Hamahiga no Sai

Quick Facts

About the kata

Hamahiga no Sai, in Okinawan Hamahijya nu Sai, is a sai kata named after Hamahiga Pechin, whom Alan Godshaw's dictionary of kata describes as a legendary Ryukyuan nobleman, a master of go and of kobudo. Godshaw classes it among the saijutsu forms, the art of handling the sai; the tonfa kata Hamahiga no Tonfa is named after the same figure. The earliest mention Godshaw gives for the kata dates it to 1682. This is not the year it was created: who composed the kata and when, we have not been able to establish from the sources. Likewise, we have not found a source that gives the number of its movements, the shape of the embusen or an interpretation of the individual techniques, so we omit them here. Today Hamahiga no Sai is on the official WUKF kobudo kata list in the sai section, in both the older version and the 2025 version. The same list carries Matsuhiga no Sai separately; the name sounds similar, but it is a different form, not to be confused with Hamahiga no Sai.

Creator and history

According to Godshaw's dictionary, in 1682 in Edo Hamahiga Pechin played a game of go against the master Hon'inbo Dosaku, the first international match in this game. During the same visit he reportedly demonstrated the art of the sai to the fifth shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi; Godshaw considers this possibly the first recorded demonstration of Ryukyuan kobudo outside the Ryukyu Kingdom. That this was the form later called Hamahiga no Sai is stated, according to him, by Taira Shinken in the book Ryukyu Kobudo Taikan from 1964. The English Wikipedia knows a Higa Peechin (1790–1870), a resident of Hamahiga island, whose legacy, it says, lives on in the weapon kata with sai, tonfa and bo; it does not, however, name any kata. It also mentions an older warrior from Hamahiga with a similar title (1663–1738), who reportedly demonstrated tode and saijutsu to the Tokugawa shogun. We believe Godshaw is speaking of this man, since the event and the period match; however, we have not found an explicit identification in the sources.

Differences between styles

The Brazilian organization Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Yoshukan lists Hamahiga no Sai (written 浜比嘉のサイ) in its overview of traditional kata under two masters, Mabuni Kenwa and Kamiya Jinsei: for the former beside Hantaguwa no Sai, for the latter beside Chatan Yara no Sai. What this listing under a master's name means, we have not been able to establish. In the Matayoshi Kobudo style's sai kata list given by the English Wikipedia (Nicho Sai, Sancho Sai and Shinbaru no Sai), this kata is missing.

Competition status

• WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Okinawan Kobudo — Official kata list ↗