want to wear some kind of safety goggles for your eyes....

Many of us have two eyes only...sometimes can be replaceable by eye banks....Best to wear some kind of eye protection.

Sai can be use forwards,backwards,sideways...has unlimited moves for defense and attacks modes.

Learn from experience teachers.....as mention many times above!

Aloha

 

[tellner]

The "Sai as farming tool" is a common story. I'm not sure it's actually true. The usual explanations are that it's for sticking holes in the ground to plant rice or that it was used as a horse picket. There are all sorts of traditional farming cultures in that part of the world who don't use a short trident to plant their rice. And as for the other, in an experiment a few years back one of my unindicted co-conspirators tried it. The horse pulled the sai out of the ground without even noticing it was there.

On the other hand, there are old, old pictures from the sub-continent showing it used as a weapon. The Malays have a pretty much identical weapon which doesn't have any other advertised use. The Okinawans have traditional weapons like the knuckle-duster which don't have any sort of plausible deniability.

 

[Grenadier]

The "Sai as farming tool" is a common story. I'm not sure it's actually true. The usual explanations are that it's for sticking holes in the ground to plant rice or that it was used as a horse picket. There are all sorts of traditional farming cultures in that part of the world who don't use a short trident to plant their rice. And as for the other, in an experiment a few years back one of my unindicted co-conspirators tried it. The horse pulled the sai out of the ground without even noticing it was there.

No kidding... There were MUCH better tools for that purpose, than a sai.

Here's an interesting read, by Oshiro Sensei:

http://www.oshirodojo.com/kobudo_sai.html

 

[searcher]

The "Sai as farming tool" is a common story. I'm not sure it's actually true. The usual explanations are that it's for sticking holes in the ground to plant rice or that it was used as a horse picket. There are all sorts of traditional farming cultures in that part of the world who don't use a short trident to plant their rice. And as for the other, in an experiment a few years back one of my unindicted co-conspirators tried it. The horse pulled the sai out of the ground without even noticing it was there.

On the other hand, there are old, old pictures from the sub-continent showing it used as a weapon. The Malays have a pretty much identical weapon which doesn't have any other advertised use. The Okinawans have traditional weapons like the knuckle-duster which don't have any sort of plausible deniability.

Todd, you are right on the money about the sai. It was never a farming tool, it was used by Okinawan "Police." If you look at the history of the sai, it is riddled with mis-information. The sai and the gen(Hung Gar) served the purpose of detaining the BGs. It is quite handy in a manor similar to handcuffs.

 

[tellner]

No kidding... There were MUCH better tools for that purpose, than a sai.

Here's an interesting read, by Oshiro Sensei:

http://www.oshirodojo.com/kobudo_sai.html

Very interesting essay, Grenadier.

Rice farming is the original "back-breaking labor." And that's not a metaphor. Anything that's remotely more comfortable or efficient will win out. Bending double to poke little holes in the mud is uncomfortable and inefficient. Multiply that by dawn-to-dusk repetition over the entire planting season. There's no way a farmer would do that to himself. If his back is messed up, forget about the marauding Samurai. He won't be able to work, and his family will starve.

 

[DBZ]

Thanks for the info guys. I did not think there were that many sai users out there

 

[Thems Fighting Words]

I have come to realize that I am goin to have to track down an instuctor for this. I want to do more than just flip them around, I want to ge good at them. I picked my nunchukus at class one day and started flippin them around, and the green belts watchin me thought it was great but anyone who really knows how to use them would have known I was just goofin of.

Good on you. Remember that weapons are also often taught to enhance a particular aspect of martial arts (balance, explosive power etc), so you'll get more from your sai with proper instruction.

 

[frownland]

Another avenue you might try in finding a teacher DBZ; we learn them in my Southern Chinese MA, although it has a different look and emphasis to what little I've seen from Japanese/Okinawan styles.

 

[chinto]

OK here is my two cents worth.

GO find an Okinawan style dojo. most of them teach Kobudo/kobujitsu, and this is one of the traditional weapons taught as part of that.

I would say that trying to learn that weapon from tapes or books is counter productive and will cost you more and teach you less then going to classes at a dojo. ( not to mention the unarmed stuff you will learn is cool too.)