Was not sure how to articulate my thought on that one. Basically I mean certain points on the sword (if even possible) where one could perhaps damage the weapon beyond use.
Okay… while a sword will have structurally weaker areas, it doesn't have "pressure points"… but I get what you were meaning now.
I see. Well anyway, moving on from that, I don't see the sai being taught in that many martial arts schools and while I do think it would be a fun and interesting weapon to learn I don't see it as all that practical. Most dojos from what I've seen like to teach stick fighting since sticks are easy to find and knife fighting. Now as for sai vs sword, that would be interesting although which would win, I would think that would depend on whose using them.
Er… okay…
Look, here's the first thing. Sai are a weapon from Okinawa (there are similar weapons in a number of Indo-Chinese systems, for the record), so are associated with Ryukyu Kobudo… as a result, if the art being taught in the dojo you were at didn't teach Ryukyu Kobudo, there's no reason to expect to find sai being taught there. In other words, the vast majority of systems, not being Ryukyu Kobudo, would have no reason to teach a weapon not part of their art. I teach Japanese traditional arts… no sai there… I also train Kenjutsu… no sai… Iaido… no sai… Kyudo… no sai… modern RBSD-style self defence… no sai… I've trained in other Japanese Koryu systems… no sai… Aikido… no sai… Boxing… no sai… BJJ… no sai… TKD… no sai… I've got some experience and exposure to Wing Chun… no sai… one of my students also trains in Choi Lay Fut… no sai… I did a form of Karate years back… no sai… but we occasional delved into some Ryukyu Kobudo… sai! So, can I say that sai aren't being taught in many dojo? No, I can say that most dojo teach what their system is…
As far as practical, it's not meant to be a practical weapon in todays world… that's not why you train with it. Expecting practicality from such training is simply missing the entire point of the training in the first place. Most dojo teaching stick fighting? Again, that's found in some Aikido dojo, my Ninjutsu dojo, some Wing Chun kwoon… but how it's presented is quite different in each. And sometimes it's got nothing to do with "practicality"…
Sai vs sword? Yeah… that's not the real question…
Most of the dojos I've been to don't. I never said that most dojos don't teach them, just not the ones I've seen.
What arts are being taught in those dojo, though? That's the real question… otherwise it's like going to ten different classes of languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Vietnamese, English, Portuguese, and Swedish), then saying that not many classes teach Japanese.
I consider a weapon practical if its something that you're going to have with you in the first place. That being said, a weapon that you're either likely to be carrying with you or a weapon that is easy to find I consider more practical that weapons that don't fall into either of those categories. Therefore I consider sticks to be practical, they're easy to find, anything from broken chair legs to pool sticks to baseball bats, to tree branches, the list goes on. In some cases you might be carrying a stick like object such as an umbrella. Sais on the other hand I don't consider that practical because most people I know don't carry sais on a regular basis and its not something that you're likely to find otherwise.
Yeah… that's not the real way to determine practicality, of course… I mean… if we're looking at stick fighting, what's the intended opponent? What length stick? What weight? Is it a light stick used, lending itself to fast, whippy strikes, or a heavier, blunt force object?
Here's the thing… what you're talking about is simply whether or not you have access to a particular, specific tool… but the fact is that the training in sai can have principles that cross-over quite well to any of the sticks you're talking about… which can make the study "practical"… but, importantly, that's not why you train with them.
I once trained at this dojo that taught all sorts of weapons although the weapons they taught were of japanese and okinawan origin, they did not teach weapons from other cultures.
Yeah… this isn't feeling particularly good…
And yes they did teach the sai, of all the twenty plus martial arts schools that I've visited or trained at they were the only place that taught the sai.
But what arts were taught at the schools that didn't teach sai? Were they teaching systems that would have had you expect sai, or not?
Anyway, most of the weapons including the sai, they did not get too in depth with the training.
What do you know of sai training (outside of the one school you were visiting)? There's a reason I ask…
It was not like the sword, which they also taught of course, and which has entire art forms developed entirely to its use. The sai and lots of the other weapons they taught they more or less just taught as add ons to otherwise unarmed martial arts.
Traditionally speaking, no system teaches both sai and sword (other than modern created, eclectic arts)… those that do tend to be mongrel arts, trying to do everything they think a "martial art school" should cover, without any of the actual basis in the areas they're trying to teach. These schools are the ones whose videos have those of us with some experience cringing when we watch them…
Some of the martial arts styles taught at that place were Shorin Ryu, Aikido, and AikiJutsu and many of the weapons were taught as add ons.
Okay… Shorin Ryu does have some Kobudo aspects as part of it's teachings, so that's most likely where the use of sai comes from there… Aikido, depending on lineage, sometimes has Jo and sword, but neither are really the "use" of the weapons, more an application of the principles of Aiki expressed with those items (to "extend" the techniques, and monitor angles and so on)… "Aikijutsu", if we're dealing with Daito Ryu, gets complicated… if we're not dealing with Daito Ryu, it gets into very questionable areas…
The idea of having all of these under the one roof is rather odd as well, I have to say… and doesn't usually point to any depth in anything…
I have never seen a Aikido school or a Aikijutsu school that taught the Sai and if I did I would question their legitimacy
Absolutely.
Please just stop trying to impress us with knowledge you don`t have, there is no need.
