Nicho Sai

Quick Facts

About the kata

Nicho Sai is an Okinawan kobudo kata in which the practitioner works with two sai. English Wikipedia, in its overview of the Matayoshi Kobudo school, lists it as Matayoshi no Sai Dai Ichi, alongside Sancho Sai (also Matayoshi no Sai Dai Ni) and Shinbaru no Sai. Okinawa Dento Karatedo Shinkokai, citing an encyclopedia of Okinawan karate and kobudo, lists it among fourteen traditional sai kata, without assigning it to any school. In Matayoshi Kobudo, Nicho Sai stands at the beginning of sai training. Dojo Bushikan lists the official kata of the organisation Matayoshi Kobudo Kodokan International in the order in which they are taught on Okinawa as well: Nicho Sai, Sancho Sai, Shinbaru no Sai. The American dojo Bennett's Karate requires it for the 1st dan examination and adds that this school's sai kata can be practised with either standard sai or manji-type sai. The French dojo Budo Provence lists it among the sai kata chosen as models for the international tournament on Okinawa in August 2018. We did not find it in the official WUKF list of kobudo kata. We have not yet been able to establish who composed the kata, how many movements it has, or what its embusen is.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

The spelling 二丁釵 is given by Okinawa Dento Karatedo Shinkokai; Budo Provence writes 二丁サイ. According to English Wikipedia, Nicho Sai denotes a kata with two sai, while Sancho Sai denotes one with three. Japanese has no plural form, so the word sai means both a single weapon and a pair of them.

Creator and history

English Wikipedia attributes the founding of Matayoshi Kobudo to Matayoshi Shinko and his son Matayoshi Shinpo (1921–1997). It says Shinko learned sai from master Shokuho Agena; Dojo Bushikan adds he learned bojutsu, saijutsu, kamajutsu and ekujutsu in Gushikawa village on Okinawa. We have not been able to establish whether Nicho Sai was composed by him, by his son, or taken over ready-made by the Matayoshi family.

Differences between styles

The kata is also practised by schools of Matayoshi Shinpo's former students. The Okinawan association Kobukai (Kobu-ryu school, 孝武流) lists it alongside its own Kobu Sai kata; per English Wikipedia, its representative Takashi Kinjo left Matayoshi before 1997. Budo Provence notes the 2018 tournament version differs slightly from the one taught by Kenyu Chinen, and that the kata names also differ. The exact differences we did not find in the sources.