Tsuken Shitahaku no Sai

津堅志多伯の釵

Tsuken Shitahaku no Sai (or 津堅志多伯の釵 in Japanese) is a Ryukyu Kobujutsu Sai Kata. The second part of this name – Shitahaku (or 志多伯 in Japanese) – was the family name of a general administrator at the office of the Chinese minister in Naha’s Kuninda (Kume village) around 1682, with Oyakatu as his individual name. This Sai-Jutsu Master most likely came from the island of Tsuken (or 津堅 in Japanese), southeast of Okinawa’s main island, which is used as a prefix in the name of this kata. In the video embedded below (recorded on 24 April 2023), budoka Johan Oldenkamp, a former national champion from the Netherlands, performs this ‘Sai Kata by Master Shitahaku from Tsuken’.