Shureido sai

[nickb123]

Hey,

 

another sai post... Can someone shed some light on the advantages of Shureido sai? I mean, are they better balanced? I realise they are more traditional, being from Okinawa in Japan, but what else makes them different.

 

I use 19.5" chrome sai. They aren't exactly marvellous quality but they are metal. Do shureido sai weigh more? What about agena sai?

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Until someone broke into my dojo and "liberate" all of my weapons, I hgad a pair of Shoreido sai. Better balance? yes, I'd say so. The main thing with those sai is that they are made of a much better quality of steel, and are almost unbreakable...whereas I have broken other sai before.

 

if you want a pair to last a lifetime...go Shoreido.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Plus, they don't have that annoying bulge where the prongs meet the main shaft. With that bulge you get in mass-produced sai, it is harder to use your thumb to press up against the center for proper sai technique.

[harleyt26]

I use a set of old style shureido sai,I like them very much because of the large bump where the blade is driven through the yoko of the tines.I find the bump to actually be a leverage advantage.I have had cheaper sai with the large bump there and did not like them because it caused a very noticeable imbalance in the weapon.I have also owned the newer style shureido sai,they are also very nice but I have become accustomed to the old style.

[Shorin Ryuu]

The large bump in the shureido sai was actually a quality defect (i.e., shureido was getting lazy). The head of my style for North America called them out ono it and they went back to making them without a bump on the center (for him, at least. I got one of these pair of sai that he had requested specifically to ensure that they were doing this).

 

I do not like the large bump on the center because in order to press your thumb against it, your thumb has to increase it's distance between it and the rest of your hand, which makes it structurally weaker. As far as leverage goes, I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to, as I've never noticed anything advantageous by having a bump there.

[harleyt26]

While training in Okinawa with my sensei Tamayose Hidemi, he allowed me to use a set of his sai which happened to be the old style I referred to.I asked him about the design differences and his explaination was that the earlier style was two peice design which you can still get from Shureido but you must pay a little more to get them,The newer three piece design is welded together in a jig.The benefit of the older design is a better balance as each sai can be balanced individualy before being welded in place where the newer design is welded in a jig regardless of balance.He still prefers to use the set of sai presented to him by Akamine sensei.Tamayose sensei is a high school shop teacher in Okinawa and a very good freind of the owners of Shureido,welding and metal work is what he does,as well as the president of the Tesshinkan.It is my opinion that the bump does take a few minutes to become accustomed to but the balance more than makes up for it.I do not understand what was meant about the thumb not being properly positioned,I find the bump to be a great advantage when applying locks to other weapons,But that is just my opinion,only one other person in my dojo uses the old style most people do prefer the thinner new style and the price is about fifty dollars less.

[Sauzin]

Proper thumb position usually refers to having the tip of the thumb at the moto as apposed to the pad of the thumb. Having a large bump in the middle causes the thumb to easily slip to the side when it is in this position. When the moto is flat this position provides a much stronger structure and better control. Since it was a Shureido sai I have no doubt that it had excellent balance. Still I would prefer to have a flat moto to be able to perform the best technique.

[The Hammer]

Another important feature of Shureido sais is that the prong design is very suitable for trapping a bo. Not all sais can do this.