Seipai is the Okinawan pronunciation of the kanji characters for 18 (pronounced Jū 十 Hachi 八 in Japanese). In other karate styles, this kata is sometimes called Seipaite, or eighteen hands. The number 18 is derived from the Buddhist concept of 6 x 3, where six represents colour, voice, taste, smell, touch and justice and three represents good, bad and peace.