bojutsu (the art of the staff), tonfajutsu (the art of utilizing the wooden handles of a rice-grinding tool), nichogamajutsu (the art of using two farming sickles), and so forth.
In brief, the civil measures of Okinawan King Sho Hashi, and later the policies of the Satsuma rulers included a hasty confiscation of swords and spears and other weapons. These actions caused Okinawan people to earnestly study and train in the various martial arts left to them.
Past and present, great masters of saijutsu included Bushi Matsumura, Tsuken Shitahaku, Hama Higa, Chatan Yara, Tawada, lshikawa-Guwa no Kekere-Ou, and Kaneko Ufuchiku, among others.
Saijutsu uses a weapon similar to the jitte used by the torigata of the Japanese mainland. The torigata were the equivalent of today’s police. In Ryukyu, however, it seems that the torigata used the sai. The jitte had a fork on one side and could be used to deal with a sword or staff by stopping it with a scissoring action of the fork. The sai was different in that each had two forks. Saijutsu uses a pair of sai which are handled with both hands. They can be handled with perfect freedom for both offense and defense.
At the present time, Ryukyu kobudo principally revolves around bojutsu (the art of the staff) and saijutsu. While karatedo is a martial art that uses the empty hands to defend against an enemy, the martial arts of Ryukyu kobudo defend against an enemy by using weapons. Among the core of martial artists from the Ryukyu islands, from early historical times, these two martial arts (karate and kobudo) have been prominent. Therefore, karate and kobudo are like two wheels of a cart. They are sister martial arts.
Recently, Ryukyu kobudo has experienced a revival under the students of Yabiku Moden Sensei. One of those followers, Taira Shinken Sensei, passed on the heart of Yabiku’s teachings to a figure who was to become the successor after Taira Sensei’s death. The figure who was to inherit this path through his diligent study and devotion was Inoue Motokatsu Sensei.
The early developers and later masters preserved various kata, or practice forms. These kata were designed to cultivate mastery through repetitive practice and training.
The Relationship Between Sai and Karate, and Its Value
Saijutsu is an art of utilizing weapons, while karate is the art of using the limbs as weapons. Nevertheless, the use of the sai is applied to karate techniques, as the sai can be considered extensions of the hands. By practicing the elaborate manipulations of saijutsu, we also exercise and stimulate the cerebrum. Saijutsu also trains the wrists and arms, thereby making one’s karate punches and strikes more powerful. It goes without saying that manipulating the heavy sai for the purposes of offense or defense can train the whole body. Overall, sai training is a great help in developing karate techniques. It is very important for everybody who practices karate to develop a strong body. For that purpose, I think that bodybuilding through weight training is one good training practice. I would also suggest doing sai training to complement the bodybuilding. Although I have mentioned that sai can be considered to be part of our hands, it is so important that I want to emphasize this point again. You can manipulate the sai as if they were part of your own hands. However, you need a lot of practice to reach that stage.
We sometimes speak of “masterful performance.” So-called “living national treasures” have been improving their skills for a long time. They try to use every means to fine-tune their technique which is really beyond that of ordinary people. This can be achieved only by daily practice. The same thing applies to the martial arts. If you continue to practice every day, someday you will be able to master the techniques that are beyond ordinary people’s ability. The main principle of the practice of sai or karate should be hard training. This training produces the same feeling that believers experience when they perform their daily practice of praying. Let me quote the words of Dogen, a famous Zen Buddhist teacher: “To learn Buddhism is to learn oneself. To learn oneself is to forget oneself.” To forget oneself is to be tested in an established way. By testing ourselves in an established way, we are also encouraged to try very hard. If we try very hard in the training of the sai or karate, we will forget ourselves. It also means to learn ourselves, and to learn ourselves entails learning Buddhism. In short, training in sai or karate leads to a spiritual awakening.
The karate that is regarded as a sport has age limitations whereas the karate that is regarded as a martial art requires no retirement. You must be able to train yourself even when you are old, if you are to master the karate of martial arts. Whether you are studying sai or karate, the core of the training should be practicing kata. The older you grow, the more skilled you should be, and the simpler it should be for you to distinguish yourself. You should be able to enjoy the training in forms of sai or karate until the very end of your life. In addition to the healthy body we can develop through physical activity of sai or karate training, we can become one with the atoms of the universe, the core of everything, and by doing that, we try to merge ourselves with the universe, resulting in mental as well as physical well-being.
No matter how much nutrition human beings get from food, unless they move their bodies to absorb the essence, they will never be healthy in the truest sense of the word. In other words, people could very well be healthy without enough food by assimilating essence. All creatures, including human beings, came from this essence, so all creatures are actually harmonized in nature.
We have to practice karate or sai based upon the idea of harmonizing with nature to absorb the active essence. In other words, you should practice by merging with the essence of the universe, which will make you feel very comfortable. This can be true, not only for karate or sai practice, but also for other kinds of martial arts, such as the ancient arts of bo, kama, nunchaku, tonfa, taiji-quan, baguazhang, xingyiquan, and so forth. These martial arts are wonderful art forms that man has invented. These art forms enrich our lives and give them direction. I really hope this heritage will be handed down to the next generation. We should continue the maintenance of our health.
The important part of our culture should be handed down from generation to generation. It is true not only in Japan but also in other countries, that the old culture is handed down to the next generation, and so the culture is preserved. This is a very wonderful tradition, but very difficult to maintain.
Some people practice such arts as flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, or Noh, which have traditions that date back for centuries. The same is true for the martial arts.
As for the ancient Japanese martial arts, there is a traditional form that has more than two centuries of history. It is very difficult to hand down a culture to the next generation. The important point is for the ones who are responsible for passing on the culture to preserve the culture, polish it, and find good successors to spread it.
The same thing can be said of karate or sai. It is very important to endeavor to preserve it and hand it down for future generations. In the art that is ceaselessly preserved is the spirit of generations of warriors. For example, when you talk about the karate of the Shorin school, you must consider the stream of tradition in which Matsumura Sokon practiced the form and handed it down to Itosu Anko and Chibana Choshin, who made a great effort and handed it down to us. As for the karate of the To-on school, the karate that was originated by Higaonna Kanryo was taught to KyodaJuhatsu, who taught it to us. The same is true of sai. Before us, Taira Shinken practiced the form and taught it to Inoue Motokatsu, to hand it down to us. Before Taira Shinken, there were such warriors as Hama Higa, Chatan Yara, Yakaa of Hama Udun, Kouraguwa, Tsuken Shitahaku, and Tawada, who endeavored to master the forms.
We can see that the figures who practiced the forms of karate or sai kept alive the spirit of their teachers. The stream of spirit preserves the tradition as well as the stream of life. There is absolute truth in this. The basic kata 1, 2, and 3 (Sai Kihongata Ichi, Ni, and San) were invented by me. I very much hope that many people practice these forms as introductory forms to the traditional kata of the sai.
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