THE Japanese have aikido, karate, judo, jiu-jitsu and kendo. The Chinese have kung fu and wushu. The Koreans have taekwondo and hapkido. What do the Filipinos have? Well, many of you would be quick to say “arnis,” and you’d be right. But how much do you really know about our national martial art?
Arnis, also called escrima or kali, is by far the most popular Philippine martial art. The martial art is a proud symbol of the Philippines, and it has its own distinct style. Few other martial arts encourage their students to train with weapons first before going to hand-to-hand. When “arnis fighter” comes to mind, one immediately imagines a dude with two sticks, bashing his way through his opponent with furious rage. Well, what if I told you arnis fighters had more than one weapon to choose from?
You see the use of the stick or yantok in arnis came about when the Spanish decreed a nationwide sword ban. The native Filipinos, undaunted, continued to practice their martial arts with wooden sticks made of rattan or ironwood as an alternative to the sword. Many people believe that arnis is practiced with two sticks -- correct though this may be, it may also be practiced with a single stick, in place of a short sword; a larger 36-inch stick (largo mano yantok) probably meant to take the place of a kampilan (Filipino long sword); the dulo y dulo, a four to seven-inch long stick resembling a dagger; or the bankaw, a six-foot long pole, standing in for a spear. Arnis also makes use of the real thing, ergo bladed weapons, from time to time, especially for exhibitions where a master wants to make an audience go “wow.” There is also training for the practical arnis fighter, who is educated on how to use improvised weapons like the common ice pick or screwdriver. Something as mundane and harmless as a t-shirt with a bar of soap in it or even a pen can become a dangerous weapon in the hands of an arnis master. Can you imagine being beaten in a fight by a guy using a pen? That’d be a seriously embarrassing story to tell.
The Filipino, not just the arnis fighter exclusively, is very comfortable around a bolo. It’s the first bladed object that people look for when they need to do some heavy duty cutting. And, unlike the sword, it’s not solely a weapon, so its use didn’t die out when gunpowder came about. In fact, that’s part of the reason why arnis as a martial art is still alive and well today. When the Spanish attacked our country, guns weren’t exactly growing on trees. The rebels used everything they could as weapons, including long sticks in place of pikes, homemade firearms, and bolos. The same can be said about the military situation of the country during the time of the Philippine-American War or the Japanese invasion. You could say that the Americans got their first taste of arnis when it was used against them by Moro warriors during the Philippine-American War.
Today there are over 50 separate styles of arnis. Some of them focus on fighting with specific kinds of weapons, while some include things like kicking in addition to using sticks to fight. My personal favorite is the Pekiti Tirsia Kali system founded by Conrado Tortal and carried on by Bacolod’s own Leo Tortal Gaje Jr. The style focuses on killing your opponent without any of the flashy moves of kung fu or the restrictions of taekwondo, and has been introduced in such circles as the Philippine Special Forces, the United States Marines, and even the Russian Spetsnaz.