the sai

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by SaiMaster, May 3, 2002.

  1. Cain

    Cain New Member

    Did a dragon just say something :eek:

    |Cain|
     
  2. Andrew Green

    Andrew Green Member

    Nope ;)
     
  3. Jim

    Jim New Member

    You mean the Kris, Dave?
     
  4. SoKKlab

    SoKKlab The Cwtch of Death!

    Tjabang,
    That's the Malay/ Indonesian Sai.

    Kris is the wavy blade dagger/ sword.
     
  5. kobudo_tob

    kobudo_tob Valued Member

    OK, i'll go back to my cave then.
     
  6. chrispy

    chrispy The Hunter

    cool, those are great sites yoda!
     
  7. Tigermoth

    Tigermoth New Member

    Why does everyone pick on the sai? There are plenty of impractical weapons out there. Frankly, I don't think most of us will ever have the need or opportunity to actually use most of our weapons anyway. My husband picks on me and tells me to go learn knife fighting. I learned the sais 'cause I liked them not because I hoped to someday stab a guy through the head. The more weapons you learn the stronger your arms and wrists and other weapon skills will become. I also learned several stick weapons. They work well together. Also when you learn a weapon, you learn to defend against that weapon. Not that I would have to do that either.

    Expand your arsenal mentally and physically.

    Did that come off sounding angry? Sorry :love:
     
  8. chrispy

    chrispy The Hunter

    I picked the sai because they look cool and my favourite ninja turtle back in the day used them..... I would think the most 'practical' weapon to learn today would be the Bo or Jo simply because there are broom handles, mop handles etc... hockey sticks, shower curtain rods, long sticks yadda yadda yadda that you can find at least one of those items almost anywhere you happen to be.
     
  9. Kwajman

    Kwajman Penguin in paradise....

    So where do you learn sai "forms"? I'm always wanting to learn weapons and their forms/kata, but don't know where to start.
     
  10. Mrs Owt

    Mrs Owt New Member

    Okinawan kobudo schools are a good start. If you can find one of those or a teacher of some Okinawan karate styles they do sai kata.
     
  11. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    Aye, Okinawan Kobudo (Tob's art) is the main one, but some styles/clubs of karate do weapons (Issinryu I think does some) :)
     
  12. Mrs Owt

    Mrs Owt New Member

    Isshinryu definitely does sai. It is part of the main syllabus and I am in the midst of kusanku sai in order to test for my brown belt. It isn't an "add-on" but actually part of the cirriculum.
     
  13. kenpoguy

    kenpoguy The Last Dragon

    re

    Actually the sai had very little part in the weapons department at first. It was created as a farming tool for Japenease farmers way back in order to assist in planting rice and the like. It was only later modified into a weapon. Even still, it was not ever(with the obvious occasional exception)used as a dueling dagger in any form. It was instead literally used as Yoda said, as a way to defend agaisnt swords, and as a "bashing weapon". It was also thrown on many occasions as a distance tool. I think of the sai much like Miyumato Musashi(I highly suggest his novel, "a book of five rings")consided the bokken. Often times Musashi would choose a wooden sword over a steel one, when going into battle and would always come out victorus. If anyone is interested I will post an account taken of his last major battle with a Japeaese warlord. But back to the sai. A sai/like weapon is however used in SCA combat, which is a form of renisance re-enactment. In medieval cirumstances it was used as a dagger, that went hand in hand with the rapier and the whip. Nowadays it is really only for showmanship, though it does built a great deal of strength in the forearms when one goes with the heavier sets of them. Finally, to address the main question of earlier, about where to find techinuqes and manuevers from, my best advice would be to firstly obtain a pair, and SAFETLY "play" around with it yourself to get the hang of it. It is in my opinion a bit more challenging then most weapons, but looks flashy and is just fun to use and watch. Hope this helps
     
  14. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    You have no idea how big a can of worms you've just re-opened!

    However, to sum up the common points:

    What possible use could the sai have had in terms of farming? I've heard people say "seed drill" or even "mini-pitchfork", but these would be very impractical uses for such a shaped tool (and of course the additional prongs would have been useless in either case), This also leads on to another point:

    Metal was scarce. In Feudal times, metal wasn't exactly common, so it is exceedingly unlikely that the farmers (ie the poorest members of the society at the time) would be able to afford such implements if they were for farming.

    Both of these points together convince many people that the sai weren't designed as a farming tool originally. There is also evidence that similar weapons existed on the continent before they appeared in Okinawa, making it highly likely that they first appeared with the Chinese delegations to Shuri. They MAY later have been disguised as farming tools when weapons were banned from Okinawa, but they almost certainly weren't actual farming tools.
     
  15. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    I have to agree with Aegis on this, having had many conversations on the topic in Chat :)
     
  16. incubus

    incubus Valued Member

    I have never trainied with Sai, although I like this weapon. Some days ago, I watched Elektra at the cinemas. I decided to get a pair of Sai for myself and the link yoda submitted will help to get me started.
    I presently, use the Bo & Nunchakus.
     
  17. Cudgel

    Cudgel The name says it all

    UMMMM FTW?
    what sai like weapon is used in the SCA? and whips werent used as weapons in the renaisance let alone paired with a rapier. And rapiers were a renaisance weapon not a medieval one..
     
  18. kenpoguy

    kenpoguy The Last Dragon

    forive my mispronciation, I misplaced the word meideval with renissance. The rapier was infact used during rennisance times. As for the whip, it was most definatly historically used(just not often publisized). And as far the daggers there were many varations that may have apperared similar to the sai. Though, not the same, they had a similar shape and concept. And to the earlier posters, you are correct with the debate about the sai, it is much debatable, as the truth is not fully known. The text and documentations I have read commonly refer to it as a farming tool. I believe once reading of some orignial sai being made of bamboo and wood. Perhaps that was were the farming bit orignated. But yes, it is definetly disputable.
     
  19. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    [​IMG] really old.
     
  20. Tigermoth

    Tigermoth New Member

    Videos are not all bad

    Okay, I know how a lot of you feel about video training but sometimes that's your only option. I learned the sai from the Panther prod. videos. I thought they covered everything really well. Except, they advertised teaching you to throw them and didn't include it on either video. I impressed my instructor who had never even picked up a sai, And won first at the first tourney I used them in. I'm not endorsing all MA videos though. I've seen some Escrima videos that were about worthless. Spent 30 minutes rolling up, rolling down, rolling up, rolling down. It's a video, we can rewind it and watch it again if we need to("I paid how much for this crap?"). :D
     

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