Fujiwara no Sai
Fujiwara-no-Sai (藤原佐為) is a character in Hikaru no Go.
Sai is a spirit who can't stop playing Go and the mentor of Hikaru Shindo. Sai wants to play the divine move (a.k.a. the Hand of God or Kami No Itte). In the manga and anime, Sai had possessed the real-life figure Hon'inbo Shusaku and through his body, became the world`s best go player of all time. Extremely effeminate by today's standards, Sai is often drawn with traditionally feminine features and mannerisms, and many fans sometimes mistakenly call him a "she" in passing only to correct themselves after realizing their mistake (see Sai's sex).
Sai's voice actor (seiyu) in the Japanese version of the anime is Susumu Chiba. In the English version his voice actor is Brad Swaile.
See also
- Fujiwara No Sai Go Club - An online Go club named after Fujiwara-no-Sai
- Dake-san Game
- Hikaru's comment
Jared: "The Fujiwara was one of the four great families that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian Period (794-1185), and the most important of them at that time." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_clan
Part of the following discussion has been copied from another page (Japanese name suffix):
Bill: Fujiwara no Sai is the old-old fashioned way of saying Fujiwara Sai. "No" (of) does not denote ownership, any more than "de" (of) in Hernando De Soto or Jeanne d'Arc.
splice: Actually, I disagree to some degree with Bill's statement. It makes a lot of sense to me that Hernando De Soto would mean Hernando of the Soto family, and Fujiwara no Sai would mean Sai of the Fujiwara family. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the origin of the old way of naming people. It does not necessarily denote ownership in any way, but it does denote inclusion in a group.
Migeru: In Spanish, 'de' often indicates geographic origin. 'de Soto' might mean 'from the town of Soto' while 'del Soto' would mean 'from the forest'. The same is true of the Italian 'da' and the French 'de', like 'Dupont'. When a geographic meaning is not apparent, it usually indicates noble origin, like the German 'von'.
Bill: Actually, splice, we agree. :-)
moonprince: Fujiwara no Sai is my favorite character as well, so I am spreading the 'Gospel according to Sai' to as many friends as I can *^_^* I am particularly vulnerable because I've been addicted to the Heian period of Japan ever since I read The Tale of Genji twenty years ago. Now I can show my friends a picture of Sai and they finally understand what I am blathering on about. My favorite picture of Sai is the black and white frontpiece of chapter 108 where he is sneering in determination. My second favorite picture is this one: http://toriyamaworld.com/hikago/gallery/screencaps/hika-anime-01.jpg
Regarding Heian naming practices, 'Fujiwara no Sai' would be translated as 'Sai of the Fujiwara Clan'. In Japanese grammar the particle 'no' shows a relationship between two objects, with the larger object coming first and the smaller object coming second. This style of naming is no longer used, today Sai would be called 'Fujiwara Sai.' (Surname comes first in Japanese.) The rendition 'Fujiwarano' in the Toriyama's World translations is awkward at best.
Fujiwara means 'wisteria bottom', a 'bottom' being a local word for a low lying or marshy piece of ground. Curiously, around here wisteria usually grows on the hillsides, not in the bottoms. (The Fujiwara were the pre-emininent aristocratic family of the Heian period.) But does anyone know what 'Sai' means?
Tim Brent: A rough translation of "Sai" is benevolent (literally help-benefit or in order to help).
Mark Waters: Sai roughly means "Rhinoceros" in certain Japanese dialects as well as "benevolent." In fact in the Hikaru no Go anime, Shindou makes a joke when asked who Sai is.
- Velobici: Sai meaning rhinoceros is shown in the manga. I don't remember the chapter to the incident clearly, rather hazy actually, but it seems to be a case of playing go on the Internet when a stylized rhinoceros appears behind Hikaru.
Benjamin Geiger: In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories, didn't Raphael wield a weapon known as "sai"?
MarkWaters: He did, and the weapon may take its name from the meaning I mentioned earlier.
Chibi: According to my dictionary, sai means simply "ability."
Rae: The weapon is a "cye."
Zarlan: Rae, I may not know a lot of Japanese, but I know all the sounds that exist in Japanese and "cye" just isn't possible. Of course it might be the name for the weapon in a different language (Chinese perhaps?)
DarkIllusions: Nope, Cye is not a Chinese word, not one that I know of at least, since i'm a Chinese then I think I should have sufficient grasp of the words^^ but I've never heard of the word 'cye' other than 'Sai' anyways, ninja turtle thingy, was it in English or was it in Japanese? I mean, if it was in English then there is a large chance that the word was of English origin, not Japanese or Chinese....
Zarlan: Turtles is English, so it is quite possible that some words are totally wrong in it.
DarkIllusions: ^Shrugs^ I have never really watched Turtles before, so I have no idea about it :P so what was the conversation about BEFORE we got on to Ninja Turtles? never mind, it's Chinese new years people^^ so: Kong Hei Fat Choi! have a wonderful new year, and have loads of fun^^ (new years at my place is always the most exciting in the whole year^^ because the WHOLE family will be here^^ by the WHOLE family I mean, all the cousins and second cousins and everything..... more than 20 people^^)
Phelan: Just to note that Rafael's weapon, was really a 'sai'. I was a fan of the series when younger, so I don't think I'm wrong here. :p And it makes sense too, since a sai is similar to a rhinocerous' horn.
PurpleHaze: A 'sai' is a traditional Okinawan weapon. As are all such weapons it is a repurposed agricultural implement, in this case the head of a pitchfork. It is not normally a ninjitsu weapon, though it might be used, in the appropriate context, for the same reason as the Okinawans: "plausible deniability".
Fingwe: The Sai weapon is in Japanese ... it's used in karate and I don't really know its meaning but maybe it's rhinoceros too because between you and me does it look like a horn of it :P a three way weapon too great to focusing energy ... from my sensei speaking ... And for the case Fujiwara no Sai I'd only say that Sai is Sai and it's Sai of Fujiwara whatever this Fujuwara is.
Chloe?: Fujiwara no Sai is one sexy beast. It's so cute when he doesn't know certain things about Hikaru's time. Like in the anime when he thought that the tropical fish in the tank were fake realistic looking fish. <3 <3 <3 <3
Sherab: Does anyone know where I could buy a fan that looks like Sai's, with the straight handle? I;ve looked around and cannot find one.