Filipino Martial Arts
Posted on 11/17/2008 09:09 am by Phadrus00
THe historic Struggle of the Phillipino people against the Spanish Conquistadors
Traditionally we equate the Martial Arts with countries like China, Japan and Korea but these arts developed all over the globe and over the past 3 decades there has been an explosion of awareness about other cultures and their indigenous arts. One of the richest regions for martial traditionas has been southeast asia which includes Thailand, Indonesia, The Phillipines, Burma and Malasia to name a few. The population of these countries have had generations of civil and political challenges as well as regional conflicts amongst neighboring countries including China, Koera and Japan. As a result there has been a prolific spreading of Martial Knowledge and a honing of arts as warriors meet, fight and learn from one another.
Over the past twenty years I have been studying the arts of this area as well as more traditional arts from China and Japan. In particular I have specialised in the Weapons Arts of the Phillipines which include Arnis, Kali and Escrima as wellas the arts from Indonesia called Penjak Silat. These arts are beautiful and deadly and represent a sophistication that has taken generations of brave warriors to develop and refine. It is only in the past decade or two that they have really come into the western consciousness and appreciated for their efficacy and sophistication.
FMA is a popular term for the collective arts of the Phillipines and in some cases Indonesia as well. Generally it refers to Arnis, Kali and Escrima but also applies to the various supplemental disciplines such as Pukalan, Philipino Silat and Dumog as well.
There are a wealth of different systems within this family and it is difficult to define key differences between Arnis, Kali and Escrima styles at present simply because these systems have been cross-pollinating with one another for so long. One of the greatest aspects of these arts is their adaptability. Ceremony is useless if you are dead and adapting to new ideas and techniques is essential to staying alive in a brutal environment of tribal rivalries and constant foreign invasion. Thus the systems we see today have been shaped by generations of wars and fights and adaptations. This is not to say that there are not distinct systems and strong family / teacher lineages, but rather that these systems resist broad categorization and the trained eye can see inflences from many sources in any given system.
These arts typically include several common elements:
- Single Stick / Baton / Baston
- Double Stick (Sinniwalli)
- Stick and Knife (Espada y Daga)
- Knife only (Double Edged, Single Edged, Balisong)
- Empty Hand Boxing (Pukalong)
- Throws and Takedowns (Silat)
- Wrist Locks and Submissions (Dumog)