I've been a night worker on the 'graveyard' shift since 1980. I'll get home in the morning, put on the TV to something unexciting (usually PBS), and let it lull me to sleep. During light sleep phases, I often hear what's on the TV.
One morning the TV was 'talking' about Japan, which caught my ear. It mentioned a writer, C.W. Nicol, and his experiences in Japan. I know C.W. Nicol as the author of 'Moving Zen', his account of Karate training in Japan, a book I read in the mid 1980s. My eyes shot open just in time to see him performing sai kata. Halfway through it I realized he was doing Tekki Sho! That afternoon I went to the dojo and worked on the kata. I'm sure it's not identical to what Nicol did, but he has his way of performing Tekki Sho and we have ours. Feeling the kata was too short, I connected Tekki Sho and Tekki Ni into one effective kata. The sai is a Ryukyu Islands weapon, so I called this kata 'Naihanchi no Sai', differentiating the more fluid movements from a Japanese Tekki. Just as our version is slightly different from Nicol's, this kata can be performed even more fluid (like in Yamanni Ryu) or more static (like a Korean Chul-Gi). The versatility can suit a particular style or even a particular instructor.
New kobudo students often find it difficult to concentrate on fundamental manipulations with a new weapon and learn a new kata at the same time. I find Naihanchi no Sai works well because the student already knows the kata and can now concentrate on handling the weapon. It is the first sai kata taught at Ni Kyu before Kihon Sai or any Yamanni Ryu.
