Kali: Filipino Martial Arts A time-honored tradition rediscovered Filipino Kali, also known as Arnis or Escrima (from the Spanish word “esgrima” for fencing), is the art of stick fighting.  Practitioners of this sport use hard bamboo baton-length sticks to strike and defend.  They have made this particular fighting style into an art.  Unlike other martial art forms, Filipino Kali teaches weapons fighting before bare hand-to-hand combat.  A student of any Chinese martial art, for example, is expected to master hand-to-hand combat before moving on to any form of weapons. Stick fighting evolved over a period of many centuries in the Philippines as her people fought for their independence from foreign invaders. The Filipinos pride themselves in believing that the martial arts of their nation were self-originated, not borrowed from the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, or Spanish. The martial arts were taught to and practiced by both men and women in the Philippines; Filipinas have a long history of fighting in battles and wars. Combat took place between neighboring tribes and warlords. Each skirmish with a new culture added to the Filipino martial arts as Kali warriors developed techniques to combat foreigners. Subsequently more than 100 different Filipino martial arts styles emerged, which can be grouped into three complete self-defense systems that utilize sticks, swords, empty hands and other weapons. The systems are called Northern, Southern, and Central. Always assuming the use of the blade, whether it be a sword or knife (dagger), Kali employs many techniques, including strikes, stances and weapon handling, which show influences from China, the Arab world, Indonesia and Spain as a result of immigration, invasion and occupation. Spanish conquistadors led by Ferdinand Magellan invaded the islands in the early 1500s. A pirate according to Filipino history, Magellan was slain by the heroic chieftain Lapu Lapu and his men. The armor-clad Spaniards, overpowered by the fierce islanders and their fire-hardened sticks, retreated. In the 1570s, unable to match the conquistadors’ muskets, the Philippines fell under Spanish rule. The Filipinos preserved their martial arts by integrating them into native costumes and dances, often performing Kali movements in the form of dance for the pleasure of the Spanish dictators. _____________________ The Moros, marked by tiger eyes and red headbands signifying a resolve to kill until killed, strode singly down the streets knifing everything in their path. _____________________ The Madjapahit, who settled in the Southern stretches of the islands, were influenced by Arab missionaries and became renowned as fierce Moslems (called "Moros") who violently opposed foreign peoples in their native land. During the American occupation of the Philippines in the early 1900s, the Moros, marked by tiger eyes and red headbands signifying a resolve to kill until killed, strode singly down the streets knifing everything in their path, embracing the belief that every slain Christian assured their place in heaven. So tenacious was the Moros’ rampage that hundreds of reports by American soldiers surfaced stating that the slugs of .38-caliber pistols failed to stop the advancing Moros. After those reports, the .45-caliber pistol was designed and issued to American servicemen. Although the Moros’ religious fervor was a crucial element in their destruction, it was their use of bladed weapons that allowed the bloody chaos to succeed. The art they so deftly employed was Kali. The Philippines was recognized as an independent nation in 1935 and remained so until the Japanese occupation of World War II. Welcoming U.S. intervention during the occupation, Filipinos eagerly enlisted in American services. Known for close-in, hand-to-hand combat with bolo knives, the Filipino troops established themselves as fierce guerrilla forces, marching in triangle formation with the point, or lead, man disabling enemy soldiers and leaving the following formation to finish the job. Following the war, many adventurous escrimadors and Kali men left the Philippines for Hawaii and California. There they grouped together, working as farm laborers and practicing their art in secret, again adapting it to their environment by utilizing farm tools - asparagus knives, machetes, hoes and the like - as weapons. After years of clandestine practice, the old masters have begun to teach a younger generation the beautiful and deadly Filipino martial arts. The "old men" of Kali and escrima believe the art is dead in the Philippines. However, they teach the younger generation to respect it by a salutation, shown by touching the closed fist of the right hand to the forehead and the open hand to the heart. Some of these masters of Kali who have continued the tradition are Angel Cabales, Regino Ellustrisimo, Leo Giron, John LaCoste, Ben Largusa, and Floro Villabrille. This article first appeared on www.gungfu.com. Thank you for permission to use it. This website: Copyright © 2007 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.