The Eskrima Warrior and His Sword

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Filipinos have many traditional beliefs which may appear weird to other cultures especially the westerners. Most of our traditional Filipino martial artists believe that the bladed weapons must be in proper length to become effective in a real fight encounter. How will they determine a fighting bladed weapon?

Here are the steps in determining the fighting sword:
1. Place the sword on the top of the table.
2. Measure the length of the blade from its base to the tip. This excludes the handle. Maybe you can use long strip of paper about half-inch wide. Traditionally, coconut leaf was used because of its availability and easy to cut into pieces.
3. Divide your measuring material into two equal parts.
4. Lay the other half on the top of the blade from its base.
5. The other half should be cut into pieces based on the width of the blade at the end of the other half of your measuring material.
6. Place and arrange the cut pieces in a manner shown in the illustration below.

Interpretation of the last possible figure formed by the cut pieces of the measuring material:

Figure 1
This is the serado or close figure. The Ilongo(Ilongo-speaking people in the Island of Panay, Philippines) fighters will not use this kind of bladed weapon in a real fight encounter. They believed that this sword is good only for cutting firewood or for slicing tomatoes. Funny!

Figure 2

This is called buhang which means open. This kind of sword or any bladed weapon will render a very poor performance if ever used in combat so they avoid using this kind weapon with this in a real combat.

Figure 3
This figure is called kagat- ulang which is associated by the Ilongos with the first pair of ambulatory legs of a lobster which form the claws. They believed that this measurement maybe used in combat but it should be taken out of the scabbard before the actual confrontation. It is not good in a situation where the fighting is unexpected or without preparation.

Figure 4
Bingit-largo. This single full length cut piece of measuring material at the tip of the figure means the weapon is good for long range fighting. It means one should avoid using this kind of weapon in a close quarter combat.

Figure 5
Bingit-corto. This is the best kind of bladed weapon for combat. It will give a person quick reaction especially in drawing the sword from the scabbard. It is believed this is a killer bladed weapon.

This presentation is just a traditional belief existed before among the Eskrimadores especially in the Islands of Panay . As a matter of fact there are other traditional methods to determine the length of a good sword. This is just a traditional belief, and I personally believe it affects only to the believer.

Filed Under: Arnis Articles, Updates

CASASAI Kids

March 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

CASASAI kids are children who adapt the Combative and Sportive Arnis System (CASAS). Just like other children who join martial arts, they derive benefits from learning the system. The benefits are as follows:

  1. If taken as pure exercise, CASAS develops cardiovascular fitness as well as muscular strength. The children also enjoy a keen sense of balance, coordination as well as learning specific skills to avoid injury.
  2. As the children acquire the basic skills, they take added interest in the exotic art of self-defense handed down by their forefathers; thus, propagating their own culture.
  3. It is a way of channeling children’s extra energy to a more beneficial activity: learning the art of self-defense. The ability to defend themselves allows them to have peace of mind and confidence. In almost all cases, they never have to use their techniques on someone. Having an increased awareness and presence of mind thwarts violence.
  4. It develops a strong sense of camaraderie with their fellow practitioners/students.
  5. It also boosts children’s self-esteem: if students feel capable, able, and confident, then they enjoy a healthy self-esteem.
  6. Respect is another value being stressed in learning the art. Respecting those who know more than you do (greater expertise), and have proven it (higher rank) shows that you are worthy of them teaching you their knowledge. This respect for instructors and senior students can often carry over to classes in schools and at home as well.

The benefits mentioned above are just a few which can be derived from learning the system. Generally, it provides physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual benefits.

Filed Under: Arnis Articles

Kali – Debunking its Myth (Arguments by James U. Sy Jr. )

June 28, 2009 By 5 Comments

This is a response to the article written by Talibung Antike (Is “KALI” appropriate to describe an indigenous blade based Filipino Martial Arts?) for Juan Dela Cruz who wrote:

“I think you need to back up your claims with researches and citations from legitimate sources. You’re ranting all these outbursts from hand-down information and passed-by-mouth claims. First of all, try to find out the history of the Muslims, of where they came from and how are they related to the Datu you have mentioned, if you research deeper you will find out they they belong to one ancestral origins. These Datus and the Muslims in Mindanao belonged to the Malay-Indo tribe of Borneo and nearby south east asian countries. Kali is an art from the south, if you happen to know wikipedia, I hope you can look for its etymology. You also happen to criticize and claimed that the right term for the practitioners of the FMA is “eskrimador”, did you ever look up in your sources the root meaning of eskrima??? For one, the term is Spanish, so how would you back up it’s authenticity???

I’m a practitioner of FMA and a researcher as well, I hope that these claims of yours are well founded and backed -up, so as not to make anymore divisions with the practitioner of the Filipino Martial Arts. Regardless of what the term is, whether Eskrima, Arnis, or Kali, you should think that these arts belong to the Filipino culture and we should be proud that these arts are part of our heritage.

I hope one day that all these “pagalingan” and “pataasan ng ihi” will be eradicated from and within the different systems of FMA. I hope that one day we would be united by our differences and appreciate what each of us has to offer, so that… that one day would be a glorious day for the FILIPINO MARTIAL ART and the FILIPINO PEOPLE….

RESPECT- an essential characteristic of a FMA practitioner… RESPECT…”

Juan de la Cruz, or whatever is your real name, as you are very interested in SCHOLARLY RESEARCH, let me share with you what I have uncovered in my years of research about the Kali Myth.

What follows is a partial summary of my detailed and well documented findings which you can find in my upcoming book that will be debunking the Kali Myth.

I would be interested if you can refute my findings point by point with LEGITIMATE RESEARCH AND CITATIONS as you have required from Talibung Antike. If your arguments are strong and logical enough, I would be more than glad to include it in my book in defense of your belief.

1. The Wikipedia you have mentioned, by academic standards, would not constitute as a legitimate source of info unless it is used as a supplement to primary sources. Anybody, especially Kali advocates, can manipulate contents of Wikipedia by editing articles. We all know that.

2. One of the, if not the, best primary sources is the people who speak the particular Filipino language from which Kali supposedly originated. Taibung Antike, a native speaker of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon, had just affirmed that there is no Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA), in his languages. What more citation could validate that affirmation?

3. Juan de la Cruz, are you a native speaker of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon? If so, can you please show us that Kali does exist in said languages as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).

4. If not, why would you be so infuriated with Talibung Antike’s assertion? What is the scholastically researched basis of your outrage?

5. Also, what is your native tongue? Is it any of the Filipino languages? If yes, did you find Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) in your native tongue? If you didn’t find it, why do you think so?

6. If your native tongue is not any of the Filipino languages, what then is your basis of disagreeing with somebody who is a native speaker of the Filipino languages?

7. There are 171 living and 4 extinct languages in the Philippines today. Of these, 8 are major languages and none of them have Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).

8. The 1960 Philippine Census tells us that 7 of these 8 major languages comprise 83% of the Philippine population. More recent census showed that Cebuano and Tagalog comprise 50% of the Philippine population. How can Kali be the Mother Art/Term for all Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) if we can’t find it in the 8 major languages of the Philippines?

9. If you, as you have claimed, have also researched Kali, then pinpoint to us exactly from which Filipino language did it came from. An inability to do so in your part would show that it is you who did not do your homework. 

10. If Kali came from Malay then why can’t we find Kali as a name for a Martial Arts in the Malay language?

11. If Kali is Muslim, as you imply indirectly in your post, then why can’t we find it in the various languages of Mindanao such as Ta’u-sug, Maranao, Mandaya, etc.? I’ve interviewed people who speak these languages and they affirmed the absence of such word in their languages.

12. The Ta’u-sugs have their own Martial Arts but they call them Silat and Kuntaw, not Kali. Those that practice these arts have told me that nowhere in their lexicon would you find Kali as a synonym to Silat and Kuntaw.

13. If Kali the Mother Art/Term is the contraction of the Cebuano words Kamot Lihok, does that mean that all pre-Hispanic Malays spoke Cebuano? Highly unlikely.

14. Kamot in Tagalog means to scratch. There is no Lihok word in Tagalog. Does this mean that Tagalogs don’t have Filipino Martial Arts (FMA)?

15. If Kali has anything to do with Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) then we will find it together with the pre-Hispanic words Bangkaw, Kampilan, etc. But we don’t.

16. Juan de la Cruz, you’re confused with the word EsKrima. EsKrima may have Spanish roots (EsCrima) but it is already a Filipino adoption of the word. I have consulted not less than 10 Spanish dictionaries and they all agree that EsCrima is “Fencing.” However, you will not see EsKrima in any Spanish dictionary, only in Filipino dictionaries.

17. If you can produce a legitimate Spanish dictionary which will have EsKrima as an entry, then I have to concede that it is a Spanish word. Otherwise, your assertion that it is a Spanish word is nothing but conjecture and emotionally motivated.

18. Now, if Kali is Filipino, why can’t we find it in LEGITIMATE Filipino dictionaries, especially those dictionaries published before the Kali-Boom Era, with the meaning of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA)?

19. If you will point out Wikipedia or any of the overseas websites as your proof, the question is where did they get the info? More importantly, are the info correct? You yourself had stressed for a scholastic and legitimate research.

20. The most comprehensive Hiligaynon dictionary written in 1934 had 10,000 entries, none of which referred to Kali as a name to Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).

21. The earliest works, such as the Artes y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala (1610, the first published Tagalog grammar) and the first Panay Visayan grammar (1637), do not show Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).

22. Nor did Antonio Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler, recorded Kali although he did record Kampilan, Bangkaw, etc.

23. We would be interested if you can show us even just one pre-Hispanic, or even Spanish, document that mentions Kali by name. But I doubt that, otherwise we will find Kali in all Philippine history textbooks.

24. No archaeological finds either in Palawan, Butuan, Cebu, or other archaeologically rich places in the Philippines had shown even a shadow of the mythical Kali.

25. No legitimate historical documents, either written by a Spaniard or Filipino, mention Kali. Even Spanish decrees disallowing the carrying of weapons had not mentioned Kali. By legitimate what I mean is that the material was written only after checking primary sources such as pre-Hispanic or Spanish records. Copying and pasting from one website to the other does not count.

26. If the earliest you can go back is Mga Karunungan sa Larong Arnis, wouldn’t Florante and Laura by Francisco Balagtas (later half of 1800s) have come first, in mentioning Arnis? I doubt if you can find any document earlier than 1957 which will mention Kali.

27. And while you’re clamoring for citations, Mirafuente should be questioned for his lack of citations when he mentioned Kali in Yambao’s book. That despite the fact that he was a member of a local historical association!

28. If Kali is Muslim, why then is it also explained as representing the Hindu God Kali?

29. If you continue to stick to your assertion that Kali is Muslim, my question is how compatible are the practices in Kali with the 5 pillars of Islam? True Muslims would have none of Kali because it does not conform to the teachings of the Qur’an.

30. And maybe you can show us a Muslim grandmaster from Mindanao, not influenced by outside sources, who teaches Kali.

31. What particular Muslim tribe are you referring to? Filipino anthropologists had not identified any tribe called Kali or that practice an art called Kali.

32. The renowned anthropologist Felipe Landa Jocano of Cabatuan, father of Master/Prof. Felipe P. Jocano Jr. of the university of the Philippines Diliman, had not revealed any remnants of Kali or any Kali tribe in his anthropological works.

33. Or better yet a Muslim pre-Hispanic, or even Spanish, document that mentions Kali in detail.

34. Grandmasters Villabrille, Largusa, Gaje, Ilustrisimo…they were not Muslims but they used Kali. The senior students of Tatang Ilustrisimo had already publicly announced that there is no Kali and that certain individuals had advised Tatang before to use the term Kali. Originally he used Eskrima and Olisitrisimo to call his art.

35. If you research deeper, you will see that all the people using Kali in the US can trace back the word to GM Villabrille while those from the Philippines can trace it from the US.

36. I personally know at least 4 people with varying degrees of association with kali here in Negros and I can tell you they were originally Arnis people!

37. GM Villabrille originally used Eskrima as did GM Inosanto. GTs Gaje and Tortal originally used Arnis. These are all documented. You just need to find the right sources. You will find these scattered all over cyberspace in different forums.

38. True, the Maragatas has been invalidated as a historical document. However, what you failed to discover is that the original writer of Maragtas did not claim it to be historical but made it clear that it was based on stories gathered from many sources. Most likely you have only read a translation of the Maragtas, if you have read it at all. The various translations had chosen for one reason or the other to exclude certain portions of the original work.

39. Even Sir Henry William Scott who disproved Maragatas as a historical document did admit that it must be considered as a combination of folklore and history for we do not know which is which. The Code of Kalantiaw, however, was the one branded as a fabrication.

40. If you turn back you will realize that it is the Kali Myth blowers who had made divisions in the Filipino Martial Arts by making unvalidated, unhistorical, and commercial claims that downgrade Arnis/Eskrima just to market Kali the supposed Mother Art.

I can go and on but I don’t want to consume so much space here. I’m hoping that you can refute point by point my findings with legitimate proof.

For those who would like to add their own research, experiences, etc. to my upcoming book, I would be glad to include them, provided proper citation of sources and the like.

Filed Under: Arnis Articles, Updates

Is “KALI” appropriate to describe an indigenous blade based Filipino Martial Arts?

August 6, 2008 By 33 Comments

True blooded genuine Eskrimadores in the island Panay from the coastal plains to the hinterlands of Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo and Antique who are mostly if not all are World War II underground guerrilla fighters pitted their craft using “Talibungs”, “Sanduko” and “Ginuntings” against the Japanese soldiers’ “Katana” swords and Bayonets in hand to hand combat when they ran out of bullets. One will never hear a word “Kali” from any of them that alludes to fighting whether unarmed or armed confrontation where sticks, spears, or bladed weapons are used. It should be noted that the word “Kali” in the major languages of Panay and Negros (Hiligaynon and Kiniray-a) means “to dig” which refers to a farming or harvesting activity when one has to dig something from the ground like: “to dig camote=kali camote”, “dig peanuts=kali mani”, “dig gabi=kali gabi”. The word in itself has no reference to fighting at all whatsoever. All these veteran fighters and war survivors refers to their craft as “Eskrima, or the act of “Eskrimahay” which refers to skirmish, a confrontational exchange of blows/attacks, offense/ defense- it may be used outside the context of physical combat, as in “eskrimahay ka tinaga” which means a fierce verbal exchange, and may also refer to the use of weapons like: “baston, talibung, binangon, ginunting, sanduko, lantip, sanggot, espading, daga, lugod, bahi, bugsay, tungkod, yaming, tuwang-tuwangan, garab, kaw-it, hal-o, etc”. The experts and practitioners of these indigenous martial arts systems are either called “Eskrimador” or “Bastonero” not “Kalista”, “Kalidor” nor “Kalinero”.

The claim that the word “Kali” came from the Muslim chieftains that established a colony in Kalibo, Aklan — (sometimes cited as the origin of the name “Kali”) is very wrong and has no historical basis at all.

The official history of Kalibo on record states that, Kalibo is a town in Aklan, founded by settlers from Malaysia who came with Datu Bangkaya (The Muslims had never been successful in conquering Panay Island despite relentless attempts even during Spanish times). Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, Madianos (Madyanos) is the primitive Pre-Hispanic name of Kalibo. It was found to be the first place in Aklan with houses grouped together, the inhabitants thereof, already having some form of political organization.

How Kalibo got its present name was because of a mass Christening of One Thousand (1,000) natives in “Madianos” in May, 1566, by a Spanish priest, who came with Adelantado Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. One thousand (1,000) is written in the Aklan dialect as “ISA KA LIBO”, “SANG LIBO”, and in order to commemorate and perpetuate this historical fact, the name “Calibo”, a contraction derivative of these three words in the Aklan dialect, was given to the town instead of “MADIANOS”. From year 1566, “CALIBO” was the official name used up to about 1929. Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Geographical Names, the official name “KALIBO” was finally adopted.
If Kali as a blade based fighting system is to be alluded to the word “Kalis”, it is even farther from the true meaning of the Hiligaynon word “Kalis”. “Kalis” in Hiligaynon and Kiniray-a is a verb which means “to scrape off” and if used as a noun it refers to the straight edged wooden or bamboo slat used to swipe the excess grains being measured. The word “Kalis” is a measuring device or activity to ensure accuracy of measurement where the excess are scraped off or leveled out or “kalison” using a “kalis” before counting it as one full unit volume. Traditionally the grains or farm produce like: rice, corn, monggo, sugar, salt, beans, etc are quantified based on traditional volumetric measuring containers like: “ganta or gantangan” (25 gantas = 1 sack), wooden box “panega” (3 panegas=1 sack), “tabig”, and “tabungos”.

(Note: The use of kilograms in measuring plant or farm products is a relatively recent development when the Philippines adopted the metric system during the 1980s)

Hence, based on the aforementioned elucidations the use of the word “Kali” parallel with Arnis and Eskrima in Filipino Martial Arts if it has to be used at all is absurd and very etiologically inappropriate. Example: you “Kali” your opponent! That would mean “you DIG your opponent!” or say: Lets practice “Kali” that would mean “Lets practice DIGGING”

If you KALI your opponent, you DIG your opponent! So he must have been buried, must have been dead a long time ago or a victim of a land slide! That would be the most absurd FMA indeed!

The languages used in Negros Island are “Hiligaynon” (most of Negros Occidental close to Panay Island) and “Bisaya or Cebuano” (Negros Oriental close to Cebu Island). These languages are influences brought by migrants from both islands as workers in the Haciendas of Negros mostly owned by the Hacienderos who are landed elite migrants from Jaro, Iloilo City. If there is no KALI in Cebu Island nor in Panay Island, then claiming KALI as indigenous blade based fighting arts of Panay Island brought to Negros Island is one of the greatest frauds that ever plagued the Filipino Martial Arts History and Martial Arts World as a whole.

It is high time to “KALI” deeper= to “DIG” deeper and ferret out the “TRUTH” about “KALI” as clearly it has no rightful place in the Filipino Martial Arts World historically and etiologically.

This is a big challenge to the well meaning Filipino Martial Arts enthusiasts, avid practitioners, scholars, researchers & historians to start retracing back and DIG deeper into the true Filipino Martial Arts History…. there are still lots to DIG out (KALI) into the open here in PANAY island… the center of the PHILIPPINES.

Welcome to Panay Island PHILIPPINES!

Filed Under: Arnis Articles

Who is a True Master?

April 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment

By definition, a master is a person in power, having a high rank, authority and control over somebody or subjects under his/her rule. A master may be somebody who has a very high degree of expertise in his field of specialization, consummate skill and power that commands respect and admiration of his/her peers. A Master may be somebody so influential and powerful that subjects his followers a surrender of their will to his control.

By definition, it is no wonder why lots of people now a days gives so much fuss bout being called or accorded a rank of a Master or Grand Master.

We can glean from the definition that being Master is relative. Relative in the sense of criteria and point of reference as a basis of comparison. Hence, it is not simply something that a paper or certificate can attest for people to see and to feed your ego. You may be a master only in a certain field of specialization or in a certain system under certain rules, but you can be a novice in another area, subject or under a different criteria. Why? Nobody has the monopoly of skill, the knowledge, wisdom, strength and power. You may be the best of the best, undefeated, most decorated, the greatest, with all the most and …EST in the past or today. But as history told us, in all probability.. tomorrow, in the coming months, next year, or in the next decades… eventually, somewhere.. somebody else will take away that crown of glory from you and you will end up defeated. (In Filipino street lingo, we say it: “isang bala ka lang!” you’re only good for one bullet)

Who is a true Master then? A true master is somebody who is able to transcend enough in truly knowing himself, that he is able to conquer his need of attention, need of adoration and praise, conquer his pains and fears, even fear of sickness, starvation, bankruptcy and inevitable death. A true Master is somebody who has come to the realization that only God has the monopoly of the greatest skill, the ultimate power, knowledge and wisdom. A true Master is somebody who realized that everything he has is from GOD and he has nothing to boast about himself. A true Master is somebody who has come to the realization that life is fleeting, we are just on a temporary assignment. A true Master is somebody who has come to a realization that in this world of uncertainty, ESKRIMA is not to rule, to maim, to hurt nor to kill but to help build bridges of peace, harmony, joy and friendships, not walls of animosity, isolation and misery. Traditional Filipino ESKRIMA is grounded on the law of man’s survival against violence, injustice and oppression. But the relevance of true “ESKRIMA” in our present time is to skirmish against man’s greatest enemy which is SELF, and that means to bring healing, restoration of human dignity and health as well as prolongation of Quality LIFE. It is of greater challenge now in our generation than our great forebears have faced in the past because it is easier now to kill than to HEAL.

Let that be our common and ultimate quest mga ESKRIMADORES…to be a TRUE MASTER! May GOD Bless us all in that quest… ?

Filed Under: Arnis Articles