Sai

I was given a pair of Sai by a good friend many years ago. I liked them yet that was about it, I liked them. At that time I didn’t understand the tool one bit. It wasn’t until I had to learn Jutte techniques in school that I started my understanding. We had a few wooden Jutte but nothing of weight and the fact there was four of us that needed to train with Jutte. I felt it would be best to use my sai as they could be used in the same way as Jutte, that and they were big enough to catch our large bokuto.



Well it had started, the first technique the sword comes in I step off I am to attack the hands than leverage the sword out of the attackers hand. Well not only did the technique work well, I noticed that I could catch the wrist of my attacker and that’s when a whole new world opened up to me! The world of Sai.

On top of that I had two Sai, one for each hand. Now I could deflect weapons, block, hook, trap weapons, arms and legs!!! I love this. At this point I started to understand the energy of Jumonji no kamae. With these two 18” Sai I could strike with 3 different ranges, I could keep them concealed and I could throw them. Have I said how much I love working with Sai yet? Cause I do!

Well as all good things come to an end, my teacher had ordered in a Jutte for each of us to use. It was time to put the sai away and start to understand the tool I was to truly understand at the time.

My passion for this tool continued, yet I wanted a different feeling to my Sai. For one my 18” sai were too short for my liking. I was told that they need to extend past the elbow by an inch. So I bought my self a set of sai that extended past my elbow 1 inch. I found them boring! They were two long they just didn’t have the right feeling!

I sold that pair and went without Sai for about a year. I was working on my own set. A set that would be heavy so I could feel them and they could teach me to move, I wanted them to be able to capture limbs. I wanted them to be sharp, a live tool commands respect so if one doesn’t respect said tool it will bi! I wanted the teeth of these Sai to be straight so they could even capture limbs that are two big to be caught. (not that I wish to do so, honestly I am a very non-violent person) did I say sharp already?...oh yes I did, moving on.

Earlier this year I made a set of sai on the forge. Upon putting them together I was so existed! Once they were forged I held them and moved with them…it wasn’t good. They didn’t move it was as if they were asleep or just not interested in working. Again I had no sai. How could such a simple tool be so complicated to create? Kunai aren’t this hard to create, what was I missing?

A few more months past by before I started looking at them again. Not sure what I was going to do with them. I had to head up north for work and my good friend (the same that gave me my first set) lent me his personal Sai to work with. Once I got home first thing first the Sai need to breath, let’s see how they move. This is where it all started to make sense.

Upon spinning them in my hand form open to close I noticed it’s as if, it’s rolling over my hand. HA! It’s the center lump on the Sai! You know that lump that seems to be the connecting point of the teeth and center bar. I went and grabbed my Sai and about 24’ feet of cloth. I started wrapping the center as tight as I could, making sure it was balanced. It took me 15 minutes to complete. Then I spun it in my hand !!!YES!!! That was it the whole time. I wanted the center pivot point I needed that extra surface area to have the feel I wanted.

Since that day I have yet to be without that sai. It weights 2 lbs, 8oz Soon its sister will be brought to life. I will be back having a pair of Sai that are truly my own.



I must thank my friend for introducing me to Sai, and reintroducing them again 10 years later. Thank you Chris!

The Kunai; used for digging, prying, climbing and throwing. An all around all purpose tool. Not all kunai were created equally though. Some were meant for very specific purposes. To build in the balance of use one may find themselves owning a few kunai to fill all the jobs.

The 3 major are; One prying and removing stone, Two working the soil for harvest and 3 fighting.

A prying kunai had a thick handle and blade with a blunt end so to give extra surface to hammer it into place. This ``Thick`` end made the Kunai balance move more towards the center of the tool, great for throwing. This tool would have been used to take apart walls and dig traps.

Working the soil kunai would have a wooden handle around its steel tang. This style makes it easy to feel for root structures and for digging since the handle was wider and thicker than both of its brothers. The balance of this kunai was not great for throwing.

Fighting Kunai looked like its brothers yet its handle formed into a ring allowing it to carry a rope if need be. This kunai would be able to hide as a farming tool, yet when needed could spring to life as weapon. Adding rope allowed one to gain distance with the tool, the distance depended only on the rope that was carried. The Kunai had a forward balance making throwing interesting yet keeping rope work fun.

Kunai have had a long history. There ability to function is still around today. As the Top and bottom Kunai are both built by Nine Directions.com and the center Kunai is being mass produced today in Japan as a gardening tool.

Steel Shadow

First test was slow and painful. I spent 5 minutes working on a dead tree and was only able to remove the bark.

After that my hands hurt, too much force was being put into a very small part of my hand.

I made a few changes.

This time the fingers reach just 2 inches past my own, the back of the fingers reach almost to my elbow. The handle has been changed as well. This time around it would be ½ wide, 1” thick.

Since the day I have added cotton around the handle so it fits better in my hand.

Check out the video and if you have an idea of something they need to be tested against post a comment on you tube.

Matthew

I have finished two more tools. These are a little different. They were an order from my teacher. He asked for an ONO a very large axe and a BISENTO a very large Naginata.

He wanted them both in wood so they would be safe for training.

I started to collect the wood 2 years ago. The heads were had of Elm from a tree that came down a few years earlier. The handles were from a maple that came down just this last year.

The heads have been drying slowly since they had been cut out. I needed them to dry as slow as possible so they wouldn’t crack and loss strength. The maple handles were still moist so I wrapped steel around the ends so it couldn’t crack.

I connected the heads to the handles with more wood. I used doweling to hold them in place. I used ¼” oak dowels.

Once they were together I started oiling them. It takes a few days to fill them with oil. Yet all that time pays off with the final look. To know that they are well oiled means they are unlikely to crack.

Its sad to see them go to there new home, I have been looking after them for so long it seems strange another is no responsible for there well being. Side note for those that remember the old IKEA commercial that’s asks “do you fell sorry for the lamp?” yes, I felt sorry for the lamp.

I will get over it. I have a new project to work on. My work trailer needs a forge built into it. So I best get to it.


Best of luck

I have called this a Kusari-Gama.

Yet it is not a Kusari because it comes with rope not chain, on top of that it is more a Jin-gama than a Kusari-Gama. Yet I feel it is best called a Kusari-Gama because it is the familiar name.

A Jin-Gama was a Kama, chain and weight that was made for the battle field, the blade was heavier and straighter and the weight was attached to the top of the blade for one hand use.

In the Ninja museum in Iga province of Japan there is a Kama-Bo that has a natural branch for the handle in stead of carved handle found on Jin-Gama and Kusari-Gama.

I wanted a Kama that had the battle field properties of puncturing and a heavy weight yet it needed to look like a Kama. It needed to have the ability to harvest yet it needed a top mount for chain or rope for fighting. So I end up with a Kusari-Gama that could pass as a farming tool yet had the capability to fight on the battle field like a Jin-Gama

This piece was born.

Questions comments send them!
and check out

www.ninedirections.com

Kyoketsu-Shoge is an interesting little tool. There is a spear point, a hooked edge like a kama, a length of rope 9’ feet and up and a weight attached to the end of the rope.

Rope, all ranges, used to entangle, control, climbing, restricting. Used with a weight it can strike, thrust, entangle,

The Kyoketsu-Shoge is a tool that seems to be a combination of a couple tools in one.

Stress.

I feel over whelmed today. Is the heat? It may be yet even so that is only an excuse. My mind is every where and it’s not happy in any of those places.

I understand the mind is able to do one thing at a time. The one thing I seem to be doing is being stressed.

I haven’t felt this way for some time.

I felt this way early one in my uchi deshi (live in student) programme. Why do I let my self feel this way? I asked my self, I understood it had been my decision to feel this way. No one was holding a gun to my head I was just letting myself live with the feeling.

Just like today. Have a forgotten the lesson that I had learnt in that year? I had learnt that living with stress was like carrying extra luggage. I didn’t need the luggage and I just brought it along so it can affect every instance of my time. I had made my mind up I would not carry such a stupid idea any more.

Yet here I am holding that same stupid luggage!

I admit a live in programme is as close to real life as a penguin sunning him self on a beach, while drinking a fresh cup of coffee that had just washed up on shore.

Just the same, I had it mastered with in the programme, before tests I was just ready. Stress did not enter my vocabulary.

I once heard that worrying about something is just as affective as chewing bubble gum to solve a math equation. Bloody useless!

Yet again I sit here being stressed.

I felt that I would answer such a question while writing. I must admit that this article was going to be on the Kyoketsu-Shoge a very cool little tool. It’s awesome at stabbing, sword capturing, thrusting and striking; it’s also got the ability to have a rope attached so one can use rope techniques. To top it of the rope has a weight to add even more techniques to its arsenal. This one little tool can works form a short range all the way up to far range rope permitting.

Well it seems I was able to talk of both and I feel less stress.

Having faith in ones training trusting you can find answers in your practice.

Instead of being stressed I will act, I will act by creating more of what I wish to understand.

Best of luck

Historic Connection

Its was 12 hours before the forge was to be fired up for a 3 day forging fest. I needed something more to build. I have lists of items but I wanted to make this one! Yet this one was still an unknown.

As I continued going through my books of ninja tools I found inspiration with in Ninjutsu History and Traditions pg 171 I was almost to the end when I saw what I had seen many times, yet today was the day (well tomorrow in this case) that I would make these Wide Shuriken that I see Hatsumi Soke hold in so many pictures. In this picture they are spread in his hand as a Peacock spreads his feathers.

The Shuriken that I’m talking of are wide Bo-Shuriken. They are about an inch in width, around 8`` to 9`` inches in length and 1é8 in width. These measurements are taken from the picture as best as I can measure.

I sent off an e-mail to my steel guy for the steel I needed. That was the second add on e-mail I had sent that night to him.

I work with mild steel. Katana of the day had a carbon content of 7% carbon. I am told that mild steel is very close to that. I prefer to use steel as close as to what would have been used at the time to have a better look into the past.

Once I had them at the forge I took of the extra steel and sent them to turn red in the fire. Forging them was relatively easy, yet time consuming. Once the shape had been found I fired them up again and sent them for a rapid cool to maintain that wonderful shape.

Once they all had been formed and treated, it was off to the target tree. (Target tree is a dead tree that has much of its density left and half its former height) 6 foot range no problem. I moved to the next distance…didn’t go so well. I will need to give this tool more time.

I have put together a short video of these shuriken so people may gain a little insight to the bo-Shuriken for themselves. The distance that I used in the video is 6 feet. Once I understand the tool further I will up date the my next understanding of the tool.

For now I will end with a statement of my happiness with this tool. On the Historic connection that I feel with this tool proves it was the one tool I was looking for. My understanding of the tool has started with the creation, next step is use.

Well I best quit sitting here and get back to training,

Matthew Wright

What is the fate of this bread

I have been working on food that can be taken into the woods, easy to store, long lasting nutritious and that tastes good.

I have many answers yet I have yet to try, so I best not comment at this time.

Will asking this question I came across this “Bread” I thought others may find this just as interesting as I do.

I found some army food and in side this heavily armoured plastic bag I found bread.

I broke it in half to see what it looked like. It looked like bread, like sculpted bread, as if it were poured into a cast and let set. Scratch that, it didn’t look like bread.

It smelt of molasses, it tasted of molasses. Like gum that just wouldn’t stay together.

With in the packaging I found a packet that said “fresh Saver” I believe mine was broken.

At the end of a film on “fast Food” the gentleman contains some “fast food” items, to watch there disintegration. The fries looked normal long after they should have been dirt.

With in a show of “water holding thoughts”, 2 containers of rice; one had Positive words and the other negative words marked on there containers. In the end the container that had a positive word seemed to be lighter in colour as the other with the negative had grown dark and … well gross looking.

I want to see what happens to this bread, after a month, will it be pleasant or will it be gross?

I found a glass jar, took a part of the bread placed it in the jar than sealed up the jar.

I had a story told to me of a young child that had mold as a pet. They would feed it and talk to it. I thought that very weird. Now that I have done this, I think back to this story and I’m reminded how strange I once thought that idea. Yet here I am now doing that very thing. Change is a constant.

I will up date this next month so we can all enjoy this.

Matthew Wright

A Ninja in the present world

It’s the year 2009, I find myself living down town Toronto. I have a great apartment and wonderful women in my life. My master bedroom, is my armoury, the den attached is a small dojo for my practice. My living room is my office and my balcony is my wood shop. I teach Ninjutsu, and I study it relentlessly. I am obsessed with creating tools from my linage of martial practice. I live the life of a modern Ninja living in peace.

Yet with in my dream life I have a problem. I must choose a path and the path I must choose is against the laws of ninjutsu. I wish to create with in my laws of creation. I wish to do this full time. To create brings me peace and a better understanding of the world around me. I wish to make a living on sharing my art with those that see what I see. Here is the problem for them to see what I do, I need to be seen and I need the world to now that I am here.

I question to myself, is this in the laws of Ninjutsu to be seen? To have people know what I do. When the teaching leads to the idea of not being seen, or does it? I do know for certain that the teaching leads to enlightenment.

I cannot answer the question of if or if not I am a hypocrite. What I will do is walk my path and find my answers on the way. I will persevere with in my practice. I will continue making my tools. I will practice the basics of the art and I will study the words I have of Hatsumi. I will also add more tools into my understanding. I will share my findings in my study of tools of the past and I will share my thoughts of Ninpo.

With in my new tool, Blogging, I will talk of my experiences. I hope to gain form this is new contacts. I wish for people to view my web site, for those that can visit my Armoury. I will shine light on a part of Ninjutsu that I was not able to find, but had to experience. I hope my experiences will move some to experience for them self’s the art that is Ninjutsu.

Matthew Wright
www.ninedirections.com