Sai As A Weapon
Sai as a Weapon
Pronunciation
Singular sound like sai, while the plural sounds like Zia.
Parts of the Sai
| Tsukagashira | The Butt of the handle |  |
| Tsuka | Handle | |
| Yoko | Side Guards | |
| Tsume | Side guard tip | |
| Moto | Center point between the side guards | |
| Monouchi | Blade | |
| Saki | Tip of blade | |
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Background of the Sai |
| Like many common weapons the sai first started out as a farm tool and later became used to fight against Samurai's. |
Sai for farm use. |
| To begin with the Sai was used for measuring the distance between seeds in a crop. The rod-shaped baton would be thrust into the ground so the two long projections from the handle would help in leaving 3 holes. Then the farmer would line up the first and last hole and thrust into the ground giving them evenly spaced crops. |
Sai for weapon use. |
This historical weapon is made with a rod-shaped baton, that culminates into a point. There are also two long, unsharpened projections (called tsuba) attached to the handle. The 'knob' like structure at the end of the handle is usually called the knuckle. |
Size up your Sai. | |
| Length: | Grab the yoko (side guards) with the monouchi (blade) towards the elbow. This saki (tip of blad) should end at the elbow or a little longer. |
| Quality: | To test quality of metal tap the sai's together tou should hear a very clean sound, a dull sound means lesser quality. |
| Balance: | The sai must be very well balanced for throwing or movements in the the hand. To test balance of the sai point finger as you would do if you were pointing out something. The place the sai on your finder equal with the yoko (side guards) and high quality sai's will balance. |
| Types of finish: | 1, chrome - great for demonstration purposes also usually comes with a wrapped handle 2, bare - good for practice and it's good to practice with an un-wrapped handle since the wrapping may become loose or even undone it a fight or competition. |
Check out our selection of Sai   |
