Strands of Strife and Life Vol. II - The Book of the Stick (Part 2)

The IMMERSION Foundation Presents Strands of Strife and Life Vol. II

THE BOOK OF THE

STICK

part 2

A Comprehensive Survey of the World's Stick Arts

edited by Mahipal Lunia / Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D / Mika Harju-Seppänen

THE BOOK OF THE

STIC K

THE BOOK OF THE

STICK A Comprehensive Survey of the World's Stick Arts

part 2

Contributors CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mahipal Lunia Explorer-in-Residence, The Immersion Foundation Executive Editor, The Immersion Review @theimmersionfoundation

@immersion.foundation

http://www.therenaissancepath.com http://www.theimmersion.foundation

Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Professor of International Politics, Faculty of Management and Business Tampere University, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1487-2961

Mika Harju-Seppänen mika.harjuseppanen@gmail.com

PEER REVIEWERS Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Mika Harju-Seppänen 2 Anonymous Reviewers

PRODUCTION Hana Shin Editor & Production Director Cover image by Jdcollins13 on Wikipedia.com (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silambam#/media/File:Silambam_vector.svg).

Cropped from original image. Permission given by Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode).

The Immersion Review, founded by The Immersion Foundation, is a conduit for penetrating insights in combat and combative behavior. It is a space for the dedicated martial artist, who dares to seek ideas from diverse fighting systems.

The Immersion Review is a peer-reviewed journal for the martial arts comprehensivist.

FOR EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: thereview@theimmersion.foundation

Copyright © 2023 by The Immersion Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

First Edition published in 2023 by The Immersion Foundation. http://theimmersion.foundation No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Acknowledgments

We would like to expresss our heartfelt graditutde to all the auhtors who contributed to this book, the anonymous reviewers who offered their time and critical review through the process, and the students of the Mountain View Aiki school who spent countless hours doing the unseen work behind the scenes. We would also like to offer special thanks to Michael Belzer for being thie guiding light on this journey and a bridge connecting The Immersion Foundation to Donn F. Draeger's work and legacy, and Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D for his contributions to the first two issues of the Immersion Review Vol. 1 - Stick Arts.

Left: Sir Richard Francis Burton [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton / public domain] Right: Donn F. Draeger [Photo courtesy of Michael Belzer]

Dedication

This work is dedicated to the two pioneers and leaders of hoplology: Sir Richard Francis Burton, who founded the field in the 19th century; and Donn F. Draeger, who revived it in the 20th century.

United Kingtom France

Un i t e d

Central America Colombia

States

Barbados

at a gla nce TH E B OOK OF THE STICK p art 2

Greece

Japan

China & Hong Kong The Philippines

South Africa

Cont ents Grima: the Venezolano Moderno Style

16

T.J. Desch-Obi Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African and Afro-American Combative Arts

34

T.J. Desch-Obi First Things First: The War Club in Native American Warrior Arts

52

Bethany J. Dillon Geijin Ryu Staff Arts

80

Michel Farivar The European Quarterstaff: A Historical Review

102

Steaphen Fick Training Weapons In the Modern Era

126

Jeffrey Finder Sticklicking

138

Philip Forde Filipino Martial Arts or Filipino American Martial Arts?

156

Dean Franco, Dwight Woods, Mahipal Lunia & Mark Stewart Stick Grappling in Central America

220

Darren Patrick Friesen The Greek Stick / Staff Fighting George E. Georgas

268

Shaolin Staff in the 21st Century

296

David Giomi An Interview with Sastri Sensei: Jo Jutsu Staff Techniques

308

Jeevan Gowda The Wing Chun Long Pole

320

Mukatder Gül La Canne de Combat

334

Nicole Holzmann Cudgel of the Great Sage: Application, History, and Personal Evolution of the Monkey Kung Fu Staff

358

Damon Honeycutt Applying Stick Fighting Skills in the Modern Environment

374

Mark Human The Weapon of a Jedi Knight

402

Benjamin N. Judkins & Jared Miracle Katori Shinto Ryu

420

Riichi Kitano Bridges of Rattan, Bolos, and Daggers

446

Dexter Labanog Hermit Training

462

Mahipal Lunia Tatang Ilustrisimo's Combat Efficiency through Measure Romeo Macapagal

486

T.J. Desch-Obi, Ph.D Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art in the Atlantic World

GRIMA THE VENEZOLANO MODERNO STYLE

16 | The Book of the Stick

T. J. Desch-Obi

“MORE EXTENSION ON YOUR attacks!” directed Maestro Nabor as he instructed my partner Lucy and I through an educational sequence of Venezolano Moderno, the most recent of all Colombian grima styles. These two-person fight choreographies were the basic method by which Afro-Colombians had been trained to stick fight for well over two centuries.

The techniques and approaches to combat taught in such sequences depended heavily upon the style being studied. The more than thirty styles of grima could be organized into five categories based on historical depth and taxonomy of range, tactics, and strategies. In previous publications, I have outlined some of the characteristics of the numerically dominant classical and neo-classical styles of grima. This brief article will explore the history and practice of the most recent branch of grima—the Tulueño Moderno family of styles— through an oral history of the two most prolific living masters of Venezolano Moderno.

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 17

Grima was the umbrella term used

by Afro-Colombians to encompass a range of distinct martial arts styles that utilized the stick, lance, machete, or unarmed body for attack, and corporal dexterity for defense. At the heart of this complex was the use of the stick as the initial training weapon in the vast majority of grima styles.

The oldest lineages of grima are unanimous in distinguishing their arts of grima from esgrima, or fencing. The latter, they say, is a Spanish term for European sword fighting, while their arts built on the use of the stick and machete are properly called “grima.” It is possible that this distinct terminology was linked to the Afro-Brazilians term grima meaning “fighting sticks,” and thus a parallel to the Venezuelan stick fighting arts referred to collectively as garrote, or “stick.”

The classical styles of grima date back to the time of slavery in Colombia and appear to have been first developed in the country’s southeastern area, also known as the Pacific region. In the region that is now Colombia, gold min-

18 | The Book of the Stick

ing was the primary driver of the economy. As mines were stripped, miners continued to move south as mines peaked along the Atlantic coast, the Caribbean coast of northern Antioquia, and then by the 18th century, in the Pacific region. Enslaved peoples frequently attempted to run away from their enslavers and became maroons, self-liberated individuals who formed a series of communities outside of areas controlled by the Spanish. By the late 18th century, references appear to the fighting capacities of the maroons and their preoccupation with dueling.

The oldest lineages of grima styles trace back to the areas of such communities. These classical grima styles appear distinctive from earlier African Atlantic stick fighting arts such as the kalinda of the circum-Caribbean, particularly in terms of their educational system.

While older grima styles maintained vestiges of the double-hand method of using a stick as found in kalinda, these were incorporated into a distinctive grima educational system based upon two-person choreographies.

After the abolition of slavery in Colombia in 1851, the conservative party launched a civil war aimed at toppling the liberal government and re-establishing slavery in the country. Afro-Colombians rushed to the liberal side and became the backbone of the liberal army, defeating the conservatives and ensuring the end of slavery. For the rest of the second half of the nineteenth century, Afro-Colombians

continued to play a large role in the military abilities of the liberal party. The most feared of these were the grima experts known as Negros Macheteros. These Afro-Colombian grima experts fought with stick and machete, frequently transforming their sticks into more lethal implements by adding a blade at one end. There were many local and national conflicts between the liberals and the conservatives. The

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 19

most devastating was the Guerra de los Mil Dias—The War of a Thousand Days—that raged from 1899 to 1902. Herbert Spencer Dickey, a North American doctor working in Colombia, described the psychological effect of Negros Macheteros in the conflict. Dickey emphasized that the use of rifles in this conflict was largely ineffective due to poor training, limited ammunition, and the lack of uniform armament. Rather, the real carnage was the result of special companies who fought exclusively with arme blanche—cutting, thrusting, and percussive weapons. The most skilled macheteros hailed from the Cauca Valley of the Pacific region and neighboring Tolima. In both regions, there were special companies led by renowned grima experts such as Cinesio Mina, Tulio Varón, and General Ramón El Negro Marin. Even as late as the 1930s in Colombia’s conflict with Peru, Colombia’s antiquated guns were no match for Peru’s modernized army and weapons. In desperation, the government called in 1932 for the formation of a new battalion of macheteros, who successfully stormed the enemy’s encampment in the battle of Tarapacá. The majority of grima styles emerged over

20 | The Book of the Stick

the time from 1851 to 1932 when they were militarily important, yet all these styles were fundamentally civilian in nature.

In the Afro-Colombian communities after abolition, individuals learned grima for entertainment and self-protection. Grima stick fighting games were a widespread pastime in the rural communities, where most people worked on private fincas, or small scale farms or sugarcane plantations. Stick fighting was a competitive but friendly form of entertainment that often accompanied drinking. Workers on cattle ranches or sugarcane plantations similarly played grima with sticks in their work breaks as a form of entertainment.

One popular game in certain areas was a tournament style with the loser of the competition having to pay for the bottle of alcohol that the participants enjoyed during the game. Many exponents of grima, also known as grimistas, also learned the art in order to protect themselves at work and in social conflicts if the need arose. Potential students had a wide range of styles to choose from, the most recent being the Tulueño Moderno long-range styles.

Venezolano Moderno: History & Practice Around the turn of the 20th century, a new family of grima styles was emerging—the Tulueño Moderno styles of Relancino Moderno, Juego de Compass, and Venezolano Moderno. This family of styles emphasized stick play more than the majority of neo-classical grima styles, which were primarily blade-focused. The original tulueño style, Relancino Moderno, was created by an Afro-Colombian family—the Valencias—in the tiny community of Caimos near Tulúa.

Their family art integrated some defensive strategies from relancino, the body position and foot-

work of español, and the counter-striking of the sombra style into a unique approach to combat. Disciples of this system later went on to develop two new variants—the Juego de Compass, which added an emphasis on extended footwork, and Venezolano Moderno, which purportedly combined Relancino Moderno with elements from Venezuelan garrote. Yet both styles are primarily derivative of Relancino Moderno and—apart from the two-handed staff techniques found in the Juego de Compass—virtually indistinguishable in terms of style of play. Practitioners of these styles

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 21

preferred to play at long range with a stick in each hand and target their strikes to the opponent’s attacking arm rather than block, which had been the custom in the classical styles of grima. The new family of arts remained isolated in the region surrounding Caimos for decades. Then in the late 1940s, a civil crisis known as La Violencia led to armed conflicts between liberal and conservative forces that made life in the region difficult.

Entire communities had to flee to safe havens, including Palmira on the far side of the Cauca River. The Tulueño Moderno styles spread inland with these migrants to Palmira, where Venezolano Moderno rose to prominence through the work of the prolific masters, Maestro Nabor Rojas and Maestro Jose Quevedo.

22 | The Book of the Stick

Maestro Nabor was born in a small community called Galicia to parents Antonio Maria Para y Maria Blanca Rojas. His father, Antonio Maria, was an adept of the classical relancino style of grima, and Nabor and his brothers came up with the desire to learn themselves. His aunt’s husband, Tomas Alvares, agreed to pay for the tuition so that at the age of eleven, Nabor could begin his first formal grima training with the Angel brothers—Pedro, Luis, and Marcos who taught the Español style. Unlike most schools that began students with sticks or wooden machetes, in this school, they began right away with a stick and a live machete. However, Nabor’s training ended on his second day of training with Maestro Marcos.

“

He asked me if I was ready, and I said, I am. I organized myself with my stick and machete in a good stance and waited for him to give me [an educational choreography] like he had done the day before . . . when instead I felt a blow from his machete and saw a part of my hat floating away like a bird. I took up the piece of hat and marched out to show my uncle . . . .”

Nabor’s uncle, himself an expert in relancino, confronted the master and defeated Marcos in a duel, which brought Nabor’s training in the Español style to an end. After this, Nabor’s family moved to Palmira to escape La Violencia. There, Nabor and his brother met Maestro Ramon, who first introduced the Tulueño style of Venezolano Moderno into the rest of Colombia.

Maestro Ramón Aguilera learned Venezolano Moderno at a very young age in the area around Caimos. In 1936, he had attained the rank of maestro at just sixteen years of age. Maestro Ramón became an itinerant grima instructor and opened grima academies in Chocó, Quindio, Tolima, and Cundinamarca. He returned to his

hometown to fulfill his military service, then worked for two years in the police force before returning to his life as a grima instructor. In the escalating violence of La Violencia, Maestro Ramón fought in many lethal street altercations: “They sought him out because of jealousy; because although he was a young man, in the games when he played grima, he hit everyone a lot. So, a number of rivals developed jealousy and said if they couldn’t deal with him playing [grima], they would deal in real fights. So, they sought battles with him . . . for this reason, he had to come here . . . in order to not have to fight so much.”

When Nabor saw Maestro Ramón’s game, he and his brother were immediately convinced that this was the style for them.

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 23

Their training began in a community outside Florida called San Antonio de Caballero, or more popularly, Chicharros. Maestro Ramón taught them in the afternoons from Monday to Saturday when they were finished working on the sugar plantation, Maria Luisa.

Students of his generation made a contract for the entire course for 125 pesos, paid at the rate of 2 pesos per week when the plantation employees averaged around 20 pesos per week. In Ramón’s academy, Wednesdays were set aside for theory. “On Wednesdays, he didn’t give a [physical] class; the teaching on Wednesdays was pure theory, pure strategy . . . . He made a circle of the disciples and walked around them with his glasses on and off dictating . . . how to enter a house, how to leave a house, how to get down, how to best get back up; everything was strategic, he had a tremendous teaching of theory.”

At the core of this theory was the concept of malicia, or cunning.

Malicia was a strategy found throughout all grima styles as well as other African diasporic martial arts such as capoeira and garrote. Malicia was more than just a collection of tricks; it was an African-Atlantic philosophy that taught the weak how to overcome

24 | The Book of the Stick

their oppressors. This philosophy was personified by the Western African trickster heroes such as the hare and the spider, who overcome their stronger rivals via tricksterism. These African tales were passed down in Colombia, where Anansi, or spider, and tio conejo, or uncle hare, were celebrated for overcoming larger, stronger animals through malicia. Grima masters taught their disciples various practical aspects of malicia, including how to walk around a corner to prevent ambush, how to safely exit a building, and how to overcome an opponent whose physical skills outmatch one’s own. The other

five days were dedicated to the physical components of the art.

The Venezolano Moderno curriculum was generally broken up into three or four compendiums.

The first was a series of nineteen or twenty choreographies called classes. These two-person choreographies taught students the fundamental strikes, defenses, and footwork patterns of the art.

The second compendium was the defensive practice called ronda.

Here, the student had to apply all the defenses learned in the choreographed sequences, to attacks that would now come without a set order. The ronda was designed

to teach the student to defend himself, first unarmed against attacks with a stick, then with stick against stick, and finally integrating machetes and knives as well.

The third compendium was the juego de malicia, or game of trickery. “This is a feigned fight between two contenders—or you hit me, or I hit you.” While the first and second compendiums emphasized dexterity and defense, respectively, the juego de malicia now introduced the strategy and practice of creating and attacking an opponent’s openings. These open sparring sessions were usually practiced with each exponent typically having a stick in each hand. The practice sticks were made of a wood called guasimo that was lightweight to avoid serious injuries. Students first trained in the more supportive atmosphere among their cohort. Later, they would have to test their skills against students from other schools.

Grima academies regularly traveled to have encounters with other schools. These were at times friendly exchanges but on other occasions designed to test rival grima styles or even rob students from other academies.

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 25

“

There were a lot of academies and a lot of rivalry in the game, so we had to travel to other parts and other schools here, in Tulua, Andalucia, Cali, Pradera, Florida, Candelaria . . . we circled all these towns. In almost every neighborhood [of these towns], there were schools and there were stick battles. If it wasn’t in one part, it was in another.”

These meetings often began with formal invitations. “The master wrote a letter, and it was signed by two or three disciples as witnesses, then the other master responded in a like manner, and they established dates and venues for the encounters.” Once at the event, the visiting master would first make a presentation of his students, then the hostmaster would present his students. There was often a time for dialogue and exchange between the two styles, particularly when they had different styles.

“My masters would often say to the other master, ‘Show us your art,’ so they would show us some of what they call cruza or paradas—educational choreographies—like the angel parada, the spider parada,

26 | The Book of the Stick

the drunkard parada, etc.” But the heart of the encounters was always the juegos de malicia.

These games would begin with friendly matches between students of the two schools. The rounds in these encounters lasted for five minutes—whatever you could accomplish in those minutes, whether you touched or didn’t touch him. But all was friendly and polite, always shaking hands and offering each other luck in the game.

The game took place inside a ring.

The ring size varied by school and style, often around 3 square meters, and almost never more than 4 square meters. Drinks usually accompanied these encounters.

“There was never a lack of liquor

as we didn’t play drinking soda, just pure sugarcane liquor, beer, etc. This always warmed up the games, as there were always a few who were susceptible . . . and they went from the heart of a pigeon to the heart of a lion.” Both for the alcohol and the desire to not lose face in front of students, the most heated matches were usually the games between masters. These were normally also with practice sticks, but at times were played with machetes instead. Thus, masters often entered such matches with spiritual protections called ventajas, or advantages.

When work on the sugarcane plantation in Florida dried up around 1963, Maestro Ramón moved the academy to Palmira, where he

rotated his time between three locations he had secured in the neighborhoods of Obrero, San Calletano, and San Pedro. After five years, Nabor had become a contra-maestro, or assistant instructor. When Maestro Ramón opened schools in other towns, Nabor would be left in charge of the academies in Palmira. “I was serving as contra-maestro for five years; [Maestro Ramón] didn’t come during the week because he had other academies in the municipality of Pradera, so he was busy there, and I was teaching here. He only came Saturdays in the afternoon—the day that all the disciples form the three localities got together—so that he could check how they were progressing.”

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 27

Nabor excelled in the academy but felt challenged when it came time to teach on his own. “And for five years I was there acting as contra-maestro, but he also wanted me to teach on my own . . . . But I was afraid to take on all that responsibility because in those days the game was very rough. There was a lot of competition between rival schools, and masters from other academies wanted to come by and destroy the school [through challenge matches].”

So Nabor only began teaching in secret. His first disciple, Teofilo Becerra, completed the first compendium around 1966. He presented this first student to Maestro Ramón, who approved of his student and encouraged him to take on more students. So Nabor took on his first cohort of clandestine students and eventually opened his own academy. When he presented them at the Saturday reunion of all of Maestro Ramón’s disciples, Nabor was formally declared a master, and his academy would become one of the two largest in the region. The other was led

by Maestro José Quevedo.

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 29

Los Gavilanes José Quevedo was born in Palmira in 1949. As a very young boy, some friends of his took him to watch a grima master teaching a student in a nearby backyard, and from there, his interest was piqued. Later, when he was a teenager, some friends who played grima began to instruct José in a bit of the Venezolano Moderno game. When he was 15, he traveled with them to meet their maestro, Luis Arturo A.K.A. Pucho Cruz, also from the epicenter area around Caimos. Maestro Pucho, already matured well into his sixties, accepted young José as a student in his academy where José traveled every weekend for training for five years.

After completing his training, José had to pass through a grueling test to become a formal graduate. In Don Pucho’s academy, the entrega was a graduation testing ceremony that required the participation of around four other masters.

“When they are ready to graduate someone, the pure masters get together to give an objective look at the disciple to decide if he is ready or if he is still lacking a bit, in which case they may say that he is still lacking and needs two or three months to work on [some aspect of the art].”

30 | The Book of the Stick

As in other lineages, José had to demonstrate his mastery of the twenty cruzas and two rondas where he had to defend himself against a machete and knife, respectively, and face each of the masters with sticks. In addition to these three elements found in all schools of Venezolano Moderno, the lineage of Don Pucho also contained a fourth component to the curriculum: the pandilla, or gang attack. This was a difficult form of play in which the disciple had to spar against four individuals at the same time. This was no easy feat and might have to be done with any weapon. “[In the pandilla,] there was a concept of the masters that they laid out four sticks, four machetes, and knives. The person who was going through the entrega said to the masters, ‘Master, you choose what you would like to play me with.’

They would say, ‘Fine, let’s play with [sticks, machetes, or knives].’

In these entregas, it was different than in training; in training, you used plastic or wooden knives, but for the entrega, live knives were used in order to know if you could defend yourself for real or not.”

Five years after he began his formal training with Don Pucho, José passed his entrega, giving him the authorization to take on students of his own.

Maestro José went on to pass on his art to hundreds of students in the area of Palmira. Rather than establish a private academy, Maestro José, along with his seven brothers and few close colleagues, established Los Gavilanes—The Hawks— a large collective academy. The first location for the Gavilanes was on 14th Street where there was a permanent training ring 4 meters wide. After ten years, the academy moved to another building in the Obrero neighborhood, and then after another ten years moved to the San Pedro location, which remains an active academy.

Like other schools of grima, Maestro José and colleagues took their students to play with their masters throughout the region in closeddoor encounters.

The Gavilanes also spread the fame of their school by demonstrating their art openly. While his master’s generation was generally secretive about their knowledge and didn’t openly advertise their academies, the Gavilanes did numerous shows at the community fairs that took place in the wider region. At these festivals, they also organized tournaments open to anyone who wanted to compete, but also formally invited known academies.

These public tournaments generally provided each competitor with a dull machete. Competitors were required to wear white shirts, and the machetes were treated to leave marks on the competitors’ clothes so that there would be fewer arguments due to fighters denying that they had been hit. Between public performance and tournaments, the Gavilanes openly attracted many students.

GRIMA (VENEZOLANO MODERNO)

· T. J. Desch-Obi | 31

The Tulueño Moderno family of grima styles began with Relancino Moderno in the region of Caimos around the turn of the century.

By the 1920s, the style had evolved into two other variants that shared the same style of play. The homeland of these arts became the site of intense bloodshed during La Violencia, leading many families to travel inland to Palmira. There, between the closed schools of Maestro Nabor that followed the traditional closed-door training policy, and the Gavilanes who openly promoted their school in public performances and tournaments, the reputation of Venezolano Moderno became firmly entrenched in the region around Palmira, where it remains the most active style.

- T.J. Desch-Obi

*The following article is an edited transcription of the Stickmata Talks interview conducted

by Mahipal Lunia as part of The Immersion Foundation's Stickmata Lab (2019). To listen to the origianl interview, visit: https://soundcloud.com/theimmersionfoundation/sets/stickmata.

WANDERING WARRIOR-SCHOLAR OF

AFRICAN & AFRO-AMERICAN COMBATIVE ARTS AN INTERVIEW WITH T.J. Desch-Obi

34 | The Book of the Stick

T.J. is a historian and martial artist who has trained intensively in a number of systems over the years. He is also so low-key you could pass him in the street and never know that this quiet man spent years training both Nigerian sidehold wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, first with Helio Gracie, then Rickson Gracie and finally John Danaher (head coach of the Danaher Death Squad).

After some coaching with longtime friend and martial artist Mark Cheng, T.J. entered a Shuai Jiao (traditional Chinese wrestling) tournament in Paris, France, and medaled in his weight class.

In addition to his recreational activities, T.J. has spent decades wandering through Africa, the Caribbean, and South America searching out African, or African-descended, martial art traditions. Back in the 1980s and 90s civil wars were flaring up throughout southern Africa. He was repeatedly caught in the middle of quickly shifting lines of control as government and rebel offensives moved back and forth.

Once, T.J. was stuck in a village (with an ever-diminishing supply of food) for a few months. Eventually, he and a few others were able to take advantage of a break in the fighting to escape by boat across a river. From there he made his way back to government-held lines and safety. In Colombia, T.J. found himself once again caught between government and rebel forces as he searched for a renowned teacher of a local system of grima.

In New York City, where he is a professor at Baruch College, he spent a great deal of time raining with the legendary Angoleiro from Bahia João Grande.

Both of us consider ourselves very lucky that we are able to combine our passion for research with our other love of martial arts. Here is sampling of his story. This interview has been edited for clarity and re-written in parts for ease of reading.

- Mahipal Lunia

GRIMA HISTORY & STYLES

· T.J. Desch-Obi | 35

An Explanation of Grima

ML: Let’s get right to it, what is grima?

TJ: Grima is an umbrella term for a wide range of predominantly stick and machete fighting arts coming out of Colombia. When we talk about grima, we are kind of describing a bird’s eye view of them all. But they are all really different from each other because some of them specialize in different weapons, different ranges, and different tactics. What unifies them is they are all coming out of a particular social geographical context in Colombia.

ML: So, is there a specific region in Colombia where this is found, or I can just walk into any street and that will be grima being practiced there?

TJ: Grima can be found throughout Colombia, but of the 35 styles or so that I have seen personally, all of these styles have come from a particular place which is called the Cauca. So, if you can imagine, we have got roughly a rectangular country and then splitting it into separate parts are two rivers. We have the river Caquetá and the river Magdalena. These were the main transportation routes through the country and in between these rivers, we have mountain ranges.

36 | The Book of the Stick

We have these very steep and deep valleys in between these mountain ranges. So basically we have got a coast mountain range, valley mountain range, and so on. As we go farther east, the elevations are going up and we are talking about being up in the Andes where it gets very cold. For example, Bogota, the capital city, is one place you really want to wear a jacket. As we go west towards the Pacific coast, nobody wears jackets—they would be sweating bullets. It keeps getting hotter and hotter. Does that make sense?

ML: Yeah.

TJ: As we go down, the elevation is also going down but there are these mountain ranges and river separating the country. Continuing going west down into the western third of the country, we are getting near the Pacific coast which we consider the Pacific region. Colombia has two coasts: the Pacific coast in the west and the Caribbean in the north. All of the grima styles that I have seen and been able to trace their lineages come from the southwestern or Pacific coast area of Colombia.

T.J. demonstrating grima at the Stickmta Immersion Lab (2019)

ML: You studied quite a few different styles of grima but also other martial arts through your life, right? What is it about grima that attracted you?

TJ: When I first went to Colombia, I was studying the Haitian art of machete fighting. I had completed my third trip to Haiti. Then I had heard about these Colombian arts from a garrote teacher I met in Venezuela and a Haitian machete master who spoke very highly of Colombian grima. When an opportunity arose for me to visit Colombia, I went thinking that this is going to be a just a side project, because I was really into Haitian

machete fighting. After seeing it in person, though, I became hooked.

What fascinated me about grima were really two things. First of all, they had a very clear teaching structure. In Haiti, it was much more of a loose intuitive kind of training. You know, “Here’s how to strike to the temple,” “Here’s how to block the temple,” and you figure out how to put it together by yourself by watching other people fence or “play machete.”

I really enjoyed the fact that there was this clear teaching structure, and, in a way, it was like watching a kung fu movie from back in the 1970s. You know those old

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Hong Kong Shaw Brothers films we all grew up on. It was like a story where Mahipal beats me using this style, so, to get revenge, I find a master of this other style to come back and defeat him. That was how duels operated in Colombia. You had all these different rival martial art academies and people would be like, if you beat me, and I was using the Grenadino style when you were using another style, I would go out and learn this other style which can take advantage of the weaknesses of your style and defeat you.

So, there was that kind of thing that I always associate with Hong Kong kung fu movies. This thing, where there are challenge matches between academies and then, to avenge, themselves the masters have to learn another style, and on and on like that.

One of the other things that really caught my attention was the number of approaches that you could find in the same area of the country. And the third thing that struck me was that as a historian I could pursue these different styles of grima back in time. With Haitian machete fighting, it is very difficult to push anything back before the Haitian revolution at the end of the 18th century.

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In Colombia it was different, because there was a variety of different styles. I could look at these styles as if they were layers in a rock, in what geologists call stratigraphic layers. I ended up examining the language these grimadores used to identify techniques and styles and combined this with the different way these masters moved to follow the development and spread of grima back in time.

ML: Is it mainly men who practice it?

TJ: One of the fascinating things about this art was that it was not just a masculine practice. There was not a lot of aggressive machismo among practitioners as you would expect to see among rural, rough, machete fighters. There were all these women also who were really good practitioners of this art.

I would have to say, though, that when you have so many arts and so many masters, it was usually really hard to choose your favorite. But as far as my favorite masters, there is no question—it was Maestro Sarturia. I interviewed her in January at 104 years old. Her father was, without a doubt, the most respected master in this region where she lived in Caponera, and she was his

contra-maestro, (which is like your assistant instructor) since she was a young teenager.

When people came to the academy, they had to “touch” sticks with her first before the teacher. She was the one people had to go through first, she was the gatekeeper, which says a lot. I interviewed guys and they were like, “Aggghhhh! Saturia beat me with a horse spur!”—you know the spur you would have in the back of the thing. “She just had a horse spur and I had a stick and machete and she still beat me.” For men in that kind of a culture to admit that—well, it was eye-opening.

ML: Yeah, you touched sticks with her?

TJ: I did, but you know I first met her on her something like her 96th birthday and she was such a sweetheart. At that point, she was a great, great, great, great grandmother, so she was not trying to hurt anybody. She was very happy to kind of teach me and tell me what she knew, but she was not trying to hurt people at that point.

She had the heart of gold. It was evident—it was evident, you know, even . . . just when she was talking, the comfort in how she was holding the machete. She would be singing and swinging a machete and using it to accent her songs. It

was clear she was quite impressive in her younger years. Looking back at all the masters I met or heard about, she was probably the most prolific master in all of Colombia.

This guy named Tuerto, even him, I got the impression from a number of guys that his wife even outshone him. So, I met a number of guys who said, “Yeah, I started with him, but I finished my training with his wife who was better.” I was like, “Wow, man!” this is really different. In the other places I had been prior to Colombia, machete was just a masculine thing.

On top of that, there were these women in many areas who were enforcers. If a husband was beating his wife in public or something like that, one of these women would come and say, “Hey, back off!” or for example, “If you want to fight a woman, fight me,” and she would teach the guy a lesson. It is really different than other places I’ve looked at in the African diaspora where there’s a really strong female presence and then on the, let us say the spiritual side, there was an idea of the Virgin Mary as a type warrior-goddess. But this was more along the lines of an African-Colombian Virgin Mary which was not necessarily the traditional Catholic view of the Virgin Mary.

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A Brief History of Grima

ML: What about the social status of the grimadores? Are we talking about everybody being working men and women, or were they held in high esteem?

What was that like?

TJ: Let us go back to the time of slavery where we can initially trace back the existence of classical grima. First of all, people should know that, when I am using the terms classical, neo-classical, or modern, these are the terms I invented to order and understand the styles.

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Practitioners would not say, “I practice a classical grima style.”

They would just say the name of their style. But I have tried to put these styles into a historical context—so, these classical styles have been around since the end of slavery, about up to 1850.

The year 1851 marks the formal end of slavery. Informally, it would go on for another few decades just because of the nature of the law.

There was a law that said if you are born before this year, you would be freed after a certain number of years of forced labor to your for-

mer master. So even though 1851 brought freedom to most people, there were still these people who had been born to slave parents where the old law kept some people under slave-like conditions for another few decades.

As far as the practitioners in this time that we are talking about— the Afro-Colombians—they can be divided into three distinct social groups. First we have got enslaved people. Then there are freed-blacks. These were people who were able to take advantage of the law in Spanish-speaking countries and saved up enough money to purchase their freedom. As a result, we had a significant number of freed-blacks, particularly in the Cauca. It was probably even higher in the Cauca than other places in Colombia. There were some sub-communities where we had a freed-black majority, or the highest percentage of the population was actually freed-black even before the abolition in 1850.

Third, we had the maroons. The Maroons were people who did not purchase their freedom. They had attacked their masters or ran away, and they formed communities in hard-to-reach areas and defended themselves by force of arms. In the Cauca river valley, we had a num-

ber of famous maroon settlements and also along the Polo River and the Valle de Patilla River. These settlements survived for centuries despite numerous assaults on them. This is the specific social class that the art of grima was associated with in this early time period, but it would change as time went on.

Grima was traditionally associated with blacks and lower-class workers. But even that changed in the 20th century. At that point grima started to spread out from these black communities in a more systematic way and into the white or mestizo (mixed Indian-white) areas. This included the indigenous communities in neighboring areas such as Tolima, which is to the west, and north into the province of Antioquia. What happened was that there were masters of grima who were traveling for work. They would go as migrant workers and set up schools of grima in these indigenous, mestizo, and white areas and the art really began to spread.

Now there are communities, let us say in Antioquia province, where all the practitioners are white or indigenous. But when you trace the teacher’s lineage back, you eventually will get to a black master.

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The Macheteros

ML: Who were the macheteros?

TJ: To continue my history lesson, the political parties that would dominate the country were formed before the slaves were freed. They became known as the Liberal and Conservative parties.

Immediately after the freeing of the slaves, the Conservative party started one of many civil wars, and the Liberals, as a newly formed group, did not have an army. They were a younger party and they did not have a strong rural base of support of large landowners with many workers who supported the Conservative party. Wealthy plantation owners who had a large number of workers under their control would order their workers to gather their relatives together, pick up their machetes and, instead of chopping sugarcane, begin chopping the enemies of the big landowner and the Conservatives.

Many countries in Latin America never had formal armies until recently. Instead, a number of large plantation owners and powerful men; merchants would order their workers and their relatives to support their political cause with force of arms against competing plantation owners and powerful mer-

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chants to see who was going to be president and control the government. In Colombia things worked out differently as the Liberal Party formed these democratic societies where they tried to convince the Afro-Colombians to back their political cause and form private armies that would support them.

After the ending of slavery, the Conservative party rose up, and it was the Afro-Colombians who came to the defense of the Liberal party, because the Conservatives were trying to reinstate slavery. In response to this, Afro-Colombians, far beyond those who had been trained in any of these small-scale private armies, rose up en masse with their machetes. In the decades after this conflict, these guys were referred to as Negroes Peneilleros or Negroes Macheteros, because they were the black men who would rise up and defend the Liberal cause.

During the second half of the 19th century, there was a long period of civil wars with new war breaking out once every seven years. And in all of these wars, it was the Liberal party who relied on these Negro Macheteros. These guys were the frontline fighters. They were frontline shock troops which in many other contexts would have made them cannon fodder. But

Colombia, in this time period, did not have a lot of artillery or repeating rifles. They all had different calibers of rifles and it was hard to find ammunition for everybody’s rifles.

This slapdash approach to war allowed “shock tactics” to be really powerful. And when you look at how these wars ended, with the pro-slavery forces of the Conservative party defeated, they always have one re-occurring complaint regarding the Negroes Macheteros. You would think that these macheteros are just lining up to get mowed down, but the low quality of the rifles available allowed these guys to be effective all the way up into the last of the great 19th-century battles which was the War of a Thousand Days.

This war was as epic as its name suggests. It actually lasted over a thousand days. It turned out to be a battle between the Liberal and Conservative parties, and one of the bloodiest battles Colombia ever endured took place during this conflict. Many of these battles were settled by the sharp edge of a machete.

ly as the 1930s, when Colombia fought a border war with Peru.

At this time Peru was trying to take control over an area of the Amazon where the city of Leticia is located. The Colombian government recruited a battalion Afro-Colombian macheteros from the Cauca region known as Macheteros de Muerte, or the “Machete-men of Death” and sent them against a trained and well-equipped modern army. Many a brave macheteros lost his life in this conflict.

However, during the battle of Tarapacá, for example, they were responsible for the few victories on the Colombian side, relying purely on the machete and a fighting tactic called the Lastico de Sombra. Basically they were trained in low-light conditions and would attack enemy encampments at night when they could get close enough to nullify the range of the Peruvian rifles.

Machete-swinging Afro-Colombian peasants were still used as frontline shock troops as recent-

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Techniques, Tactics, and Styles of Grima

ML: What are some principles, or concepts, that the diverse styles of grima hold in common?

TJ: Beginning with a look at the systems that were created in the last quarter of the 19th century, there were a large number of styles that had a distinct form of dueling which used what was called paradas, or guards. Not all styles used paradas. For example, during the time of slavery, it was more common for two armed men to circle each other.

Beginning around 1850, there was one mother style that took on this new approach to dueling. It was taken up by other grimadores and incorporated into their own styles, and this type of dueling became very popular and began to spread around the region. Among those who trained in these styles, the man who was being challenged would take a defensive stance called the parada. They would take a pose and hold it. And the guy who was insulted, it was his job to enter.

What ended up happening was that a ridiculous variety of different paradas came about that looked, to an un-trained eye, as if they lacked any combative value. But that was

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the point! It was not supposed to make sense. Because if I am mad at you, and you take a parada I have never seen before—I am angry, and you know when you are in an emotionally charged state, your ability to think rationally drops. So, if you take a regular parada I am familiar with I am going to attack you like a banshee, like a berserker, because I am angry. However, if you take a position I have never seen before, now I have to stop and analyze— and think to myself, “OK, this is a trap,” because every position is a trap.

A parada tries to draw you in, to force you to make a mistake that can be capitalized on. In one parada I am showing this because I want you to attack here. The aggressor has to think to himself, “If I attack here, the invited opening, where will the counter come from, so I can be ready to counter the counter?” This was a system to restrain violence because: “Now I am upset at you and you take this weird position. Aggghhhh, now I have to take a second to cool down and look at this.” So, they do what they call grundiar, or circling. They have to analyze how to enter because, if you just rush in a bobo, like a fool, and just go to the obvious opening, there is a trap waiting for you and you are going to pay for it.

Many of the styles (not all, but many styles) have that characteristic which I have not seen anywhere else. The closest thing I’ve seen is actually the sticklicking (from Barbados) where they had this battle of positions. But in these styles of grima, it is not really so much a battle of positions. Instead, one person takes a parada and waits.

The other guy’s job is to figure out that parada or make him move out of the position with false attacks. I find these paradas really unique. I have not seen these type of guards anywhere else. These grima styles are so diverse, it is difficult to make a generalization.

ML: What make a great grimador?

TJ: The key characteristics are, for the classical style, flexibility and what they call destreza or compas, which would blend the skills of dexterity and timing together as the term compas covers both of them. It is both timing and dexterity. The key though is malicia; the masters will say without malicia there is no grima.

Grima is fundamentally malicia. I could be unarmed, and if I am in a bad situation, I have got to escape

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with force and malicia. I have got to trick you. I am going to feign like I do not want to fight and tell you, “Ahhhhh, no man, I do not want to fight,” and then attack you. This is malicia. It is the key because when you have got two guys who have good skill, it is a battle of malicia.

Malicia is a very broad term. Within malicia, there are all these subsets that get their own names. One of the interesting subsets is nyngassa. It is where I sell an attack, but I negate my attack at the end to read your reaction. Now I know how you defend that strike and I can prepare my counter to your counter. You can use nyngassa in both attack and defense.

Many styles of grima also emphasize precaution, and malicia (in general) emphasizes precaution.

In some styles, one of their primary forms of malicia is to never enter with full strikes. This is because there are some other strong styles of grima where they swing all the way through to the ground.

As a result, malicia demands these precautionary stops; you never cross the guys at the center line, so you go to the center line and that is where your strike stops. It may

have less power, but your precaution is that, in cases where he did not have a counter in mind, you’re left in a good position. So there is precaution and deception—nyngassa.

There can also be larger “contextual malicia” in terms of control of the terrain, or putting myself between you and the exit. There were elaborate tactics for how you enter a house. How do you exit a house? If you are exiting a house or you think someone is going to attack and it is a narrow opening, what strikes do you use to clear the doorway? There were strikes that they would use as they entered the doorway to clear the area. I can clear the left side of the doorway without exposing myself if I guessed wrong and he is on the right side—then come back and clear the right side, and even get out in case the guy was actually on the roof.

These types of precautions sound paranoid. They even think about how you should shake hands so that you cannot get caught in an armlock. How do you turn a corner, closer to the wall or wide? It depends on the style. I have heard both explanations.

In the Spanish style, you never cross a corner close because if the guy is right around the corner with a knife, you are not going to have time to read the attack and defend it. What is crazy is that most grima practitioners, if you ask them directly, will deny knowing any of this. “I do not know that. I have never heard of it,” they would explain. But if you watch them turn a corner, it is obvious! You already have a sense of which style he comes from just by the way he walks, the way he turns a corner, the way he will shake your hand. You already know that this guy “knows.” These are clear giveaways because a normal untrained person is not going to shake your hand at these angles so that you cannot put him in a wrist lock. These became the tells that then encouraged me to push guys to open up. I could tell that at least he had been around grima people, even if he was not training.

Within grima, we have formal experts or exponents, but then we also had people who were cruzados, meaning they took a few lessons, they got a strike they did not like, and they dropped out. But they walked away with something.

The masses will say it is better to

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know nothing than to be a cruzado because you are overconfident—it is better to know nothing and run.

So when you see them turn the corner you know that at least he is cruzado. But is he really a cruzado?

It could be all malicia, it is almost all malicia. Because there are so many styles, the malicias can be totally different. We have long-range styles where the malicia is really about getting you to enter, drawing you in an inch so that I can strike your weapon hand. If there is one thing that unifies all grima styles, it is malicia training.

ML: What are their training methods like?

TJ: As there are so many styles of grima, there is no common answer. I can tell you about the styles that I’ve trained in. Some have had a clear pedagogy where they give you physical exercises. For example in the Spanish style, they start you out with preparatory exercises to prepare your body, and then you do these things without a stick before you can get to a stick. Finally, once you get to the stick, there is a clear, well thought-out pedagogy.

And then in another style nothing prepares you for the next step.

But then, there are styles like Mariposa, or the Butterfly, which are really brutal. You know what hap-

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pens in the Mariposa style? The emphasis is on striking the guy’s hand. Strike the guy’s knuckles, finger, and hand. And unfortunately, with that style, the only way to learn is to just to suck it up, take the pain.

When I finished my training, my teacher told me, “I am certifying you to teach this, but if you teach, you have to teach the way I have showed you. If their knuckles do not bleed, they are not going to understand. You have got to teach it with the same intensity.” I am like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah” while thinking, “I am not teaching that to anybody because I am not sadistic.”

Again, there is this complete range of teaching methodologies, but one thing that is consistent throughout is the concept of cruzas. For those of you who are familiar with Japanese arts, they are like two-man kata. So that stuff, the meat and potatoes of most (not all, but most) grima styles, is taught through these cruzas. So, across the styles, you have got nyngassa, cruzas, paradas, and educational paradas, but they are all variations on a theme.

ML: For people living here in the United States, North America, and Europe, if they want to start learning grima, what can they do?

TJ: Great question. Unfortunately, many of the masters are dying and are not leaving disciples. It is a little tough but there are still a few active schools. So, there is still a chance to save this art.

ML: In North America?

TJ: No. There is no real school in North America. There are some guys in Southern California who have gone to Columbia and trained a little bit. They have not finished the system, they are not (so far as I know) certified to teach yet in that system. Hopefully Immersion Labs is going to organize an event, maybe in 2021.

- T.J. Desch-Obi

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Bethany J. Dillon @bethany.dillon.90

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

THE WAR CLUB IN NATIVE AMERICAN WARRIOR ARTS Bethany J. Dillon

WE HAVE ALL HEARD OF individual Native American warriors and their daring feats of bravery and skill. Over and over again, These men stoically faced certain death in the quest to resist the invasions of explorers, government agents, and colonists. Representing another world, another way of life, they poured over every crevice, river, and burial ground in the Americas, looking for gold and silver and furs. Some of the names of the great men and women who stood tall and fought for the freedom of their people include Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Capitan Jack, Cochise, Crazy Horse, Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Lozen. From the first Indian uprisings against the Vikings by Inuit warriors in Vinland in AD 1010 to the last Apache holdouts from the band of Cochise in the Sierra Nevadas of Mexico in the 1930s, the stories of these Indian

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warriors still excite the hearts of all who hear of their deeds. Today’s fascination with Indian culture and history drives the imagination of researchers, historians, and archeologists. Although they have done much in preserving, recording, and sharing their discoveries, they have glossed over one significant aspect of daily Indian life: one of the most culturally profound, somewhat obvious, and necessary practices of the Native people— the warrior arts. These traditions originated long before European arrival and would have disappeared long ago, if it weren’t for a handful of practitioners across the globe working to keep the ancient and effective traditions alive.

In Missouri, the Native American Warrior Arts—or NAWA—dedicates itself to the revitalization of the Native Warrior practices. NAWA focuses on the dances, games, history, wrestling, weapons, and warfare of the Native Americans of all the Americas. For over 30 years, researchers from NAWA have bent their knees before Native American elders, dancers, researchers, and historians to learn the warrior

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arts of the First Americans that our ancestors passed down through the generations and, to no small degree, have been erased by time, violence, and change. But far from it, many of these arts are tirelessly preserved, used, and recorded for future generations.

Unlike the martial systems of Asia, the indigenous combative repertoires of the Americas have received little recognition due to the systematic destruction of the corpus of knowledge Native Americans had developed over the centuries. These conditions have led to several misguided and sometimes willfully mistaken ideas regarding the warrior arts of the Native Americans—misleading ideas such as: Indians were savages armed with simple weapons who charged head-on into the fray of battle with no ideas of tactics or strategy. The truth is that every Indian nation developed and possessed sophisticated and adaptable military tactics along with a set of armaments that supported a warrior culture that was unique to every tribe, city-state, confederation, or empire.

Training

Warrior Traditions

It is a fact Native Americans trained and mastered their weapons and themselves, in the same way professional warrior castes such as the samurai, sohei, and ninjas of medieval Japan cultivated their skills.

Survival demanded no less in the harsh extremes and, at times, heavily conflicted lands of the Americas. Warfare itself was prevalent long before European arrival, and Indians fought over access to natural resources, slaves, as well as honor or prestige. Some nations lived in fortified walled villages to deter raids from enemies. Other less populous nations had to rely on taking advantage of natural hiding places and the skills of their few warriors to survive.

The middle to late 1700s proved to be a time of significant change for the Indians of the Northern Plains.

By this time, they had linked up with Indians of the Southern Plains such as the Kiowa, Ute, and Comanche, to obtain a steady supply of horses. The introduction of horses to the plains had a profound impact on their traditional lifeways. With a herd of horses at their disposal, they could range farther in search of food sources and enemy villages to raid. They could collect and transport a more considerable amount of material goods and therefore accumulate more wealth. Consequently, the once foot-bound Indians created a unique mounted warrior culture that has captured people’s imagination around the world.

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Young Plains Indian males began their training early on. As young children, they would help set up raiding camps and watch the spare horses while the older boys and men attacked enemy settlements.

As they grew older, they would take actual part in skirmishes and raids, knowing the fastest way to

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increase their wealth and status within their community was to boast of their skills in warfare and maintain a greater herd of ponies.

Indian women also enjoyed wider latitude in their expected behavior and were accorded greater voice in political decisions than was allowed to European women at the time. Within the Iroquois confederacy of present-day New York and Canada, women often took over the warrior education of young males when their fathers left on raids.

Mothers would often work while supervising the children sparring with makeshift weapons such as cattail reeds and sticks. Although there was a general understanding regarding the gendered division of labor, still there were many great female warriors, such as Nanye-hi of the Cherokee, Pine Leaf of the Gros-Ventre/Crow, Running Eagle of the Piegan/Blackfoot, Pretty Nose of the Arapaho, and Buffalo Calf Woman of the Northern Cheyenne. All these women and many more cemented their reputations as fearsome warriors over the years.

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Sport and Warfare By the year 1428, in the Valley of Mexico, the Triple Alliance of the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan, better known as the Aztec empire, formed large urban centers. In addition to daily and weekly markets for feeding the population, these areas featured monumental ceremonial centers, pyramids, and wide paved avenues filled the urban zones. The Aztecs built aqueducts linking springs from the neighboring mountains to the city-states surrounding Lake Texcoco. At the time, the gods demanded a steady supply of human blood to nourish themselves. And as a result, there were continuous raids into neighboring kingdoms, as competing empires sought to expand their domination and ensure a steady supply of prisoners to act as ballplayers and sacrificial victims. Passed down from the earlier Olmec empire, the ballgame, once known as ullamaliztli, was central to Aztec cultural life. As it relates to this article, some scholars suggest that teams learned to play as a single unit as the Aztec arm prepared to maneuver and fight as a single unit.

The transposition of war and weapon techniques into a sport can be found across both continents—

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from ballgames played among the Olmec, Toltec, Mayan, and Aztec, to wrestling competitions among the Inuit and Yup’ik, or the game of stickball among the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creeks of Mississippi and Alabama. Stickball movements were easily transferred to a war club, highlighting the connection between warfare and sport.

Common to every Indian nation in the Americas is the use of a stick and club for nearly every aspect of life. From hunting to sport and warfare, the stick has been integral to the everyday life of Native Americans. Let us expound further upon the history, importance, and application of the stick and club in the Americas.

War Clubs The use of sticks in resource management strategies and warfare often intertwine through the historical record of the Americas.

For example, throwing sticks to kill small animals was prevalent throughout the Americas. Later, they modified sticks to increase their range and accuracy, as seen in the latter atlatl, or throwing spear. Archeologists and ethnologists have documented the use of sticks in other contexts. They have also described how many villages at specific times of the year would mobilize group hunts meant to corral animals into a pre-arranged clearing where the trapped animals could be clubbed, butchered, and distributed to the families of the villages. As the stick became integral to resource management tactics, one does not have to stretch their imagination to see how this technology could transfer to crush the skulls of political enemies. Or they asked the spirit of one’s ancestors to imbue one’s club with special powers needed to excel in the hunt or raids.

As societies evolved, the simple stick would likewise change to suit the needs of the warrior, hunter, or shaman. In the Americas—or Turtle Island, as it is also known— the stick would transform into a beautiful and deadly weapon.

Modifications to a simple club include the emergence of stone war clubs. Restricting myself to one example, among the Yup’ik of central Alaska, wooden and stone clubs are widely used in various tasks among these communities. To give one example, the hakapik is a massive wooden club with a hammerhead on one end of the head of the club and a metal hook on the other end. Over the centuries, the hakapik has proven on many occasions to be a valuable tool to hunt down both four-legged and two-legged prey.

Description and Decoration According to accounts left by settlers, soldiers, and journalists, war clubs were especially popular amongst the North American Plains Indians. Here, Indians preferred stone-headed war clubs that took a variety of shapes. Handles were carved from hardwood and decorated with colors representing blood, warfare, protection, deities, or the afterlife. Often, human trophies such as scalps either lined or trimmed the end of the handle. Rawhide, buckskin, or sinew served to attach the stone club to the handle. Clubs like these could be up to 30 inches long in certain areas.

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Ceremonial clubs were much longer than war cubs and decorated with beads. Brandishing these clubs, warriors would stand amongst other warriors at some warrior post or gather to recount their war deeds. In one account that has come down to us, an Ojibway warrior by the name of Bebon Waushih recounts his war deeds with a ceremonial war club. Surrounded by the council elders at his warriors’ post, he told what he had done:

“On my very first expedition, a long time ago, Broken Wing was my War Chief. Our war party walked many days before we came upon the camp of the enemy. It was larger than we expected. It had more than fifty warriors.

We had but ten. Outnumbered, we could not storm the camp, and so, we waited in hiding, keeping watch on their movements. On the fourth day, our scouts spotted four of the enemy headed from the north. We hid on top of the ridge. The enemy walked below in the gully. They were laughing and talking, so we knew where they were. Broken Wing gave a signal, and we rushed upon the warriors. Being young and quick, I reached the enemy first. I leaped upon the one walking in front. Before he could raise his war club, I struck him down. Before he lay still, I reached out my knife and cut a portion of his scalp. On that day, I became a warrior . . . .”

Johnston, 1994:64.

In addition to the stone-headed war clubs and battle-axes were the ball-headed war club, gunstock war club, and tomahawk. Gunstock clubs, named so due to their similarity to the end portion of a musket, were used mainly by Eastern Woodland, Central, and Northern Plains tribes during the 18th and 19th centuries. The arrival of Europeans with their knowledge of metallurgy contributed to modifying existing war clubs to accept one or more blades. Adding these blades meant that those clubs were now capable of hooking, pulling, or thrusting motions with a threeinch or longer point(s). While the flat portion was ideal for slapping, the blunt end was good for crushing bone, and the pommel for jab-

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bing. Grips varied between each of the three points of the weapon, as portrayed in several 18th-century photos, such as blade face down, blade face up, or reverse grip. The reader should keep in mind that not every gunstock club has a blade.

Owners of war clubs often decorated them to enlist the power of the spirit world—or medicine as it is known in Native American culture connoting spirit, power, energy, or mystic potency. In North American spirituality, one accords a great reverence to the four directions and the circle, and this cosmology shapes almost everything an Indian does. From the four directions—West, North, East, and South—come the four winds. Na-

tive Americans taught that the world in all its mystery works in circles; and colors, paints, patterns, songs, dance, certain plants, and animals all had spiritual power and meaning. Animal parts, such as claws and feathers, human trophies, tattoos, shapes, places, persons, and objects, had some amount of power. For example, among the Wyandot, who once ranged across the state of Ohio, the word arendi means “spiritual power or medicine.” Medicine brought to the battlefield would enhance the warrior, so a warrior brought them onto the battlefield. There, he put his war paint, decorations, and weapons together with great attention and ceremony.

The act of bringing medicine weapons into battle was a vital aspect of a warrior preparing for battle. These were weapons brought solely for the attributes they would imbue upon the warrior. A warrior’s medicine shield or any other weapon could serve as a form of magical protection and power.

Decorations were not only a means of enhancing power but displaying the power residing within a weapon. Markings and colors could distinguish a warrior and his weapon from the others (especially significant when counting war deeds so the warrior could increase his status) and provide him with the skills to allow him to return home.

His social status, power, and expertise would be on full display

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in the way he decorated his horse, clothing, and himself. The trained warrior always kept more than one weapon at his, and sometimes her, disposal. For example, the gunstock club could have found use in conjunction with the war shield, lance, hawk, and knife.

In the Northeast, the ball-headed war club was a carved piece made typically of beechwood. This weapon was hand-held instead of being a throwing weapon. It had a thinner gripping area widening into a larger, fixed wooden ball at the end. Movements with the weapon were tight to mid-range, explosive, and hard. Tactics such as rushing, ambushing, and attacking the enemy head-on with the weapon were not uncommon. As with other war clubs, decorating them with beads, paints, carvings, hair, fur, and other animal parts made them a personal expression of each warrior.

Among the warriors of the Iroquois confederation, war clubs often depicted scalp and wound tallies, deities, and spirits revealed in his or her dreams. While on the other side of the continent in

what is now British Columbia, the Haida lined their war clubs with whale teeth and representations of totemic animals.

Iroquois warriors also carved their military exploits into the weapon, enumerating the number of enemy engagements they participated in and the number of captives they had taken and killed. At times, warriors inscribed their personal tattoo patterns onto their weapons. With this decoration, the weapons themselves became imbued with the power of the spirits, resulting in a substantial psychological effect upon the warriors’ enemies. Warriors were known to leave their club at the forefront of a gruesome massacre as a personal calling card for the carnage he had inflicted. Chroniclers noted this type of calling card during the time of King Philip’s War (16751678). After one fearsome battle, a survivor picked up a war club from the Seneca or Mohawk found lying on the ground. What made it such a special find was the decorations of the tattoos of its bearer and the tally of numerous scalps.

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In contrast to Iroquois custom, ball-headed war clubs along the Pacific Northwest coast had different markings. Wooden clubs shaped like police batons or baseball bats were carved and used in war and hunting. The animals inscribed on weapons provided the power of the animal. It also attracted the animal nearer in the case of hunting. The notebooks of Captain Cook describe the methods and technology of the Northwestern Indians in writing:

“These people (Nootka people, British Columbia) have bows, and arrows, spears, slings, short truncheons (clubs) made of bone and a small pick-axe . . . . From the number of their weapons, it may be reasonably concluded that they frequently engage in close combat; and we had very disagreeable proofs of their wars being both frequent and bloody, from the number of human skulls that were offered to us for sale.”

Cook, 1984:541.

Supporting this description, the book, Arms and Men On The Northwest Coast, describes how:

“Some of these clubs were made of ground stone, wood or bone and were lined with sea otter, shark or whale teeth for ripping the flesh. While the Indians of the northwest coast possessed projectile weapons, they relied much more on hand weapons. Clubs and daggers made of stone, bone, or hardwood, which were their favorite arms.”

Fisher, 1976:4.

Others were long and machete-shaped, some long paddles with carved handles and decorated to the degree that they were useless in combat; however, they had a unique societal and cultural importance.

The Polynesian warriors of Hawai’i had several types of clubs whose use and applications are handed down to those worthy of passing on the flame and of Huna na mea huna—keeping secret what is sacred. Some clubs were de-

signed for close-quarter combat.

As a rule, true koa’s today should not be elaborated further in this article beyond the names of the club/stick weapons themselves: ho’e (paddle), ko’okoko (short staff), ko’oko’o pokole (long staff), ku’eku’e (knuckle duster with shark teeth), lei-o-mano (club with shark teeth), maka pahoa ko’oko’o (double-edged dagger at the end of short staff), newa (club), palua’o newa (double clubs), and pike (15-foot spear).

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Tactics and Use Up and down the Mississippi river valley and surrounding tributaries, beginning around 3500 BC and lasting in a much diminished form until the late 16th century, many great urban centers rose up collectively known as the Mound Builders. These metropolises seemed to have served as a melting pot of native cultures from all four directions. The adoption of ritual practices, as well as artifactual, architectural, and artistic exchange can be found among many of the historic site remains. One of the largest cities, known as Cahokia, thrived from AD 1050 to 1350.

Here, several unique weapons have been uncovered by archeologists over the years: “On January 28th, 1948, a somewhat mind-boggling discovery occurred. A wooden object was found which seemed to be sort of a club.

On removal of the wood, five shark teeth were found with eight flint blades” (Perino, 1950:61).

The club—wooden, flat, and lined with great white shark teeth—was similar to Hawaiian clubs and was used for ripping, disarming, cutting, and slapping. Located thousands of miles away from the nearest ocean, in the Midwest at the

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Cahokia Mounds Site, the weapon itself dates back to about 12000 BC. The teeth are a product of the long-distance exchanges that crisscrossed the Americas centuries before Europeans set foot on the soil.

For the Mississippians of Cahokia, the bow, arrow, spear, atlatl, mace, stone-headed war club, stone war club, shark tooth war club, and the wooden club were their primary weapons.

Across the Southern Colorado Plateau and Upper Rio Grande drainage zone arose a wide group of communities who were known for building stone and earth dwellings on the sides of canyon walls (only accessible by rope ladders or narrow trails), great ceremonial houses, the construction of a 30-foot wide arrow-straight stretching for dozens of miles, and exquisite pottery. From 200 BC to AD 1500, the ancestors of present-day Pueblo Indians, known as the Anasazi, produced and used to great effect weapons known as fending sticks.

The scholar Ross Hassig speculated that the grooved and curved sticks served as short swords for close-range fighting (1988:294295). However, their use continued up throughout the present time as rabbit throwing sticks.

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Just South of the Anasazi In Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico, and not long after the Anasazi faded away, a vital weapon among the Pima Indians was the potato masher war club. The handle of this weapon ended in a sharp point while the head had an inverted truncated cone shape and was flat across the head. Pima warriors used the weapon in smashing blows and upward ramming motions into the face of the enemy combined with wrist rotation movements meant for pounding.

Blocking would be near impossible given the size and proportion of the club, and so warriors carried a shield for protection. In battle, a portion of the men fought with this club and a shield alone—covered with rawhide stretched over a cottonwood frame with a handle in the center. Piman-made shields also had a loop of rawhide by which they could sling them around their neck in a resting pose.

Furthermore, shields were decorated with swirls and dizzying patterns intended to disorient the enemy. Oral narratives tell how their designs and associated “magic dizzied those Apache who armed themselves with a lance, or bow.”

Once they were disoriented, it was easy to close in upon them and club them down. The Pima, Yuma,

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and Maricopa warriors would all wear thick fabrics, strong enough to withstand bladed assaults from the Apache. The Apache themselves eventually began to use the club as their lances were useless against the Pima, who had adapted to their constant ambushes.

Designed to make heads roll, the Apache war club was a fearsome weapon. A wooden handle met with a ball-head end was a deadly but simple weapon in the hands of a skilled warrior. It was one of the older Apache Indian weapons, and the Apache would make use of young trees to construct formidable war clubs. Then when the club began to decompose, it was discarded and a new one carved.

The Apache also utilized jawbone war clubs whose hitting point was the toothline of the jaw. The teeth were sometimes polished and sharpened to the degree they could cut through the enemy’s armor and flesh. Its handle was decorated with the typical hide and feathers, as functionality among the Apache was more important than decoration. Stone-headed tomahawks also saw use on the battlefield.

Moving further south into central and southern Mexico not too long after the abandonment of Cahokia for reasons we still do not under-

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stand, similar urbanized empires arose with their ways of waging war. The weapons of choice were long wooden war clubs and lances lined with inlaid, razor-sharp obsidian and used in warfare and duels. Both the macahuitl along with the lance were the main weapons of choice in the Valley of Mexico.

The name macahuitl derives from the Nahuatl language meaning hand-wood, and would have a longer handle or more extended bladed portion when used in combat.

The club often saw use in conjunction with a rounded, painted, and feathered hide shield. The weapon itself required wide sweeping motions meant to lop off limbs. The blades were fragile and unsuitable for impact as they would shatter, which made blocking a task primarily required of the shield.

According to Hernan Cortez, the weapon could cut the head clean off his horse. However, despite the technology that assisted in the survival of such a belligerent nation, its designs were no match for the long pikes and swords of the finest Toledo steel.

Further south in the Yucatan peninsula, a Mayan club was found in a sacred Cenote or well at Chichén Itzá. The club is a curved stick with longitudinal facial grooves and decorated with sacred colors and

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symbols. Archeologists also found similar weapons in the north of the valley of Mexico at Tula, the capital of the old Toltec empire, and various sites throughout northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Archeologists speculate that they acted as a defense weapon against atlatl darts.

Up high in the Andes mountains, the run-down western side of South America, Incan club and stick technology, in contrast to those further north, was entirely distinct in function, shape, and use. ​The Incas, who only reigned from 1488 to 1533, must have taken much of their knowledge from earlier empires that wielded battle-axes, heavy stone maces, and the macan ​​as sword-club into battle.​ ​The​ macana, a word of Taino Indian origin, ​was a type of sharpened sword-club used by Indians throughout Central and South America and is related to the macuahuitl of the Aztecs. The Inca developed a macana-spear with a long wooden handle and a stone or copper star-shaped head with six points. The macana was intended for use in close-quarter combat and could easily crush through skulls. The macan was either used separately or with other weapons as part of an arsenal that included boleadoras, spears, bows and arrows, and slings.

Aggressively expanding their rule while ruthlessly crushing their neighbor’s military forces, Incan armies relied on psychological warfare and intimidation tactics before any physical contact occurred.

Armies would approach the battlefield in complete silence at first.

Then troops would maneuver in an organized fashion to allow for military parades to break through the lines as a show of order, discipline, and combative ability. The exchange of challenge songs and responses followed by insults and taunts spurred the morale of the army. If the enemy did not retreat as a result of this show of force, the actual attack would begin. The first line of Incan soldiers would lob missile weapons at the enemy until hand-to-hand combat fighting occurred. If this did not lead the enemy to withdraw, the second wave of soldiers would round the flanks to surround to finish off or capture the enemy.

The overreliance on sheer numbers as a military tactic served well against their enemies in the region. But it would prove a great weakness upon the arrival of 168 disciplined and motivated Spanish in 1532. At the battle of Cajamarca, Spanish armed with guns, steel lances, and horses overwhelmed the Incan capital. They captured,

kidnapped, converted, removed, and submitted the Sapu Inca. They took his throne and claimed the land in the name of Spain and the church. While the Incan capital and the urban elite fell in a sudden swoop, Incan resistance in the countryside continued for many years, until finally, in 1572, the Spanish were able to capture the last Incan Emperor Túpac Amaru and sack his capital of Vilcabamba.

Going eastward over the crest of the Andes and descending into the Amazon river valley, warfare bloomed. The region’s war clubs were about chest height and useful for dramatic swings and harsh

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blows that were able to crush bone and open skulls. Such was their effectiveness that they were the desired weapon of the jungle before machetes and, much later, guns.

These war clubs were often utilized as canoe seats until conflict arose in which the weapon was available for a swift deployment in combat.

Other clubs were paddle-shaped, sword-shaped, cube-shaped, dagger-shaped, wooden-ax-shaped, and spatulate-shaped. These paddle-shaped clubs and spatulate-shaped clubs were used all up and down the Orinoco river valley and used among the Arekuna, Wapishana, Makusi, Arawak, Warrau, Oyana, Koróa, and Umáua. Like the macana and macahuitl, these clubs had a thin edge capable of causing cutting blows though not sharp enough to lop off limbs.

Indians living along the coastal forests of northeastern Brazil

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were known collectively as the Tupi. In the face of conflict, they armed themselves with bows and the two-handed paddle war clubs, poison darts, and spear-throwers. In contrast, one of the Tupi Indian groups, known as the Tapiruru, employed an atlatl alongside the club, which was wielded in their free hand and could efficiently serve as a fending stick and a secondary weapon. According to one Dutch commander, “. . . they fight with bows and arrows, javelins with stone points and wooden clubs” (​Barlaeus, 1647:323-24).

Armed with spatulate-shaped tapered clubs with handles wrapped in cords, these Indians proved to be a fearsome enemy. The mercenary John G. Stedman wrote a book of his life fighting against the Indians and maroons of South America in the mid-1770s, describing a flared quadrilateral war club:

“I must not forget that every Indian carries a club, which they call Apootoo, for their defense. These clubs, made of the heaviest wood in the forest, are about eighteen inches long, flat at both ends, square, but heavier at one end than the other. In the middle, they are thinner and are wound about with strong cotton threads, to be grasped, having a loop to secure them around the wrist, as the sword-tassels are used by some cavalry. One blow with this club, which is frequently fixed, a sharp stone scatters the brains.

These are used by the Guiana Indians like the tomahawk by the Cherokees, on which, besides other hieroglyphical figures, they often carve the number of persons slain in battle.”​ Stedman, 1796: 396-397.

Clubs attributed to the Carib or Culima in the Guianas and the Orinoco-Amazonian lowlands had carved representations of serpent goddess, water, and frog spirits into them. These designs invoked the spirits into their lives. They also served to show one’s status as a warrior by displaying marks of those they have killed. The peoples of the Amazon often smoked

tobacco mixed with other natural substances to intoxicate themselves before a battle, to enhance warfare, hunting, and healing, and to commune with the spirits and the deceased. As both a spiritual and belligerent practice, the hallucinogenic plants yakoana, ebene, and yopo are part of everyday life.

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In conclusion, stick and club technologies have evolved far from the simple rabbit hunting stick and into a wide range of culturally distinct and engineered weapons that were effective to the survival of not only the Native Americans but the entire human race. To record the history of war clubs, including their cultural and ceremonial importance and historical evolution across the Americas, would be a lifelong project. A lifetime would pass before one could record every detail, advancement, methodology, and cultural symbol or practice, even by committed groups of individuals. That is why a group such as NAWA, consisting of contributing members, researchers, historians, and combative experts, is not only a great historical/cultural resource but a living tradition meant to keep the warrior arts alive and remembered in their entire glory.

- Bethany J. Dillon

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SELECTED REFERENCE

Bethany J. Dillon’s book, War-Torn: A Look At Warfare In North America Before European Influence and its sequel, War-Torn: The Arrival.

Perino, Greg. “Cultural Clues From Cahokia.” In Cahokia Brought To Life, edited by R.E. Grimm, 59-61. Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, 1950.

Stedman, John Gabriel. Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. Original 1790 manuscript edited by Richard and Sally Price. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1992.

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Dr. Michel Farivar

GEIJIN RYU STAFF ARTS

Michel Farivar

Geijin ryu is a martial art that expresses its combative relevance through an understanding of the anatomy, and, amongst other strategies, the kinetic physiology of the body. This is as relevant in armed as in unarmed combat. The art maximizes, wherever possible, the potential of weapons in a strategic manner. Keeping this in mind, we can begin to explore some of the features of staff arts as understood in this discipline.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO CLARIFY from the outset, that in Geijin ryu, no distinction is made in the general approach between staves and other weapons that share their basic characteristics, other than the additional potential afforded by attaching blades, hooks, and chains to polearms and sticks.

In Geijin ryu, working the staff does not involve blocking techniques. There is a clear differentiation between blocking versus infiltrative and strategic counter-strikes, in that the former involves a dead stop to the kinetic motion of the enemy’s weapon.

The latter attacks the enemy at a vulnerable point and disables the attack. Blocking constitutes a hindrance to effective infiltration, interception, and counterattacks.

At its most basic, the potential afforded by the use of a weapon relies on how the weapon both enhances and limits movement. Once committed to a certain movement, other potential movements or

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strategies may become less available. Therefore, within Geijin ryu, the initial approach is always a posture and method that either conceals the next movement, or is the most versatile in terms of possible approaches.

Like in other combat arts, feints, exploitation of voids, and blind spots apply. Geijin ryu techniques transition in a facile manner between weapon and unarmed methods. The empty hand techniques are practiced in such a way as to be unimpeded when a weapon is introduced into the same movement. There is specific training on this. In other words, the training prepares for armed and unarmed techniques in either direction. This anticipates the very real possibility of losing the weapon during an engagement. The results are a question of the kinetics of the body.

To begin with, the weapon, like our bodies, has three basic distances in combat; these are long, intermediate, and short. Naturally, these vary according to a person’s own dimensions and the range of the weapon itself. The application of distance used may also be affected by the number of opponents and other considerations, such as whether they are armed. At each range, the array of strategies and types of

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techniques change. The purpose of the encounter may also dictate the methods chosen. The actual range expressed within a technique varies in the same manner as in empty-handed fighting. This has to be intuitive in the practitioner and is acquired through training with various types of weapons and realistic combat scenarios.

For illustrative purposes, we might consider range analogous in empty hand fighting, to say that a fully extended kick is long range, a fully extended arm is medium range, and anything less than that is short range. If you are using a stick the length of your arm, you would consider a fully extended arm holding the stick at one end as long range, using the stick arms bent and close to the body in a short fighting stance would be medium range, and if you were to hold the stick in the middle and apply it as a grappling implement, that would be short range. While we understand this as the most basic lesson a person would learn in any martial arts school, and might barely need mention, it is in fact foundational to everything that comes after, and the ability to transition range without the slightest thought while engaged in combat is critical.

If a practitioner has only learned

to strike and parry with a weapon, and not to grapple, choke, and lock joints, they will be at a significant disadvantage when their enemy successfully closes in, especially if they are armed and capable.

At a longer range, obviously, strikes take place. These are taught, due to their risk of inaccuracy, to attack the most vulnerable targets, maximizing the effect for the amount of effort. Strikes are also intended, to some extent, to presage further

movement on the part of the enemy, opening them up to vulnerability and manipulation. Strikes attack vital areas—vital in more than one sense: vital to stopping the attack, and often, vital to the physiology of the enemy. Such strikes can be aggressive or defensive.

Generally, the attacking enemy has opened themselves to counterattack, and although they may anticipate a counter maneuver, they often will try to press an attack on

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a retreating opponent until they land a decisive hit. Knowing how to respond to driving violent attacks of this kind is essential in Geijin ryu training. In Geijin ryu, the mindset is not to only stop the attack and set up a retaliation; it is to capture and destroy the enemy themselves as the assumed originator of the violence.

The method of striking, and where to strike, will also adapt to whether the enemy is armed with a blade, projectiles, or a flexible weapon. It is critical to apply strategy in a rational manner that eliminates the enemy’s ability to execute their attack. It is also critical to know how to respond to feints, jabs, and aborted attacks from your enemy.

The ability to do so requires a psychological state, not dominated by the enemy and the danger they represent. In this area, sparring, if necessary with armor, is needed.

There is a potential divergence in topic that can be exploited at this junction, exploring the changes in behavior that happen in combat when wearing armor. This is a very serious caveat to such training. To illustrate the point, try to imagine a kendo match with no armor, and noting how the strategies and behavior differ. We can return later

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to the needed psychological state for successful staff training, as it has substantial bearing on the execution of techniques.

At the point of combative engagement, basic counter strategic considerations are: infiltration of the enemy’s movement; limitation of their movement while freeing one’s own, neutralizing their ability to fight; and thirdly assuming total control, and if necessary, destruction of the enemy. Naturally the application of these strategies necessitates learning evasive and counterattacking movements against many types of attacks. Evasion, infiltration, and counterattack are realized as one continuous movement.

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How this can take place, is one of the areas of training where the most training is devoted. It requires a fairly in-depth understanding of the human body: how clothing moves on the body and often hinders it; how skin and fascia work; how muscles work with joints, ligaments, and bones; how bones interface with nerves, and how blood vessels interact with muscles and vital organs; how structure and balance in the body operate in movement, and how all that operates in a bidirectional manner with the psyche. To those new to the art, this part of the training can be psychologically overwhelming.

Witnessing techniques and being subjected to them confers little

understanding outside of a subjective appreciation for their effect.

What is required to teach this material is that a number of subjects need to be studied, similar by category to what is taught in medical school. The kinds of charts seen in many martial arts books and on acupuncture illustrations are essentially useless without the proper instruction and didactic.

Incorporating knowledge of this kind into actual fighting is not a simple matter. Overcoming natural reflexes and tendencies is difficult. This is illustrated by the observation that people trained in martial arts that utilize strategies intended for street fighting, when made to spar, will resort to styles of fighting alien to the

core of their art, and start emulating boxers, Thai fighters, and MMA competitors. What does this say about their skills taught in the school and their relative perceptions of these more competition-based arts? This point offers a broad analysis that is out of scope for this topic, but nonetheless is relevant to weapons training and the approach to the staff. To limit that discussion in this case, certain concepts are offered for consideration: certain contexts of combat are intended to test techniques, others to demonstrate or showcase them, and others to offer an experience that approximates certain important features of combat that require desensitization and cognitive adaptation.

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Returning to how the paragraphs above relate to the use of the staff draws our attention to the fact that, in Geijin ryu, the weapon—in this case a staff—is incidental. The art does not differentiate strictly one type of weapon from another in such a manner as to give name and subculture to that weapon and an associated style. This point is made because the understanding of weapons as applied in Geijin ryu does not separate out in the mental constructs of the fighter.

Questions such as, “What is your favorite weapon?” ring irrelevant to Geijin ryu.

Exploring further, actual stances are not assumed until the combative engagement is initiated. The staff and position of the body are in constant motion, making future movement difficult to predict. Every effort is made not to telegraph intent. Closing range and seizing the opponent require filling voids, utilizing physical and cognitive blind spots, dissonance of timing, and demoralizing the enemy by robbing them of control. For a fighter to experience the feeling of impending loss can create different psychological reactions that have to be understood, and these are not related to the element of surprise, which occurs for the enemy who firmly believes their attack is succeeding.

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Geijin ryu staff work applies its techniques through evasion with simultaneous counterattack in real time. Once closed in, the fighter’s body is positioned in such a way that controlling the enemy does not limit one’s own ability to respond to another attack.

Geijin ryu staff work does not employ any solo kata. Like with the empty hand methods, all is practiced with a training partner. Many of the staff techniques do not only emphasize strikes as the primary method. Rather, “body work” is done, which completes the encounter with very close infighting, pins, and control or physical damage of the enemy. That stated, the technique should not lock the fighter in with the opponent in a way that extricating oneself is difficult and creates vulnerability to additional attacks from others. This is vital to survival against multiple opponents.

When strikes are used, the aim is to immobilize the body through the nervous, musculature, or skeletal systems, and viscera, including the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. There are special strikes that aim at these vital systems of the body. These are all especially useful against multiple attackers.

In Geijin ryu, all objects possessing a shaft essentially qualify as a staff.

Therefore, to maintain innovative cognitive processing in combat, training involves using a wide variety of tools and common objects.

Although not considered necessarily by other systems as staves, what matters in Geijin ryu is combative effectiveness, and therefore, distinctions that limit innovation are considered irrelevant and are ignored. Training with tools such as a spade or rake is perfectly relevant.

For some who are interested in maintaining weapons classifications, perhaps for historical or other analytic endeavors, hybrid weapons present a possible challenge, and they might reject these as tools and not weapons. In combat, classifications of this kind have little importance, especially in a modern context, where true weapons are dominated by firearms and knives. People choosing self-defense will in many places be obligated to use whatever is available. In a manner, this puts Geijin

ryu at odds with some traditional weapons systems. We may be tempted to think this places Geijin ryu in a category of modern martial arts derivative systems. Again, such distinctions are irrelevant when considering that many historical combat systems use tools in combat, while some traditional systems have adopted modern weapons as societal pressures changed the combative narrative.

Since practice in Geijin ryu seeks to be combatively focused, the actual training methods are important to discuss. Training methods are to be understood as different from the actual techniques themselves. The understanding moves along a hierarchical cycle, from philosophical to strategic/cognitive, to understanding the human body and psyche, to training methods to techniques and back.

All of these are combined in the expressed techniques of a person who has understood the art and is able to perform it.

Preparation for using the staff in combat requires a blending of the comprehensive teachings of the various levels of the art. Often, the beginning student is not fully aware of this. They will be introduced to evasive body movement

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with and without the weapon, and expected to note how this affects movement and brings opportunity for engagement. Training of this sort always takes place with an opponent.

Students are expected to work dexterity exercises, not prearranged kata. These will often involve executing strikes against a tree or other target. In this way, they practice combining postures, steps, and strikes, coordinating these together. Striking a tree and other solid objects, such as in cutting wood with an axe, toughens the ligaments in the arms and hands and trains the student not to lose their grip on the weapon when it makes contact.

As their ability to handle the staff improves, they learn how to use the three distances against a typically armed assailant. At first, this is slow and permits the student to comprehend the mechanics of the combined strategies, movements, and techniques. This phase of training serves to make them aware of the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges in each situation.

In Geijin ryu, these techniques are not memorialized in pre-arranged encounters called “kata” like in many Japanese martial counterparts. These are also different from

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the pre-arranged solo movements, also called “kata,” but which are complimentary. Geijin ryu solo movements are similar in concept to solo kata, but are a much smaller part of the training curriculum, so as to be negligible. Partnered movements are essential, yet in Geijin ryu they too are not pre-arranged or codified. Instead, these emerge from discussion, review of past techniques, and when the teacher seeks to complete an array of possible movements for a given scenario. There might be a class on how to use a staff when trapped in a choke, a nelson, or with a blade held to the throat, and various other surprise attacks.

It is during this phase that the student learns much of the body and psychological dynamics. They learn to handle the staff during falls and rolls (ukemi) and how to maneuver a staff during complex combat rolls and movements down halls and along walls. These skills get the student intimately familiar with their weapon, and they start to feel connected with it, as if it were part of their body.

The staff no longer consciously influences movement, and its use becomes natural. When this occurs, any staff-like object takes on this feeling. To enhance speed and dexterity, training with an iron

"I

n Geijin ryu, working the staff does not involve blocking techniques. There is a clear differentiation between blocking versus infiltrative and strategic counter-strikes, in that the former involves a dead stop to the kinetic motion of the enemy’s weapon.

The latter attacks the enemy at a vulnerable point and disables the attack."

staff—hollow or solid, depending on ability to tolerate its effects—is recommended. Practicing dexterity with such a weapon not only greatly improves strength, but it also helps the student to be prudent with their movement. Hitting oneself with an iron staff is very painful—it is not recommended to use it in partnered training.

Comfort with the staff increases with the sparring, typically mock weapon against mock weapon.

Usually, some minor armor is needed to prevent damage to essential organs, such as the eyes and nerves in the upper extremities.

At this time, the student becomes aware that an actual combative encounter with a guarded and counterattacking opponent is far more complex than practicing drills with a partner. The actual skill lev-

el becomes rapidly apparent. Here, timing and positioning are crucial and ever-changing. Minor injuries can occur; cracked ribs, bruises, and twisted ankles happen. Students must learn that combat does not stop if injured, and must work to acquire the mind frame that prevents going into shock and paralyzing fear. The experience of getting hit is not a matter of points; it is about handling the stress of combat. The student quickly realizes that fighting is nothing like the choreographed depictions in film.

Having explored some of the bodily targets (nerves, muscles, joints, bones, and the vascular system) and some of the strategy for achieving access to these targets, it is important to understand that staff work in close quarters is a form of train-

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ing strongly emphasized in Geijin ryu. The rationale for this training is that an opponent facing a fighter with a staff will typically work to close the distance, where they may believe the staff loses what is perceived as its main advantage, which is distance, for the purpose of striking. The same will be true when an enemy faces a sword like the katana. It is generally understood that a shorter staff is desirable when fighting at close range.

Yet, in Geijin ryu, the teaching is to adapt the fighting skill to whatever weapon is available, regardless of length. What permits the application of infighting techniques

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with staff is that, in close quarters, the focus moves away from most strikes and transitions to locks, pins, and chokes. The transition happens when swinging the staff is replaced by weaving and infiltrating into the body of the enemy through their movement. Strikes may be replaced by short jabs and short hits with the shaft between both hands.

The attacker, in the commission of their attack, creates a series and array of openings to be exploited, and there are many. One of the ways an attacker can minimize the exploitation of these openings is by swinging two sticks or blades in

a whirl of motion that is difficult to follow and enter. This is seen in kali, some of the movements of silat, and Chinese styles of wushu.

Even some Japanese arts also do this to a more limited extent. In this method, the individual strikes are less effective in their percussive power, but repeated strikes of this kind disorient and rapidly beat the enemy into submission, opening them for the kill. Geijin ryu also performs these kinds of swinging strikes, but much less than in the aforementioned arts.

There are ways to move in and get around some of these rapid shortstick attacks, and there are ways

to break the rhythm of the movement. It requires training with a person who knows these drills. It is not easy to do, especially against a fighter who is very good at this strategy.

Given that we fight with whatever is available, a coveted/preferred weapon or a staff crafted for combat is typically not available. Fighting with a rough and natural tree branch is a common and desirable alternative. Their rugose surfaces limit any sliding motion along the shaft, which is a useful feature. A treated and prepared staff may be too smooth and can be dropped from wet or sweating hands. In

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Geijin ryu, whenever possible, an untreated natural wooden staff is preferred to a polished smooth staff of the sort used in karate demonstrations. The staff should also not be tapered, although having a point on the tip can be useful.

Show staves (for demonstrations) are sometimes tapered to enhance whirring sounds, probably to make them harder to grasp by an enemy. Geijin ryu typically works with thicker and heavier hardwood staffs, although bamboo sticks are

also considered very good to work with due to their tensile strength and their special properties in striking.

When a staff is very smooth, as it can be with bamboo, it can be made to grip into the enemy by rotating it along its long axis. Bamboo also has rings on its surface which can enhance traction. This point is not so important when striking but is very applicable in grappling with a staff.

Training with natural rough tree branches full of knots is common in Geijin ryu. They come in unpredictable lengths, they often have rough splinters at the end, they may be wet, and they can also break. These are perfect to teach and train in rapid adaptations to unreliable weapons, which may be the only option against an enemy armed with a blade or other weapon. In spite of the unruly and unreliable features of tree branches, properly handled, they can be very effective.

Against blades, it is advised not to prune the smaller branches off before using a natural stick. The protruding branches cause tremendous hindrance and confusion to the enemy. There is mention of historical precedent for this practice in the book, Soldiers of the Dragon,1 a text on Chinese martial history. This strategy was reportedly used against Japanese warriors that had joined the Wa kuo, a pirate army that raided the Chinese coast and estuaries. One Chinese soldier would wield an untrimmed bamboo stick to entangle the samurai katana while two others, typically armed with 1 C. J. Peers, Soldiers of the Dragon: Chinese Armies 1500 BC to AD 1840 (Osprey Publishing, 2006).

spears, would stab. This example pits three Chinese foot soldiers against one samurai and is uneven, pitting skills against numbers. The pertinence of this story is, that in an emergency, a tree branch can be successfully used against a blade-wielding attacker.

Another possible advantage of such natural weapons is that they are inconspicuous. There are usually no laws against their use; they lack any significant premeditation in their use, therefore supporting that they are applied primarily for self-defense. If one were engaged in a premeditated act of violence, choosing a branch from the ground with all its potential failings would be fraught with risk.

With regards to using natural weapons such as tree branches, in Geijin ryu, there is the practice of throwing sticks. This originates from a well-known and ancient hunting practice. Often a throwing stick is either fashioned to operate like a spear or javelin, or like a club. In the latter case, a root ball or round heavy tree growth at one end is desirable, as it improves percussion. Staves that are specially prepared as weapons are not usually intended to be thrown, as this is a high-risk strategy in combat and the weapon may be of some value.

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Geijin ryu does use specialized staves that are specifically intended to be used as weapons. Trainees learn that a sword in its scabbard or a sheathed machete can be used in a manner like a staff. They learn that the unsharpened side of a long blade confers properties similar to a staff, and that the techniques are overlapping. Some specialized staves have iron rings, tips, and studs. These are capable of breaking bones, joints, and causing other serious and penetrating injury without puncture. They were used to match against swords and other bladed weapons. Such weapons have little pragmatic value today; they might not be legal to carry in public, and they can encumber movement in most contemporary settings. It is perhaps a small irony that the most ancient staff weapons—natural branches—and associated strategy, remain one of the most relevant today.

By the time the trainee has become deeply familiar with the concepts and methods utilizing stick weapons, they train more in the free application of technique through limited sparring, wearing body armor. They learn to blend the application of timing, distance, and positioning as the conflict transitions from strikes and sweeps to locks and pins utilizing the staff.

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They learn how to work against an aggressive opponent who is trying to close in with a blade. Their staff work is pitted against a variety of other weapons, including chains, blades, and other staves of various lengths. They will teach themselves how to close in and disarm an enemy armed with a staff, as well as how to retrieve a staff that has been taken away from them.

In these conflict scenarios, they learn that successfully landing a strike on their opponent does not stop or end the fight, as it would in point-oriented sports.

All through this process, the student learns to maintain an adaptive cognitive approach. In the event that they drop their weapon, or it happens to break, they can transition to using empty hand fighting or use what is left of the weapon.

They can blend free empty-handed techniques with one hand while holding the staff in the other. They learn through this not to rely overly on using the weapon/staff, just because they happen to be holding or carrying it. They learn to handle, in some cases, one weapon in one hand and another weapon in the other. This develops the capability to work in an almost ambidextrous manner with one-handed weapons technique.

The general approach to weapon work in Geijin ryu, as it pertains to the use of other weapons, is similarly comprehensive. The tuition of each form of weapon and empty hand training complements the other. The learning is not based on acquiring knowledge through categories and semantic memory. It is learned and reinforced through the multimodal sensory and executive experiences of applying the techniques directly to a human body in combat-oriented scenarios that strive for realism. The methods are not bound by cultural traditions; instead they are intended to be pragmatic and task-oriented. The expression of underlying cosmological influences develops through the student’s eventual appreciation that the art they are learning exists in the form that it does due to the natural systems found in human biology and physiology, which in itself is complex enough not to need the void in knowledge to be filled with myth.

- Michel Farivar

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Steaphen Fick @steaphen.fick

THE EUROPEAN QUARTERSTAFF A HISTORICAL REVIEW Steaphen Fick

THE QUARTERSTAFF IS AN iconic weapon used in history and fiction for self-defense and war.

Staff weapons are some of the oldest weapons of war and defense, and every culture has staff work and uses a long staff for combat.

In the European tradition, we do the same, and it is used as a training tool for other weapons as well.

The staff was most commonly cut from ash, oak, or some other hard

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wood. Higher quality staves were also often tipped with metal on either end to add to the force of the strike.

We have all seen the picture or video of Robin Hood fighting Little John with a quarterstaff on a bridge over a creek, but how did they use the staff weapons? In the European tradition, the staff weapon is taught as a staple in the mar-

tial tradition. The “quarterstaff” is called so because you hold onto one quarter of the staff and hold three quarters of the staff between you and the opponent (Figure 1).

The use of the staff changed in Europe when the staff moved from self-defense usage to more sporting usage. In war settings, the staff was held with a long part extended forward more like a two-handed sword. Once the staff was being used more for sports, the practitioners started to rely more on methods and techniques of “halfstaff (Figure 2).”

When using the staff in the “halfstaff” grip, the practitioner is closer to the opponent and therefore not as much force is developed in the strike. When you are using the staff in the “quarterstaff” grip, you hold the staff to your measurements; the back hand is the length of your forearm from the butt of the staff, and your lead hand is the length of your forearm above that.

When holding the staff like this, you are using your staff as you would hold and use a two-handed sword.

Figure 1

Figure 2

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The quarterstaff

Le Jeu de la Hache is a French manuscript that translates to “The Play of the Axe,” written around 1400 by an anonymous Milanese fencing master who was in service to Phillip II, “the Bold,” the Duke of Burgundy. The poleaxe is a knightly weapon that was used for warfare and for dueling. The poleaxe is a staff weapon that has a dague (dagger) at one end and a queue on the other end that often has a butt spike. The poleaxe has a hammer and a spike right below the dague.

The poleaxe is a crushing weapon with thrusting points at every angle. When the word “pole” is used in the word “poleaxe,” it is not talking about the haft of the weapon; the hammer is called a “pole” or “poll.” The poleaxe is also another name for the battle axe.

The halberd

The author of Le Jeu de la Hache says that you should hold the poleaxe so that you have space behind your back hand; that you can use the queue to defend with and you can start with either the dague or the queue forward. When you are holding onto your weapon, you cannot cross your arms against your body because of the weight of the weapon. When you have your right foot forward, you should have your right shoulder forward.

If your left foot is forward, your left shoulder should be, too. You can shift your grip so either hand is leading, but you need to transfer your hands so that you do not take one hand off the weapon and are able to keep contact with both hands on the haft of your weapon.

The poleaxe (left), bardiche (middle), and partisan (right)

The bec di corbin

When you hold the poleaxe in the middle of the haft, they call it demi hache. Because of the weight of the weapon he also says that you can “. . . give him a hard blow with all your strength, simply to see whether you can hurl him on the ground.”

Almost all the footwork in Le Jeu de la Hache are passing steps when you use the dague or the queue so that you are moving the ends of your weapon with your footwork.

In 1410, there was a manuscript called Fior di Battaglia (The Flower of Battle) written by Fiore de’i Liberi. He was a master in the Bolognese style. In his manuscript, he shows techniques for the spear, the poleaxe, and the club. He uses the spear in the fashion of the longsword. Many of his guards for the spear are the same as we see in the longsword. His spear work includes thrusting and cutting techniques. You will even see some of the techniques in the mounted combat section when he is using the lance from horseback. Fiore also teaches actions with the pole-

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The lochaber

The spear

axe and says that many of his techniques come from the longsword section. He uses footwork to his advantage that allows the player to move off the line, so that he can control the center line and dominate the line of the adversary’s attack. With his footwork, he uses steps called Accressere (the advance), Discressere (the retire), Mezza Volta (the passing step), and Tutta Volta (the complete turn where you move your body around the staff weapon as opposed to moving the weapon around your body).

In the 1540s, Paulus Hector Mair published a two-volume collection of German fencing manuscripts1 that included every fencing treatise that he could obtain. In his manuscript, he has instructions on the use of the short staff which he calls the spiess (spear), the lance which he calls langen spiess (long spear), the poleaxe which he calls the mordagst (murder axe), the halberd, and what he calls the peasant stick, a tree branch around three and a half feet long.

1 David James Knight and Brian Hunt, The Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair (Paladin Press, 2008).

The Swedish axe

Figure 3

Figure 4

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The short staff is a thrusting spear just over six feet long. Mair states that “the short staff is the base of all long weapons.” Mair uses the Latin name hastula, which is a diminutive form of the word hasta, meaning spear. He suggests that the fencer should stand in a linear stance and use linear footwork (Figure 3), and use the short staff as a training tool for the spear. In his section on the short spear, he tells the reader to hold the staff with the back hand at the end of the staff and with the lead hand around the middle of the staff (Figure 4). He also describes techniques that hold the staff in “half-staff,” in which you hold your hands about shoulder width apart and with an even amount of staff extending out on either side of your hands.

When he teaches the students about the long staff (the pike), he is using a staff that is 12 feet to 16 feet long. With this long staff, he holds the staff with his back hand at the base of the staff and his lead hand at arm’s length with a slight bend in the elbow, or alternatively, with both hands held together at the end of the staff when you are pushing your staff through your lead hand so that your hands come together in a thrust. This grip gives you the greatest reach possible with your long staff. He also uses the long staff by moving the staff in his hands so that he is in the middle of the staff with his hands a little wider than shoulder width. He uses this half-staff grip for closing in on his opponent.

staff weapon, you can use any staff weapon. At the beginning of his section on staff weapons, he says that: “. . . foreasmuch as I am of opinion that all of them may be handled in manner after one waye, it shall not be amisse if I declare the reason thereof . . . holding and maintaining always for my conclusion that the skill of handling of them helpeth a man to the knowledge of all the rest, for as much as concerneth true Arte.”

He also gives instructions on the use of the bill, the halberd, the partisan, and the javelin. Because these weapons have thrusting points as well as cutting edges, he suggests that you can thrust and cut with

The poleaxe and the halberd are used in the same way as the short staff. The movement of your hands from the end of the staff to the middle of the staff also means that the practitioner can use the staff to enter range to grapple with his opponent (Figure 5).

In a manuscript called His True Arte of Defence written by Giacomo di Grassi in 1570 and translated into English in 1594, di Grassi gives instructions for using the staff as a defensive and offensive weapon. He says that if you can use one Figure 5

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this tool, and points to the dangers of each of these techniques. With these tools he suggests that you take a low guard with the hands somewhat distant and the point of the weapon directly towards the enemy. Copies of this manuscript can be found online at: https:// wiktenauer.com/wiki/Giacomo_ di_Grassi In Joachim Meyer’s manuscript called Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens (Thorough Descriptions of the Art of Fencing)2 first published in 1570, he teaches the use of a variety of weapons and says all of them find their fundamentals in the dussack. His quarterstaff is also used to teach his techniques for the two-handed sword and the halberd. Meyer says that if you are right-handed, you should hold the staff with your left hand on top and with your right hand at the base of the staff. In this grip, your right hand should be about a hand’s width from the end of the staff while the other hand should be at arm’s length (Figure 6), but slightly bent. He says that this grip gives you more options for thrusting and one-handed strikes. Meyer 2 Joachim Meyer, The Art of Combat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570, trans. Jeffrey L. Forgeng (Frontline Books, 2020).

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The dussack

Figure 6

says that you can also hold the staff in the middle with your hands just a little wider than your shoulders; however, the most common grip in his treatise is with your hands closer to the end of the staff (Figure 7).

Meyer says that you should stand in a narrow stance with your left foot in front and your right foot behind at 90 degrees, with your weight more to the front leg (Figure 8). Your stance is in a profiled position whereas in Swetnam and Silver the stance is more of a wider stance so that your body is at about 45 degrees to the opponent.

In his 1599 book, Paradoxes of Defense3, George Silver talks about the use of two types of staves—the short staff and the quarterstaff.

When discussing the length of the short staff, he says: “ . . . the perfect length is measured by standing upright, holding the staff upright close by your body, with your left hand, reaching with your right hand your staff as high as you can and then allow (add) to that length a space to set both your hands (approximately the width of your shoulders) . . . these lengths will commonly fall out to be eight or nine foot long.”

Figure 7 (top) & Figure 8 (bottom)

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The boarding pike (half-pike)

ger, or rapier and poignard. Silver has four guards with the short staff: two high guards and two low guards, two with the point up and two with the point down.

He also says:3 “ . . . (and) if a blow be first made, a thrust followeth; & if a thrust be first made, a blow followeth; and in doing of any of them, the one breedeth the other.”

Silver says that the short staff has the advantage against the battle axe (this is the poleaxe), the bill, or the halberd because of its nimbleness and length. The short staff is also known as the half-pike and was a common weapon on the sailing ships of the day that were used to protect against boarding actions from other ships. He says that the short staff will have the advantage against opponents with two swords, sword and dag3 George Silver, The Works Of George Silver: Comprising Paradoxes Of Defense And Bref Instructions Vpo My Pradoxes Of Defense (1898), ed. C.G.R Matthey (Kessinger Publishing, 2010).

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The grip that George Silver suggests is that you should have about a foot of length behind your rear hand on any weapon in which the hands may be removed and be at liberty to make the weapon longer or shorter in a fight at your pleasure.

The long staff could be up to 12 feet long and the pike could reach up to 16-18 feet long. Some of the other weapons that the short staff may come up against on the battlefield could be things like the battle axe. The bill, the battle axe, and the halberd were usually around five to six feet long.

In his 1617 manual The Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Master Joseph Swetnam also talks about the use of the quarterstaff. He has two guards that he suggests for the staff: the high guard and the low guard.

Figure 10 (top) & Figure 11 (bottom)

In the “low guard” (Figure 10), Swetnam says that: “ . . . you should keep the point of your staff aimed at the face of your opponent with one hand at the very butt end of the staff, and the other a foot and a half distant.

Looking over your staff with both

your eyes. In this guard the hands are low, and the point of the staff is high, but not so high that you cannot look over the point at your opponent’s face.”

Swetnam’s other guard is the “high guard” (Figure 11). In the high guard your hands are high, and your point is low towards the

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ground. Swetnam says that you use this guard if the opponent attacks you with a blow or thrust to a low target below your “girdle-stead.”

This would be around the navel.

He says it is very important that, when you use the high guard to defend against a low attack, you should swing your staff in a circular movement to strike the attack away. He also says: “ . . . (by) turning the point of your Staffe towards the ground, but be sure to strike it with that large compasse, that the point of your Staffe towards the ground, but be sure to strike it with that large compasse, that the point of your Staffe may pitch not in the ground.”

When you defend against a thrust or blow in this fashion, he suggests that you should let go with your forehand so that the adversary cannot hit your hand, and the back of your staff will still protect the upper part of your body. Most of Swetnam’s defenses are done with blows, and his offenses are completed with thrusts, which we see as the predominant style of fencing in the 17th century.

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In both systems by Silver and Swetnam, the stance is such that you match the like foot to like foot. If the adversary has his right foot forward, then you should have your right foot forward. When you are standing in your guard, you should not cross your arms in your grip. If you have your right foot forward, your right hand should be on the top of your grip. Swetnam calls this the “true carriage of your Staffe,” and Silver calls this grip the “true grip” of the short staff. Silver says that if you are using a long staff, over eight feet long, it is important to keep your hands close together.

In the 19th century, we see a resurgence of the “Grand Baton” used as a training tool in savate, and Alfred Hutton taught the Grand Baton in the form of the Italian two-handed sword called the spadone, which was a popular two-handed sword of the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 19th century, we see the first renaissance of HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts).

At Davenriche European Martial Artes School, the quarterstaff is taught in the Italian tradition. We use the staff with the rear hand about one and a half feet from the end of the staff (or the length of your forearm from your wrist to your elbow; this is also the length of the medieval thrusting dagger) and the lead hand the same distance from the rear hand as shown in the pictures here. The stance we use puts your body at a 45-degree angle to your opponent, to facilitate both thrusting and cutting techniques. We do not cross our arms in our movements because we do the same techniques with

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the spear, the staff, and the poleaxe. When we move from one side of our body to the other side, we do our transfer without taking the hand off the staff. The way we do this is by opening all the fingers on the lead hand except for the thumb and ring finger (Figure 12). We slide the rear hand up to connect with the encircling fingers of the lead hand (Figure 13). Once the rear hand has contacted the lead hand, we slide the

Figure 12

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lead hand down over the new lead hand without taking it off the staff (Figure 14). As you bring your rear hand to your lead hand, your staff should be straight up and down, thus maintaining your defense in the transfer. Do not step forward until you have your staff upright in front of your body so that you are moving behind your weapon.

This allows you to develop power in your strike without ever taking your hands off the staff.

Figure 13

Figure 14

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Figure 15(a)

When you are moving your staff in circular motions, your lead hand stays in place at full extension (but not locked) and the rear hand moves the point using your lead hand as a fulcrum (Figure 15(a)(d)). This is the kind of action that allows you to do beating attacks to the opponent’s staff without moving your defense away from the front of your body.

There are many techniques in the use of staff weapons in various manuscripts. There are several German manuscripts that show the spear used alone as well as with a sword or buckler, as shown

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Figure 15(b)

in Gladiatoria, MS KK5013.4 Whether it is a staff alone, one that has end caps to add to the weight of the strike, or one that has complex ends such as the spear, the poleaxe, the bill, and the partisan, the techniques and movements of the staff are similar. There is another master who wrote in the Bolognese tradition that takes the teachings of Fiore de’i Liberi and teaches the reader the same kind of techniques for dueling rather than usage on the battlefield. The author is Philippo di Vadi Pisano, 4 The MS KK5013 is a German fencing manual from circa 1430 that is currently in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Figure 15(c)

Figure 15(d)

who wrote his manuscript called De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi (On the Art of Swordsmanship).5 I will end this article with a verse from Vadi’s manuscript in the poleaxe section: “Knowing how cunning human nature is, and for everyone who is practiced in the art can understand all the actions depicted and shown in this, my little work, mainly of the sword, the axe, the spear and the dagger.”

- Steaphen Fick

5 Philippo di Vadi, De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi (lulu.com, 2019).

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Jeffrey "Stickman" Finder @jeffrey.finder

TRAINING WEAPONS IN THE MODERN ERA Jeffrey Finder

THE WORD MARTIAL DERIVES from the Latin martialis meaning “of war” or “belonging to Mars.”

Among those belonging to Mars, there has always been the practical matter of training without causing unnecessary injury or death to students or partners. This was often an unfortunate and perhaps even regrettable outcome in societies, which had little qualms about culling the weak. Nevertheless,

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the goal is to promote proficiency in fighting, whether it is children play-fighting with sticks outside a family compound, or a warlord training raw recruits for an army while doing so in relative safety.

The modern martial arts’ focus on empty hands is, historically, a relatively recent phenomenon of the 19th and 20th centuries. Weapons are ubiquitous in hunting, self-defense, and combat in every culture.

Training weapons and martial arts probably go together (pun intend-

ed) as far back as the efforts of our earliest ancestors to pass on survival skills to their offspring and tribe. As sticks and rocks evolved into shapes and materials capable of inflicting more dangerous wounds, those became symbolic of hunters and warriors who earned the right to bear them, as well as the social costs of time, skill, effort, and resources invested. Let us not discount that economic value.

Whether sticks, wooden swords, or even fake wooden rifles sometimes

carried by modern military units in training or on parade, cheap basic materials have been a traditional stand-in for expensive and ostensibly more lethal weapons, and in places where live-bladed weapons may be frowned upon or banned, ordinary objects can and have become combative tools in the hands of martial artists.

In today’s modern world, martial artists who train with weaponry have a wealth of choices in both traditional and modern materials, and designs from many different cultures and eras. While mainstream martial artists have access to the offerings of large retail companies that have long advertised in magazines and now online, we live in a golden age of knife-making, and that has spilled over into the relatively small niche of training blades, as discriminating martial artists are no longer satisfied just to accept low-quality mass-produced trainers. The internet has allowed small custom artisans to be able to reach customers far beyond their local venues, expanding the options to those interested in going beyond generic store-bought tools. In the case of practitioners of the various martial arts of Southeast Asia, they are now able to find

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replicas of the many exotic weapons that have evolved throughout that region.

The style of martial art that is pursued by a practitioner determines, to a large extent, which weapons one chooses. There are three main directions in which martial artists train. These are traditional martial arts, sports styles, and self-defense-oriented systems. Of course, there is overlap, but generally, one will be the main area of focus, and this is frequently the basis on which training weapons are chosen.

Traditional martial arts tend to claim lineages going back hundreds or even thousands of years. There is a focus on the transmission of techniques and philosophies that have been passed down for generations. While training techniques oriented towards self-defense is common, training often takes the shape of formal or ritualistic mannerisms. The weapons used for training in these styles reflect the culture and time from which the style originated. Okinawan martial arts are a good example, as the weapons used come from a historical period in which the people of that island, having been forbidden weapons by Japanese overlords,

developed ways of using ordinary farm tools and other implements which would not be suspicious to carry. Thus, we have the long bo staff, the tonfa (a stout forearm-length piece of wood with a handle used for turning rice grinding stones), and nunchaku flails used to separate the rice grain from the hull.

Hardwoods are the wood of choice for these weapons that have a history of successful use, even against steel weapons such as katana or sai, and so can handle contact in sparring or two-person forms. Bo staffs and bokken (Japanese wooden swords) traditionally use red oak, while the shorter jo staff is of white oak. While these Asian weapons are familiar to most martial artists, historical European mar-

tial arts also made use of wood for many weapons, including wooden practice swords known in English as wasters.

Sports martial arts may be modern descendants of traditional styles or downright eclectic compilations put together from various sources.

These styles may focus on sparring or forms. The latter has increasingly become more acrobatic and flashier over the years, at times resembling gymnastics more than combative martial techniques, and at times abetted by weapons that have become lighter and lighter to emphasize the speed at which they can be handled. A good example of this is the hollow aluminum “toothpick” bo staffs that have become common. These can move in dazzling displays of con-

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trol but would be almost useless in a fight as the weapons are not designed to take more than the most superficial contact—if even that. The more traditional divisions, however, still tend to compete with weapons in keeping with their style, though even there, aluminum sometimes can be seen replacing wood or steel, such as the blades of Okinawan kama, the short-handled sickles.

Self-defense systems may also come from traditional styles that focus on evolution within the art, or that can be eclectic. Kajukenbo, comprised of elements from karate, judo, kenpo, and boxing, is a famous example of such a system.

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Jeet Kune Do, a concept popularized by the late Bruce Lee, is another modern art that has taken a myriad of directions according to individualized training. “Reality-based martial arts” is another concept that breaks the mold of traditional martial arts, using things like scenario training for a real-life simulation involving things as diverse as improvised weapons and modern firearms. There is a lot of cross-over between some of these arts as practitioners might bring expertise in one area to shed light on another. One example of this comes from Dog Brothers Martial Arts (DBMA®), which brought the concept of stick grappling to the

forefront by combining weapon elements from Filipino martial arts (FMA) with Brazilian jujitsu, a grappling art, bringing back a level of realism and intensity applicable for self-defense on the street.

The best-known martial arts in the West come from Japan, Korea, and China. Japanese and Korean martial arts tend to use hardwoods and iron or steel, which are traditional resources in those countries. China, a much larger country, has a lot of regional variation, so more tropical woods like wax wood, bamboo, and rattan are to be found, both as wooden weapons, and as shafts for spears, halberds, and so on.

Rattan has become popular in the West in recent years. It is a vine that grows widely in the tropics, with over 2000 species worldwide.

Like bamboo, it differs in having many tiny tubules rather than a large hollow center, which makes it more impact-resistant as well as able to absorb shock exceptionally well, making it extremely popular for sparring. When dried, it holds its shape very well, making it a popular material for commercial use in furniture. In the martial art world, however, it is most closely associated with Filipino martial arts, where its use is ubiquitous among the many hundreds

or thousands of styles practiced there, though in recent years its use has spilled over to organizations such as HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts) and the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA), another Western-oriented group.

Due to its cheap and easy availability in the Philippines, rattan is the most generic material used therein training—an association carried with the FMA to the West.

Some say rattan is only for practicing while denser hardwoods such as kamagong and bahi are the preferred woods for personal combat, though rattan can vary in weight and density by species, age, and so on. Within the FMA, common opinion feels the stick is a training alternative to live blades, though that is somewhat interpretive, as the tactics may be similar but optimized for each. A saying about that goes: “Sticks seek bone; blades seek flesh.”

Known by a whole array of names, Filipino martial arts go by the names of kali (popular in the West), escrima (a term from the central region of the Visayan islands), and arnis, the most widely recognized term across the Philippines and the one used in legislation that declared it the national sport. These

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arts are popularly associated with the use of rattan sticks, wielded either singly or in pairs. While 28inch sticks are the most common length commercially available, they can range from 18 to 32 inches, depending on the tactics preferred by specific systems. The benefits of rattan are quite pragmatic. Its relatively light weight means serious injuries are less likely than with dense hardwoods or steel, hence its popularity now with many martial artists around the world. Rattan does not last long with vigorous training, but it is relatively inexpensive. It also reproduces easily, so it is a renewable resource.

While the weapons mentioned are usually wood or rattan, the modern era has ushered in a variety of new resources applicable to training. As mentioned earlier, aluminum has become popular as a lightweight replacement for heavy wood, such as in staves intended for forms competitions. In recent years, though, its use has expanded into other realms. Many martial artists train with swords and knives, and while wood has long been a stand-in for steel, it does not have the look or feel of the real thing. Tai chi training swords, for example, are often made of lighter wood than Japanese bokken, and unlike the latter, swords are not intended to make

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contact. Aluminum swords and knives are thinner and much sturdier than wood, while thicker and less edgy than even unsharpened steel. Much of the appeal of aluminum comes from its shiny silver metallic appearance, which is like the brightness of plain steel blades.

As opposed to forging or grinding steel, aluminum is relatively quick and easy to work with, requiring little more than basic cutting and polishing tools to create blades, making it accessible for many small shops and home craftsmen.

Aluminum knives are in demand these days, particularly among FMA practitioners. From the mid1980s, most non-wooden training knives came from industrial manufacturers that used flexible or semi-rigid rubber. These can still be found and offer a high degree of safety in sparring or two-person self-defense techniques, but are useless for training many disarms since the blades easily bend under pressure—unlike live blades—making it impossible to practice techniques applicable to real knives. For that reason, rubber never really caught on as a replacement for wooden trainers.

Aluminum solves that issue, and its flashiness mimics that of many live blades, increasing the sense of realism in training.

When it comes to swords, however, aluminum has drawbacks of its own. Edge-to-edge contact can quickly turn a smooth edge into one that is jagged and saw-like, and capable of drawing blood. While optimal sword work does not block with the edge of the weapon, there is a reason ancient armies had armorers to hammer out damage to weapons after a battle, and while one can remove aluminum burs through sanding (preferably with a belt sander), that is not al-

ways a level of care or attention given by practitioners. The most common grade of aluminum used is 6061, which is relatively inexpensive and easy to machine with standard tools. A higher grade is 7075 aircraft aluminum, which is much harder and also more expensive. Whether or not that is subject to the same kind of contact damage as 6061 is unknown to me, as I have yet to see training swords of this material put to the test.

Sparring with kampilan swords made to specification.

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A newer and less common option is making training blades from high-impact plastics, which offer some specific advantages over both wood and aluminum, particularly regarding durability for sparring.

Plastics like polycarbonate, nylon, and acetal are highly resistant to damage from impact. They do not splinter like wood, or develop rough, sharp edges like aluminum, and are rigid enough for sparring and disarming techniques. Some, such as acetal, are very easy to cut and machine, and can have beveled edges to more closely represent the cutting edges of live blades, a feature rarely seen in aluminum.

While still lighter than ¼-inchthick steel, the denser ½-inch plastics rival heavy hardwoods or ¼-inch aluminum in weight, and with a bit of finish work, can look and feel like wood rather than the kind of slick texture often associated with food-grade plastics.

As someone with extensive experience working in this medium— over 30 years—I can attest to the durability of well-designed plastic weapons. Both sticks and swords I have made with these materials have given users years, even decades, of service, far beyond what most would expect, especially compared to wood. The only reasons plastics are not more popular are

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two-fold: first, most people associate plastic with disposable products, though the issue of non-degradable throw-away plastic is one of global significance; the second is appearance, as plastic does not have the flashy look of metal. That prejudice is one that is slowly fading, given stealth treatments such as Parkerization in black, or camouflage applied nowadays to many steel blades to minimize corrosion and avoid reflectivity.

When it comes to contact-training with sticks, plastic is superior to aluminum or even steel as a modern alternative. I have bent or crumpled steel pipes with just two or three strikes against stop sign poles, while whacking away with a lightweight polycarbonate stick only results in some scuff marks.

Many certified police batons are now using glass-reinforced polycarbonate—a more substantial and very durable variation (at a premium cost to plain polycarbonate)—as an alternative to wooden batons. The limitation of plastic is that it lacks rigidity over longer lengths due to not having an internal grain structure such as found in wood. Past four feet in length, plastic rods will begin to have notable flex, not unlike Chinese wax wood staffs. Increasing thickness to compensate for flexing quickly

increases the weight beyond what is acceptable to most people.

Beyond aluminum or plastic are composite sticks, generally designed for safety training or light sparring. One example from the 1990s was the soft stick made by Maestro Sonny Umpad, creator of the Visayan Korto Kadena style of FMA. He used a thin ¼-inch fiberglass rod core, inserted into a short wooden handle, over which he then slipped open cell foam pipe insulation, which was finally covered with a skin of heat shrink tubing with neoprene end caps.

The purpose of this was for safe light contact with the hands while practicing techniques. While these had some popularity for a while, the downside was that the end caps could come off or the heat shrink tear if used for hard sparring, exposing the fiberglass core.

Many people have tried similar ideas, such as covering PVC pipes with foam. Those too tend to fail, as the uncovered foam tears easily, and PVC can shatter dangerously, leaving sharp jagged ends. Nevertheless, there are variations on this concept used for some types of padded stick tournament competition, as opposed to live stick bouts using thin, lightweight rattan.

Today’s martial artist has a multitude of choices in materials and designs available for training.

Wood certainly is not going away, though good hardwoods are becoming increasingly rare and expensive as those are slow-growing trees—not a sustainable resource.

Despite rattan’s popularity for sparring, it too has become more challenging to obtain as less affluent tropical countries have, in recent years, become somewhat restrictive in its export to try to bolster domestic crafts and manufacturing. Aluminum and plastic are the most available alternatives in the industrial world’s “jungle,” and can be attractive economically because they do not need to be replaced with the same frequency as less durable materials. Ultimately the choice comes down to the individual practitioner, a decision based on personal aesthetics, intended use, and how the weapon feels in the hand.

- Jeffrey Finder

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Philip Forde @philip.forde.14

*The following article is an edited transcription of the Stickmata Talks interview conducted

by Mahipal Lunia as part of The Immersion Foundation's Stickmata Lab (2019). To listen to the origianl interview, visit: https://soundcloud.com/theimmersionfoundation/sets/stickmata.

STICKLICKING AN INTERVIEW WITH Philip Forde

STICKLICKING IS THE traditional recreation sport and martial art of the Barbadian men. I believe we can trace it back to the days of slavery. Of course, it has changed over the years as the society has changed. I also believe that what we practice now evolved from a more complete, well-rounded martial art to one focusing on the stick alone as it became more of a sport. I believe it is a combination of several different African stick arts with some British military influence.

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Licking is a term we use to mean “to beat a person;” so sticklicking is getting beaten with a stick. Sticklicking used to be the main form of recreation for the formerly enslaved men, and also a means of self-defense against animals. My grandfather was a postman and one of the things that he had to fight or guard against were dogs, especially in the plantations. So, being a stick fighter helped him considerably. It was very useful for defense against both dogs and people who wanted to attack you.

While in the past it was very popular, there were probably only a few people who could be considered masters. Still, many people did practice it on some level. After the 1950s and 60s, especially with the popularity of cricket, there was a decline in sticklicking. It is not very popular now, and many young people probably do not know of its existence. And even if they do, they have probably never seen it played or practiced. So it is in a low place right now, but we hope to change that gradually.

Presently, there are about three people that teach sticklicking.

There are several students still learning, but they are not at the stage where they can teach it yet.

I would say there are probably no more than 20 active practitioners, my son included. All the old men that were actually sticklickers have already died. So, my generation is the oldest ones who are practicing it right now.

Philip demonstrating Sticklicking at the Stickmata Immersion Lab (2019)

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Different Styles There used to be a variety of different styles of sticklicking. Queensbury and Johnson are the ones that are still around. They were around when I was learning myself, but we heard also of Mapps, Donnelly, Square, Diamond, and Creole— all of these were different styles.

There was also one called St. Francis, Sir Francis, or Francis. It went on by variations of the same name.

The names of the styles were very heavily influenced by what was happening in Britain. I know that there was a man called Tom Johnson who wrote a book about fighting in England. Both Donnelly and Queensbury also wrote books about fighting, although I think that the name Queensbury came from the Queensbury rules of boxing. I feel that the boxer Jack Johnson probably could have influenced that particular name. One has to remember that these were colonial times, just after emancipation from slavery, when all things European and British were valued highly. Attaching a British name to the art gave it some validity.

Sir Francis was an unarmed striking art. It is possible that originally they were all part of one martial law with various armed and un-

armed techniques, and that somewhere along the line, they became separated. Some people tend to specialize in the unarmed techniques. So although we presently have a stick art, not so long ago, you could still see some of these unarmed techniques.

The biggest difference between Queensbury and Johnson is in their philosophies of fighting.

Queensbury is very fluid with a lot of movement. It is almost dancelike, which is very typical of African-derived martial arts, because most of them are done to music.

The Johnson style, however, has moved away from that dancelike quality towards a more static art form. The movements are not as great or as elaborate as the Queensbury style. That is the main difference.

Other differences include the ways the styles are taught. For example, both styles have seven “cuts,” but they are composed of different strikes and blocks. Both styles have similar blocks, but the Queensbury tend to favor different ones compared with Johnson. There are some subtle differences between the arts, but basically they are compatible.

Myself, I practice and teach the Johnson style, although I was ex-

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posed to Queensbury from very early on. I prefer the Johnson style—it is a personality thing. I am not a very flamboyant person.

Learning Sticklicking A new practitioner starts by learning the blocks and strikes and I tend to try to make it as interesting as possible. When I was learning, we would do the first cuts and strikes until we mastered them, and this would take some time. Nowadays, and even before you master those strikes, I may introduce some of the other cuts, to keep things moving forward, but keep going back to the first strikes. This is done to keep the students’ interest alive, and not get stuck on one set, as it takes weeks or months for them to master it.

When the students are blocking fairly well, we introduce some drills to gradually simulate what an actual sticklicking fight would be like. When they have learned to handle themselves well in these drills, we start to do some free play and make it real.

You have to be flexible in terms of the time frame you have in mind.

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Some students are natural fighters and pick things up very quickly, and others will take longer to get that process going. I am teaching the student—and not necessarily just the art—so I have to adjust to the student's progress.

I also find that sometimes the easier student to work with is the one that does not have a martial art background. Because if they do, they come already with a certain type of learned body movement that I have to try to change so that it reflects the sticklicking movement patterns. Not to say that I rule out any innovation, but I want to make sure that the student masters sticklicking in its pure form first, before they do their own thing or add other influences.

Strikes and Blocks Johnson style has seven strokes or strikes, but the first three are the most important, because those are the basics of the art. When you master the third cut, you can fight and defend yourself against another stick fighter. The whole idea of the seven cuts is interesting. Seven is an important number in terms of

the Bible: seven days, seven planets, seven deadly sins, forgive your brother or your neighbor "seventy times seven." Also the education system back then was based on a seven-standard system. I think that could have influenced also the fact that stickfighting starts with seven different stages or cuts, to line it loosely with the education system.

There are basically two types of blocks. I have never heard a formal name for them. The first type is when you basically try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground, so you cover his stick, or keep it away from your body. In the other type you kind of slip the lash and let the lash slide along your stick.

I mentioned before that the different styles tend to do, or prefer, different blocks. We tend to find that, traditionally, Johnson-style fighters use the blocks to try to stop your stick and knock it to the ground. The Queensbury fighters tend to try to slip their stick of yours in order to enter and strike.

That is generally what the situation looks like.

In the Johnson’s first cut you learn the blocks where you try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground. The first cut in Queensbury introduces those other blocks, so it shows their preference of for the kind of blocks they like. That is reflective of both the systems which I have taught.

Positions For each stage or cut, there are different positions to hold your stick in. Some of these positions are very defensive, and some are more offensive. It is very much a matter of personal taste which ones you adopt. In my opinion, these positions help you to control or attempt to control what your opponent is doing. That is how you use the positions: I will hold a position and try to influence what my opponent does, where he can attack.

And according to what position he holds, I would adapt my position to suit.

For example, if my opponent holds a position where they could easily strike straight downwards to my head, I might assume a position that would block off that initial

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strike so that they would have to do something else to strike me.

What I found, though, is that the positions that are very defensive are not always the best. It is more useful that the opponent feels comfortable enough to be careless of his own openings, so that they leave themselves open to be hit.

Footwork The footwork you are taught depends very much on your teacher.

My main tutor, McDonald, taught me the whole concept of “the square and diamond.” Here, you either work/step on the sides of the square, or you step on the sides of the diamond. About the square position: imagine that there is a square and your feet are on two corners of the square. Your feet are shoulder width apart, no one foot in front of the other. You are on one end of the square and when you block, you move your feet to another point of the square, either left or right, depending on what side you were attacked.

On the diamond, you have your fighting hand and its corresponding foot in front. Now, if you draw a line from your front foot to the back foot, it forms one side of a “V” and you can imagine a diamond in front of you. When you step in that position, you step forward into an-

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other point of the diamond. Most people will fight in the diamond, the fighting side forward.

I had tutors who could spend a whole lesson telling us about how to move your feet and where to put them. My main teacher of the Johnson style taught me the square and the diamond in terms of stepping forward and blocking. On the other hand, when I asked my cousin, George Fowler, about foot positions, he replied, “If you’re walking down the road, and a man attacks you with a stick, you don’t have time to worry about where your foot is, you just got to defend yourself.” He did not have any particular way of stepping or moving his feet. So, footwork very much depended on who taught you.

I do not think that there are any set patterns of footwork in either style, Johnson or Queensbury, for retreating. Actually, I do not think that in the Queensbury style they have any patterns for moving their feet—no set patterns for either retreating or stepping in. They are very, very fluid in that regard.

When I was shown all the Queensbury cuts and slashes, there was no mention of positions, either. Like I said, it is a fluid style.

Sport or Self-Defense In the past, the men had very little free time, except on Sundays and public holidays, so they would practice mainly on Sundays. But when the public holidays came along, people would travel to different districts and have organized competitions. People from their neighborhood would follow them to these events. Sometimes they

would rent a truck or a bus and take a whole set of spectators to support the local champions.

It was the public holiday thing to do, move from one district to the next to watch stick fighting contests. Many times, in order to accommodate the crowds, the bouts would be held in open areas. But there were also competitions that took place inside casinos and plac-

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es like that, where money could be charged for entry and the fighters could receive some of the proceeds. These were very popular events. Often a Tuk band would be there to play with the fighters or just entertain the crowd in between bouts. It was a very festive atmosphere.

The sport of sticklicking was about point sparring, so the emphasis was only on stick techniques for sport. There was an emphasis on not allowing your opponent to hit you, which is very much a Johnson-style thing. What I found is that, in the Queensbury style, the players do not mind taking a lash, if it would give them an advantage in the fight. A Queensbury fighter might take a lash on his buttocks, but when he does that, he is going to move in at the same time, and then try to finish you off with the bottom of the stick or something like that.

I never learned to take lashes in the Johnson style. That is what made me feel the Queensbury style was more fighting- or self-defense-oriented, because the object is to get in close and finish. If it meant you

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are taking a lash on your buttocks or on your arm, so be it. In Johnson we never practice taking a lash at all, so it seems to be oriented more towards sport side of the practice, where point sparring is the game.

Choosing and Preparing a Stick I am not sure whether there is a common length for the sticks used in sticklicking. However, when they had fights, they would make sure that both fighters used sticks of the same length. When I eventually measured my sticks, they were about 39 inches or so—but I did not measure them for years. I just used the stick that my first instructor gave me and cut the other sticks that length.

Barbados has some wooded areas.

Actually, it is nowadays becoming more forested because sugarcane is not profitable anymore, and the land is reverting back to forests. But even during the times of the plantations, there were still enough forested areas in ravines— which we call gullies—that would have trees that you can use for the sticks. The most popular stick materials are guava and lode wood.

We also use black sage, black willow, and bay leaf. Bay leaf is a very hard stick, but it is oily, and if your hands sweat, it can be an issue. My hands tended to sweat when I was young, so I did not really go for the bay leaf. And actually, it was, at one time, illegal to cut down a bay leaf tree to use for medicinal purposes and so on. We also had a wood called yellow Hercules, which apparently was the most popular stick back in the day. I was led to believe that none of them exist anymore, because they are all cut down.

pen in the manure for about two weeks. Then when it came back, the bark would be off and the stick would be cured. This was explained to me as follows: Under the manure is very warm; so, when you bury a stick there, the warmth from the manure will cure the stick. Curing a stick on open fire takes a couple of minutes. The heat from the manure is not as intense, so it takes a longer period of time—two weeks or so. It is almost like slow cooking.

To choose a stick, you would go down to a gully and try to select a piece of wood as straight as possible. Then you cut it a little longer than you need it. After that, one sets the sticks over an open fire until the bark cracks, then you know it is cured. After curing, you just cut it to the correct length. If you could not find a straight stick, you could—when it was just finished singeing and still hot—put rocks on it to straighten it out so it would cool in that position.

Modifying the sticks is not attributable to any particular sticklicking style. In case of a serious grudge situation, one could improve the weapon to make it basically more deadly. You could add razors or knives to it, so that when you strike, you cut. It was never taught to me by my (basically good) teachers, but I have heard of stories of people killing each other with razors attached to sticks, and things like that. It is something that an individual would do to make his stick more deadly, as opposed to something that is taught.

Another technique for curing the sticks was to bury them in a cow

What I find interesting about this is that very often in Africa, from

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what I gather, the stick was used as a practice weapon. It was used as a substitute for a cutlass or machete, which were the actual weapons of war. So, the idea of attaching a blade onto the stick is in keeping with the origins of the art. When I spoke with Jamaican Maroons about sticklicking, they told me that they have a stick dance that they do with sticks, but then when it is fighting time, they will use machetes. So, attaching a sharp edge to a stick is in keeping with the fact that in war you will use blades.

Sticks and Kicks The plantation watchmen in Barbados used to carry two sticks with them, where one was for throwing. If someone was caught stealing from the plantation, that stick would be thrown to trip the fleeing person. I have friends who, when they were young, would steal sugarcane from the plantation. They told me that when the watchmen snuck up on them, they threw their sticks between their legs, and they fell to the ground as they were trying to run away. So it works, but, for obvious reasons, it is very hard to find someone to practice it with.

I was also told that, if you were fighting, or just walking with your stick with you, and someone rushed

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at you, you could put your stick on the ground at an angle and move your body away, letting them run onto the stick. But what I gathered is that, at that time, the sticks were slightly longer compared to what we use now. Also, Mr. Allen Cobley told me that, when he first came to Barbados and sticklicking was more popular—they would have it in hotels for entertainment—he remembers the sticks being longer than what are used now. This

makes sense from the point of view of the evolution of the art, if sticklicking evolved away from the two-hand style, requiring a longer stick, to the one-hand style, favoring a little shorter one. So, it is possible that they were using longer sticks in the olden days.

Empty-hand techniques were also included in stick science, but they were not taught to everyone. Most people that learn sticklicking will be only taught the stick tech-

niques; the old fellows will hold back the other techniques from them. The techniques I am aware of—other than stick techniques— are butting and kicking. You find that the Queensbury fighters will learn these techniques more than the Johnson fighters. On a personal note, the man that taught me the Johnson style was also aware of Queensbury, and he incorporated in his teaching those self-defense techniques. That is why he found it difficult to find other stickfighters to play with us when we got to the third cut: they were aware that he knew and taught these techniques and were afraid of those even more so than the stick techniques.

Sticklicking and the Value of Other Arts What you have to be careful of, especially on a small island that can be relatively isolated from the rest of the world, is that your art does not become incestuous. You might just play among yourselves, which can lead to getting complacent, to a “We got this” attitude. The hoplological expedition1 brought here proponents of various styles and we were able to test, in a friendly way, the effectiveness of stick1 The Immersion Foundation's Caribbean Expedition (2018) to Barbados, Trinadad, and Tobago.

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licking against the other forms.

That can only help, because then we can adjust the art, incorporate techniques and whatnot that you might not have thought of before.

I can give you an example. We have other sticklickers here that are not part of our little group; they keep themselves separate. I wanted to have them involved in this process. I managed to contact one chap, and I was just having a general chat with him about what was going on. I told him that what I found challenging was the rope technique, the whip techniques.

So, he said to me, “Oh, no, all you have to do is do this . . .” and so on.

It was a very naive solution to the challenge. And the reason to that is that they keep to themselves, and do not expose themselves to other sticklicking.

Exchanges with other arts make you see your own art in a different light. For example, comparing Barbadian sticklicking to garrote, I find that we tend to fight in different ranges. Here, sticklicking has a slight advantage due to a longer stick. The other noticeable thing is that—and culture is a wonderful

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thing—there are certain positions in garrote that we would not hold in Barbados, because we may go for some targets that other cultures do not. In this vein, some of the positions in garrote expose your hand in a way that a sticklicker cannot ignore.

On the other hand, a garrote player might, during play, turn his back, trying to invite an attack, but a sticklicker would not hit their back—I am not sure when this convention started, whether it was in place already before sticklicking became a sport. Then again, Trinidadians do not hit below the base, but Barbadians hit every place possible, and so on and so on. So, these are the kinds of things that make play between cultures challenging: what one culture will not accept, other cultures are fine with.

You have to guard against becoming so insular, so incestuous with your art, that you do not want to fight other people, do not want to be challenged by other fighting techniques and skills. That way your art does not grow. That interaction with other arts was the main thing I enjoyed—apart from

the friendships—about the expedition: seeing other styles and having my style challenged or, in some cases, validated.

Barbadian Migration Barbados is a small island—no mountains, rarely any forests. So, in the immediate post-emancipation period, the formerly enslaved Africans had nowhere to go. The only occupation they could find was on the same plantations that they worked on as slaves, and the Barbadian plantation owners took full advantage of this by paying the lowest wages in the Caribbean. On the mainland, as soon as the Africans got their freedom, many of them left the plantations and set up their own villages. This was impossible in Barbados, because the planters made sure the price of land was beyond the reach of the formerly enslaved Africans.

However, though Guyana was on the continent of South America, there were lots of land available; even Trinidad was much bigger than Barbados, and there was land.

What also happened in Guyana and Trinidad was that the plant-

ers offered a much higher wage to try and entice the Africans to stay working at the plantations. When the Barbadians found this out, they left in droves and the legislator—that was controlled by the planters—eventually passed a law trying to curtail the migration out of Barbados.

Among those that traveled to Guyana and Trinidad were sticklickers. Guyana had its own sticklicking system called situ, which is the same as what we call our fights or gatherings. I am not sure who came up with it first, but maybe it is some cross thing. A historian told me that eventually what happened was that Guyana’s sticklicking was replaced by Barbadian sticklicking; the migrated sticklickers were so effective, that the Guyanese art died out and the only sticklicking practiced in Guyana was Barbadian sticklicking. A similar thing happened in Trinidad: the Barbadians were very effective fighters against the Trinidadian kalinda fighters. They actually had a running joke that Barbadian workers would go down to state liquors’, cause a lot of trouble in Trinidad,

STICKLICKING

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and they had to import Barbadian policemen—stick fighters—to control them.

That is part of why they moved around. Actually, they moved as far north as St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I was told by an old Barbadian living in St. Croix that, when he moved there, he was told to be wary of the large Puerto Rican population there because they either had a cutlass fighting technique or were fighting with cutlasses, and had the local people terrified. He also told me that, when the Barbadian artisans came to St. Croix, the sticklickers among them put the Puerto Ricans in their place and things settled down.

Barbados sent a lot of artisans, masons, and carpenters to many islands, including St. Croix, when they were developing their infrastructure. In fact, when I went to a small island called Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands, many of the artisans there told me that they learned their craft from Barbadians who came there years ago and taught them. We always had a lot of people in Barbados; it is very densely populated, so we always tend to export labor, including sticklickers.

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Sharing the Art of Sticklicking Sticklicking is one of my passions and whenever I have the opportunity to share it with people, I just welcome it. It does not matter who they are, or what the situation is—I teach any person who is willing to learn. If I have only a limited time, I aim to teach the art of sticklicking in its pure form, so to speak. I teach the strikes, blocks, footwork, and counters that are essential to the style—so that when the students leave, they will have a very good idea of what the art of sticklicking is and, as far as possible, they will be able to apply it if they have to. I aim to give the essentials of the art and to be true to the art, but also share something that is practical.

- Philip Forde

Dean Franco @fmadiscussion5153

Dwight D. Woods @dwightdwoods

Mahipal Lunia @TheImmersionFoundation

Mark Stewart @mark.e.stewart

FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS OR FILIPINO AMERICAN MARTIAL ARTS? Dean Franco / Dwight D. Woods / Mahipal Lunia / Mark Stewart

with editorial contribution from Juha A. Vuori and Mika Harju-Seppänen

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The following is an edited version of three discussions on Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) and Filipino American Martial Arts (FAMA) hosted by Dean Franco on the FMA Discussion YouTube channel. FMA Discussion hosts notable Filipino Martial Arts enthusiasts and has become the leading YouTube forum on FMA with global reach and participation. Martial arts training has transformed with the times irrespective of which art one looks at: training was different in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and in the new millennium. There are many reasons for why such transformations take place, especially when the training takes place outside the context of origin of the particular martial art. The question that the three episodes of FMA Discussion consider is when and whether such changes constitute a new form or expression of the original arts; when do the content, systematization into curricula, and pedagogics change to a degree that would justify calling something a new art or a different form of the art altogether? Here, the focus is on whether this is the case for FMA when it became more widely taught and trained in the U.S. and what the key differences are between the “old” and the “new.” These discussions are historical in the sense that this topic had not really been broached systematically before.

FMA & FAMA

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EPISODE 1:* ONE TREE, MANY BRANCHES *Transcribed and edited from FMA Discussion Episode #136: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZQElHnylsI

Dean Franco: How this episode came about is that Lance Velez mentioned to me something regarding how there is an American version of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). I came up with a conversation about this with Mark and Dwight, and then Mahipal joined us. We thought that this would be a nice and noteworthy theme to discuss and share with folks at FMA Discussion and YouTube. I want to stress that we are presenting an argument, an opinion based on the forthcoming content in this discussion, so just sit back and enjoy.

The episode is split into four parts.

Each guest here will get a first crack at a topic and then we will have subsequent discussion about points they want to continue to add to it.

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Terms that Filipinos Do Not Use or Disagree with

DF: The first topic we are going to deal with is the incorrect terms that we are using: terms that Filipinos do not use or disagree with, and terms that seem to have originated in the West. Guro Mahipal is going to address this first and then we will get subsequent input from Sifu Dwight, and then Guro Mark.

So, Mahipal, what say you?

Mahipal Lunia: I say it is just natural. The first thing I would point to is what Martin Heidegger said: language is the house of being.1 In other words, the languages that we use are the homes that we con1 Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings: Ten Key Essays, plus the Introduction to Being and Time (Harper Collins, 1963).

FMA Discssuion Episode #136. From top left and clockwise: Lunia, Woods, Stewart, and Franco.

struct, and how we show up in the world proper. Now, as a language travels, it is only natural that it changes. For example, if you look at the Indian empire, from the 9th to the 13th century, it conquered most of Southeast Asia. Vishnu became Visayan, guru became guro.

With Mang Romy we were doing this hoplological study of how arts and languages change over time and we found that almost 1/6 of the language in the Philippines derived its roots from Sanskrit. Now, I am Indian, I can get all up in arms about you guys pronouncing it

FMA & FAMA

wrong. But that would be me insulting the whole Southeast Asian culture. Why so? Because they have a right to adapt, to grow, and take what makes sense to them in a way that makes sense to them. I understand the need for correct pronunciation, but let us also understand that the language is the house of being and if I am forcing my language and my way of being on you, am I not colonizing you mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Am I not making you a prisoner? And that is not what the arts are about; the arts are about freedom.

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Languages will adapt, languages will change. Let us embrace that.

Gardening is a good example. Being Indian, it is hard not to like mangoes, but try growing a mango tree in the U.S. It is hard, you know? And it does not come out exactly the same way. It adapts, it changes every so often. That does not make it an inferior mango, that does not make it a bad mango—it is just a mango. So about incorrect pronunciation: when Mark and I talk, I yawn when somebody says that. Stop boring me, show me that you can move. Everything that you say is full of shit, it is mental masturbation. Have fun with it, I am not interested in that. You can have that back and forth in your own head, go for it—I would rather test it out.

Now, even the movements are going to change. Why? What is the average height and weight of a Southeast Asian compared to, say, somebody in Africa to, say, somebody in North America? What is the diet? What is the primary language? If the language changes, the house where you live and operate changes; if my build and my genetics are different, that is going to change. So, it is only natural and this should be celebrated. This

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should not be looked down upon, because if you look at nature, adaptation and varieties are what allow that primary seed or that gene pool to survive. And if you do not do that, it will be eradicated. Purity leads to eradication, that is it.

Dwight Woods: You notice a lot of what he said there: adaptation, and the making use of what makes sense to you. I hate to bring this up, because it is an exhausted treatise, especially on the internet— the whole “absorb what is useful” thing and its place in the Jeet Kune Do lexicology. Many people have now discovered that its origin was not with Bruce Lee. It was with Mao Zedong through Dan Inosanto. When I am listening to Mahipal talk, I remember this book, where Richard Bustillo says that kali opened their eyes into Jeet Kune Do, and Jeet Kune Do opened their eyes into kali as well.

Mark Stewart: This whole thing about Filipino American Martial Arts (FAMA) is really intriguing to me. After The Bladed Hand2 documentary came out, I basically made a decision to call what I do Filipino American Martial Arts. I found 2 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5N7Xnf85s3Y

that documentary refreshing, because it was quite balanced in the issues that we are talking about.

With regard to mispronunciation of terms, misspellings and things of that nature, it is quite natural, and there is also the human side of the story. These people that taught the Filipino fighters that came to the U.S., they were not necessarily scholars. Neither were the people studying from them. So right there you are going to get the possibility of some misheard words, mispronunciation, heavy accents, and writing stuff down the wrong way.

It's really not that big of a deal.

ML: I have deep roots in Stockton, and even now you can hear certain pronunciations when you listen to them. If you are listening to them for the first time, guess what, you are going to hear things wrong. In the early days, especially when Angel was teaching—and Guro Ron and Guro Jaime have told me this many times—they said, “Oh, do this, do this, do this.” There was a certain accent and Guro Jaime spoke Tagalog. They had a very different relationship compared with somebody who only spoke English.

There was a very heavy pronunciation, and the first generation of serrada was pretty intuitive. It was

FMA & FAMA

with Guro (Mike) Inay, who formed Inayan escrima, that it started to be formalized. There is something that is always lost when you start formalizing things. This notion of formalizing things is also a very Western idea, putting structure on what is otherwise a very free-flowing, very intuitive response.

Also, where did these guys—the first generation—work? They worked in the fields, and the language that they spoke was different. It does not make it bad; I am just saying that this is where they worked. For them, fighting was about life and death. They did not care about if this was a Number Two or a Number One.3 It was, “Hey, this is what kills you. You have two weeks to learn this before you go to war.” It was born out of necessity, so the movement was primary. For most of us here, it is an art of leisure. When was the last time you had a challenge? So now it becomes a completely different expression. Mark and I discussed and laughed about this, that in many ways, the word “martial” has lost his significance. With a lot of

3 Referring to the fact that many Filipino systems refer to the different angles of attack by numbering them.

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practice it has become LARPing4 and cosplay.5 So it is only natural when we try to impose this paradigm and say, “Okay, this is how you should do it.” It is just a way of controlling how you express yourself. And do I want somebody to control how I express myself?

Well, you can try.

4 Live Action Role-Playing 5 The practice of dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game.

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The Specific Terms of Kali, Escrima, and Arnis

DF: Now we are going to go to Section Two. We will get more into specifics as far as the actual terms go. This should pique some interest, because the “mother art”

Dean Franco is the host of FMA Discussion. He has been around the block, and would like to just leave it at that.

term of kali will be discussed.6 Sifu Dwight has agreed to tackle this one first. So, the question is about the terms kali, escrima, and arnis.

It is argued that kali is a Western

creation, and not of Filipino origin as far as categorizing their indigenous arts goes. Sifu Dwight, what say you?

6 The idea of kali being the "mother art" was proposed most famously by Dan Inosanto in his, at the time, influential book, The Filipino Martial Arts as Taught by Dan Inosanto (1980) where he wrote, for example (p.

12), that "Kali . . . [is] the oldest form of weaponry on the island and mother to Escrima." and "[Kali] defended the islanders for centuries before the Spanish invasions."

According to Antonio Diego and Christopher Ricketts (in The Secrets of Kalis Ilustrisimo: The Filipino Fighting Art Explained (2002), p. xiii) he got this (erroneous) notion from his teacher, Floro Villabrille.For a concise deconstruction—and destruction—of the myth of a single "mother art," see Mark V. Wiley’s Arnis: Reflections on the History and Development of the Filipino Martial Arts (2001), pp. 31-37.

FMA & FAMA

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DW: When I came along, that is what was explained to us. If I remember correctly, we were even told that arnis had three areas of training, escrima had seven, but it was kali that had all 12 areas of training. That is something that you heard early on, and then you discovered that that is disputed by different people. The thing that intrigues me is, as everybody knows, the derivation from the Spanish language for arnis and escrima. I have never yet heard an answer to this question: if arnis and escrima are derived from the Spanish language, what was the name or a name for the art before the Spaniards got there? Now, my understanding is that the letters, k, a, l, i are found in words like kalirongan, kaliradman, and pad kali kali. I am not the linguistics student that Mahipal probably is and ultimately, to me, it does not matter.

I will tell you one thing that I have adopted and used since day one: the construction of the term kali (and whether this is accurate or not) serves a useful purpose. The ka is found in the words kamai or kamut, meaning the hand, and also found in katawan, meaning the body, and the li is found in the word lihok, which means motion. There-

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fore, for almost 40 years, I have taught that as a way of conveying to students that kali is therefore the art of understanding hand and body motion, with or without a weapon for combat, or for recreation, because, like Mahipal just said, most of us are recreational martial artists. We are not putting it on the line on a daily basis, but it does not mean that we should water down anything; it does not mean that we should be dismissive towards the history of the art or dismissive towards the culture. We have to understand the roots, we have to understand what it is that has been transmitted, we have to be thankful for the old-timers who kept this art alive so that we are able to participate in it. We have to cherish that and we have to do things. We have to do whatever we can to honor that tradition.

MS: I will have to, again, draw on my lineage here. Guro Lucky's father actually hosted Floro Villabrille in his family home in Kauai, Hawaii, and the son Ted (Lucaylucay) is directly linked to the Villabrille-Largusa kali. I have also been researching this a little bit further for quite some time and, actually, that group did not always call its art kali—they also

called it escrima and arnis. I do not know the reasons why Grandmaster Floro chose to finally name the art kali. However, as the group is rather secretive, they probably know. The reason I use the name kali is because that is what my Guro called it, and I am comfortable with it.

Was there ever a mother art in the Philippines? I doubt it, because it was tribal, regional, and family-oriented. When you talk about the Visayans, they called it kalis, which is a type of sword.7 It was just a generic term for how to swing and thrust with a blade. You also have to remember that, at that time, the Visayans were fighting against what they called the Moro pirates. So, there was definitely cross-pollination going on, because when adversaries have war with each other, they adopt each other's stuff. It's the natural way of a warrior.

7 The noted hoplologists Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith make this same point in their book, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (1980), pp.

186-187, writing: "Using the Tagalog term of kalis, which implies a large bladed weapon, the term became shortened for convenience simply to Kali. Kali became to signify various systems which made use of knives."

FMA & FAMA

DW: Even if it is tribal and regional, is it still not a mother art? Obviously not a single mother art, but there was something going on already before the Spaniards.

MS: Yes. Even Mahipal pointed out the possibility of Hindu influence and conquest of the Philippines from that earlier period of time, but I am sure it goes before that as well. I think that the point is that the art has always changed.

ML: A couple of things come to mind. Number one, I get a lot of BS about kali coming from Mother Kali, Ma Kali, from India—the so-called Goddess of destruction.

Please do not say that, it is really off and wrong. It just shows your ignorance of both my culture and the Filipino culture.

Number two, my own research independent of Mark also found that the term originated with Grandmaster Floro. Prior to that, there was no mention of it. In quite a few conversations I have also had people talk about “Hey, but look at the word, it is Kali Ilustrisimo.” No, it is Kalis Ilustrisimo. Talking with Mang Romy, he mentioned to me that it was Mang Romy and Grandmaster Tony Diego who came up with the term Kali Ilustrisimo much

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later, based on Leo Gaje's recommendation. The meaning of it was “the hole of Ilustrisimo”—that is, when you fight an Ilustrisimo practitioner, you end up in a hole.

So, there is yet another meaning of the term kali.

And third—yes, there is a mother art, and it is called human conflict.

Because anytime people fight, the things that survive are the things that work. But they say that, “Hey, this only worked in this culture on this particular island and everything else is wrong.” I think it is arrogant and you have not traveled enough.

DF: I have never had a dog in this fight, but personally, I like the term kali. However, I do not push the agenda, if the people in the Philippines like arnis or escrima. As far as the term kali, I do think there is a marketing thing in the U.S. with it.8 I say that because when I was involved with Sayoc and Atienza, in the late 1990s to early 2000s, 8 This view is shared by, for example, Romeo Macapagal in his book Kalis Ilustrisimo: The Archived System of Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo (2021) (p.35 footnote) where he writes that "Kali is a modern term created to denote the use of the sword for marketing purposes."

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they both wanted to bring in that whole thing of edged weapons and what better term to embrace than the so-called “Mother art of kali.”

ML: I hear you, and I do not have a dog in the fight with JKD or with kali, arnis, escrima either. What I am saying is just my findings.

Remember what I said about language being the house of being: the way language is framed and you are framing these arts, you are saying this belongs here, that belongs there. In many ways, these are ultimately just branding exercises. What does branding do?

Two things only: one, if you are truly secretive, it protects. But if it is truly protecting, then that term will not get out; and if it got out, it is a really bad secret. And second, it is a rice bowl strategy: it is a way of marketing for you to get your dollars.

MS: It is still going on—you have all these modern martial arts and combatives systems and so on. It is quite the norm nowadays, there are even more systems now than there ever was.

ML: As far as kali goes, it still shares quite a few similarities with them. To most people, if you show a skilled arnisador, a skilled escrimador, a skilled kalisador—a really

skilled guy not doing form but actually sparring—I doubt they will be able to tell the difference. Why create these fake diversions when, at the same time, everything is connected to everything?

I think what should be celebrated is the very specific different adaptations that happen. When you study hoplology, we have, in Donn Draeger's work, something called IAT, and MAT: Innate Adaptive Traits and Manifest Adaptive Traits. Your genetics are your innate traits, but manifest traits are those things that grow through training. I still remember we were on this trip in the islands, in the backwaters of Negros mountains in Bacolod. It was Mang Romy, Mang Ron, Fabrizio Mansur, and a few others—I think it was Elrik Jundis—and we were going to find this art of Tapado. I saw this weird thing: there was a second or third guy that I saw who was walking around without a right arm. I said, what the hell is it with this village? Why are there so many people without a right arm? It is hard to miss something like that.

Mang Romy laughed, and said that he lost his arm in battle. That is an innate characteristic, meaning they still live by the blade there.

FMA & FAMA

So, my point is that that very specific adaptation is very true to the Philippines and it should be honored. These guys are very warlike, they still live and die by the blade in many portions of those islands.

I stood there just in awe.

Then, here, we have martial artists, who are exemplars of technicality—people who have learned so much, who have gone around the world and learned and mastered so many different disciplines and found things that are connected.

Have they been in a war with the kampilan?9 No. Could they? Possibly, but they also have some very rich insights that you can learn and draw from, and this has become a very different adaptation.

In many ways, these are two totally different animals—and that is okay. But I think they both should come together, cross-pollinate and actually make each other better.

They make each other richer, and provide a mirror that helps you to understand that other perspective in an ever deeper way.

9 A type of single-edged sword, having a distinct profile, with the tapered edge being much broader and thinner at the point than at its base, sometimes with a protruding spikelet along the flat side of the tip.

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Dwight Woods is a Jeet Kune Do and kali instructor certified under Dan Inosanto. Woods has been with Inosanto since 1983.

Woods ran a school in Miami for close to 30 years and is now semi-retired with a little training group and a small stable of private clients. He has also appeared on FMA Discussion Episodes #8, #18, and #73.

DW: Would that be common, to see somebody missing a hand?

Would that be common in the central region, and in the northern region as well?

ML: In the north, I did not find that. But in the south, it gets crazy. We were planning to go to Mindanao and they said, no man, we will all be kidnapped. I am very lucky to have learned with Mushtaq Ali Ansari, probably one of the few people who is showing and teaching a Moro art. He has only taught two people so far and his first students died, so I am the only other one there is. There are people who came from the Moro is-

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lands to check him out. When I am moving with the kampilan, there are no names for techniques. It is like: “Do like this. This is what I was shown.”

It is a very warlike art. It does not make it inferior, just because we do not have names for the techniques or we are pronouncing it wrong. What we have also done is using Spanish Destreza10 terms, because it kind of makes sense. I can say, hey, you want to do nails 10 Spanish fencing from the early modern period, late 16th to 18th century; the “true skill of fencing” or La Verdadera Destreza.

up, nails down, you are doing a ribbon cut, and so on, because you have language for it. Language for what? For movement that otherwise would be “Do like this.” It just helps make it richer.

MS: We were talking about the martial in martial art. A lot of fighting actually is ambush and the preparation for ambush, how people treat their blades in order to do that, and so on. The technical skills are super important, but there is a whole side of the martial that is a totally different world.

ML: Yes, Mark and I have discussed many times how they will

FMA & FAMA

treat blades. Mang Ron would talk about how specific poisons are prepared with various plants. He would also tell me to just take my blade out and go shit and piss on it for a few days—let it get infected, so that when you cut the guy, you are giving him sepsis. If you do not sever his entire arm out, you are giving the guy sepsis—and that was worse than getting the arm chopped off back in the day. That is true martial thinking. It is a very different mindset than, “Okay, I am going to do Heaven Six three times and then knock him on the head.”

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DW: I have a point about the marketing of the term kali. I have a contention, that—without naming names—some people started to refer to what they were teaching as kali. Very popular people did that. And then some other people jumped on that bandwagon in order to gain from that usage and to be able to identify with that term, which was being used by these very popular people.

Terms That Did Not Exist in the Philippines

DF: Section Three is basically about the terms that are not really accepted over in the Philippines. They simply just say they did not exist. Guro Mark is going to take this one on first for the terms panantukan, dumog, and kino mutai (pinching, biting) that have been debunked by many over there. Guro Mark, what say you on this?

MS: I have talked to a lot of people that were there during the time that Guro Lucky Lucaylucay was asked to give a Filipino name to his empty-hand fighting method.

It was primarily Western boxing inspired by the blade art of kali.

People are aware of the story that he is Visayan and wanted to call it

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suntikan, because that was the logical one. But for reasons unknown, they decided to use Tagalog, and I have no idea about why. So, it was pronounced and written down as panangtukan. When I went to the Philippines, quite a few times to teach JKD—because I do not teach Filipino Martial Arts in the Philippines—my guys told me that the term makes a lot of sense, it is just pronounced wrong: it is panantukan, panan, not panang.

In regard to dumog, which is also called buno: I think these are, in a sense, generic terms. They are not really styles, but just ways to describe how one might use grappling in their specific system.

There is not just one dumog, there is not just one buno. They are done differently and to varying degrees, depending on the system that you are learning.

In regard to kinomutay, when I go to the Philippines, they just laugh their ass off about that one.

I mean, it is an important aspect of being martial as Mahipal was implying. You do what it takes to survive, pinch and bite—but again, they were searching for Filipino names, and I guess that is the best they could come up with.

DF: I had somebody on the show, who lives right outside Manila, and he terms his wrestling or grappling dumog. So I asked him, is it fair to say that dumog could be construed as an umbrella term for what they are doing, because there is BJJ in there, there is Greco-Roman in it and so on. I mean, when he was doing this stuff, it was clear as day.

He said he agreed that it is kind of serving more as an umbrella term.

ML: I kind of understand FMA from a very Indian context and Indian martial arts. So, what I am going to speak about is from that bias, from Indian weapon systems.

Remember these are clan arts and tribal arts, these are not martial arts—you have to make that distinction. Within clans and tribes, it is usually within a family or a group of families that you learn to fight. “Martial” is when it has been systemized and somebody came in and taught you very specific ways of moving.

Now, when they went to fight, they went with weapons first. If they did not have a blade, then they would use the stick. If they lost their weapon, they would get into boxing. Ultimately, they would end up grappling, and while grappling sometimes you end up biting

FMA & FAMA

and pinching. If you do not think biting works, look at Mike Tyson.

So, I tend to think about this as being much more about ranges, and about what weapons I have access to. And it is unstructured. When I say “unstructured,” I mean you are talking about clan and tribal arts. If you do not make that distinction, everything starts to fall away. Here, what happens is whatever works. These terms, at least for me, just signify very particular ranges and whether I have access to weapons.

For example, dumog, for me, is when at least one or two of my hands or feet have been trapped.

By “trapped” I do not mean Wing Chun11 or JKD trapping, but that the opponent has control of my hands or legs. What do I do now?

How do I use leverage? And how do I move? So, I see those terms mainly as interesting terms. Again, we were on long road trips with Mang Romy and Mang Ron in the Philippines and all we did was talk martial arts for days and nights.

Something like this came up and we said, you know, we do not use

11 An example of another art with controversies over the transliteration of the art’s Chinese characters.

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those terms, but one of the training methods that Tatang used to use and that he was trained with, was that they would apply oil on their body and then learn how to grapple. Something similar also came up with Angel and what he would do in serrada—and we found a whole bunch of different training methods. But that was not the primary way of fighting; it was not an art that you went to learn but it was an aspect or range within the art. If you were so unlucky that you lost control of your weapons and ended up in that situation, you do what you have to do to survive.

So do I see it as an art by itself? I do not—but who the hell am I, it is just one man's opinion.

DW: Well, that is where the 12-areas thing comes in. You have all the weapons areas and then you have the empty hands: pangkamut, kamutkamut, manomano, whatever. Then, within the empty hands are the subsets that you are talking about. That is how we heard terms like pananjakman, or sikaran for kicking, panantukan for punching, dumog, layog, tapon, buno—these were all grappling methods. Then the infighting of kinomutay and the higot hubad was trapping. Now, years later, I realized that what

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people were doing was that they were taking JKD terminology and finding Filipino terms to translate them into.

This is a question I wanted to pose to the group: is it possible that a guy is learning from these old Filipinos and they do not have terms, so he is not learning terms? So, he says, well, I need to find a way to remember what the heck it is that I am learning. For example, if I am the quarterback, and Mark is the ball snapper and he snaps the ball to me and within two seconds, I pass it to the runner—what do we call that in football? A quick release.

Now, if you are running with the ball, Dean, and I am on the opposing team, and I get my hands on the ball, and I get it away from you—what is that called in football? A strip. Have you heard that term in kali for a disarm? So, is it possible that somebody just asked somebody else the word for an action? And this person, using his history, his own history, he says, well, that is like a strip in football.

So then, you ask the old Filipino, what is the word for “strip?” Now, let us say that that word is put into usage and now that usage is spread through seminars. That is how we ended up with Filipino American Martial Arts.

MS: Yes. And then it ends up back in the Philippines.

DW: Right. Because if you have more Filipino Americans traveling to different countries of the world, promoting Filipino Martial Arts, than you have Filipinos doing the same—you are going to have branches from that one tree.

It is like the term sepok jembatan.

My understanding is you go, okay, what is the Indonesian word for “slap,” what is the Indonesian word for “bridge?” Then, in your terminology list, you now get these things. What is the word for “block?” What is the word for “inside?” What is the word for “outside?” So, it came after the fact, because in the beginning people were trying to systematize a natural art, a tribal art, which is passed on in certain ways, and not necessarily systematically.

I wanted to ask the question—is there value to systematizing it? Or will it kill the art? Will the art continue if it is just clan, family, tribe, and there is no martial development?

ML: I will state my opinion on this: I think you kill it. And the reason for it is that when we give it terms, the terms become the prison. So,

FMA & FAMA

I am not a JKD guy, but I am going to step into JKD territory. So, jeet—how do most people interpret jeet? “Intercepting.” But if you look at the old term, it means to “cut through.” This was something that came up in my conversations with Pat Strong, and he verified it. So, if you look at Jeet Kune Do, when you think about intercepting fist, you are half a beat behind, but when you think about cutting through the fist, you are a half beat ahead. When we are creating this language, the language becomes the prison. So, it serves as branding, but it also can become a prison.

There is this very interesting notion of uncovering and unfolding, and I am using these terms very specifically. Certain arts get lost, certain methods get lost. And then, if they are lost, it is usually lost because there is a loss of language and the loss of having captured it in some form—hence a plug for the Immersion Labs to come and archive with us. Now, when you are trying to uncover this—you start to discover patterns that emerge, you spend time with a weapon or a method—it will start speaking to you, if you are diligent with it.

When it starts speaking to you, es-

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pecially as Western-trained martial artists, we then start to try to find and give names for it. We try to give them names so that we can categorize them, but the very creating of the categories creates the boundaries of the prisons.

MS: I totally agree with that. I Mahipal Lunia has been in martial arts for a fairly long time and has a varied background having studied in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

He has had the tutelage of some excellent teachers, many of whom are not in the public eye. As far as FMA goes, he acknowledges his teachers and mentors: Mang Ron Saturno, Mang JC Cabiero, Guro Mark Mikita, Guro James Keating, Guro Arthur Mushtaq Ali Al Ansari, and a few others who shall remain unnamed.

For the last five years he has been very actively involved in reviving the study of hoplology, which is the study of human combative behavior.

He has worked on this project along with anthropologists and some very senior martial artists. He has led five hoplological expeditions around the world, including to the Philippines, which was under the co-leadership with Mang Romy Macapagal of Kalis Illustrisimo. Mahipal Lunia has appeared on FMA Discussion Episodes #159, #256, #359, and #428.

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mean, part of the thing I have been doing, I guess, for the past 10 years, is actually coming up with my own terminologies because I understand what I am talking about. I understand that, to myself, I have to articulate it in such a way that I know exactly what I am talking about.

DW: That is called proprietary language, and that is actually what you are supposed to do. Before Bruce

Lee, did anybody talk about ranges of combat? Did anybody talk about progressive indirect attack, attack by combination, attack by drawing? Nobody did any of that. That is all JKD proprietary language, as far as I know.

ML: You find a lot of it in fencing.

You do not find those terms directly, but you find those ideas and concepts in most of the old arts.

MS: If you do not understand yourself, then you cannot really articulate.

DW: Yes. So again, what we are actually being taught by people like Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto and others, is to think for ourselves.

We are not being taught to mimic them, try to be them. Because they

FMA & FAMA

were just being themselves. So we are being taught to think for ourselves and be ourselves as well.

DF: Sifu Dwight, do you think that, in today's world, most do not take it upon themselves to think for themselves?

ML: It is hard work. Everybody wants it done for them. Nobody wants to think for themselves.

DF: They want to emulate who they got it from, as opposed to bringing their own way or creating their own path or their own style or their own mode of thinking— they are robots.

DW: Do you think more money is made in the do-it-yourself industry, or in the done-for-you industry?

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DF: No, I am not disagreeing with that. I just think it is a shame, that what they really did not get from the gentleman you just mentioned, was to think on your own, because I have seen the complete opposite, for the most part.

DW: I blame technology. It made it easy for them to get everything at their fingertips. So they no longer use this [their head]. They do not retain much of anything, because they can always look it up. So, they never immerse themselves in anything—to put a plug in for Immersion Labs. They never go deep. You see, they do not know about that.

Maybe that is why Mahipal does not look favorably on the systemization. You know, because then it just becomes cookie-cutter imitation stuff, so that it is not real anymore.

MS: But you have to still have it because otherwise there is nothing to liberate you from. I mean, it is still the dynamic interplay between system and non-system—that is my favorite theme. I use the three common mitsu tomoe from the Okinawan symbol and I immediately recognize that as basically another version of yin-yang. You start with binary thoughts, things at op-

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posite ends, but when they move together and interrelate at varying degrees, that actually is like three moving spheres, and even a marble effect that goes from gray to black and light and changes.

DW: Is it not obvious that everything points to interconnectedness and freedom?

ML: And by forcing language you are creating a prison informing my movement to your understanding.

Can I be a little controversial?

Why not accept the existence of something called Filipino American Martial Arts because it is its own animal? In some ways, this is like a grafted tree: the mother plant is definitely Filipino. But you have also grafted in all these other pieces—maybe you have trained some silat, maybe karate-do and so on.

I cannot remove that and say that this is in its pure expression. The only way you are going to have the purest expression of that is if you are from the tribe of the plant, and you have had no prior training. So, in many ways, this rather beautiful expression has come because of a process very much like grafting.

But this one tree has been grafted with many different branches; instead of just giving one kind of

apple it is giving you five different varieties of apple. It does not make any one apple less tasty or less beautiful. In its own way, it has its own beauty. Now, trying to say that this apple shall conform to the mother plant, the stump?

Evolution from the Philippines to the U.S.

DF: Well said, which now leads into Section Four: evolution from the Philippines to North America, classical to non-classical. People make changes when people move.

What would you like to say on this, Mahipal?

ML: I was sitting down and having this long conversation with Grandmaster Estalilla in Fresno.

His father opened the first Filipino school in 1945 in Alaska. He said that his father was trained to fight with the barong, but now they could not fight with it, because they could not cut off white guys' hands with the barong. So, what did they do? They started replacing the barong with sticks. Did the art adapt because of socio-political reasons, did it adapt because it came to a different place? Yes. Same thing you hear over and over again in Stockton.

FMA & FAMA

Here is a weird thing: all of us have done Filipino arts for a few years, yet we still primarily practice with the stick. But we say this is a bladed art. Why is that? Did it not adapt?

Did it not adapt because you are in a different place and it is not so cool to be moving around with blades? Especially the first generation, who had to be careful as they were supporting their entire families. We are told to keep blade awareness, but heck, I am doing stick all the time—what the hell do I know about edge awareness if all I have is a stick and the weight distribution of the blade is different? So, there itself, it adapted.

And now many of us North Americans have this thing where we are moving with sticks, but we think we know how to fight with blades.

No, you do not.

This evolution is natural. That is based on what the consequences of your action are. If you fight and study with this gentleman who teaches Tapado here in the U.S.: to him everything is a life and death matter. He is an amazing guy, amazingly skilled. The only way I want to fight him is with a damn shotgun. But to him, everything is a life-and-death— we do not operate like that. So that evolution is

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natural, based on where you end up, because of socio-political reasons. Look at capoeira. How did that come about? Look at some of the so-called slave arts, including Indian—my kind of Indian—arts.

Some of the slave arts came about because your weapons were taken away from you. Why the emphasis on kicking? Two reasons: your hands are in chains, and you are not good enough for me to touch you, so I am going to kick you. You have to think about the conditions that are put on the person and where they end up. This is where the manifest adaptive traits come in—what emerges based on the pressures that are put on the system. So, evolution is natural.

We in the U.S. are extremely lucky and extremely privileged for many reasons. Everyone from the world wants to come here, everyone wants to market their stuff here, everyone wants to give their things here. With that, we have this buffet of things that we can pick and choose from. It is not something that happens everywhere. And because of this unique ability to take these different things, we have evolved in a very specific and very unique way. And, I would say, Filipino American Martial Arts is

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a real thing. It is a different animal than FMA. And it has been adapting and developing and will continue to do so. It will be even more forceful, I would say, due to the U.S. cultural hegemony—we are pushing that to the rest of the world. One would even say that, in order for you to succeed here in the U.S., you would have to adapt to our thinking, which means that many of the teachers wanting to come here have already adopted that thinking.

DF: That is a good point on how some have adapted, because I know a few that did things that they did not normally do—as far as teaching structure goes—when they were back over there. So that is a good thing.

DW: So, those in the Philippines who have systematized what they teach, are they teaching FAMA in the Philippines? Or are they teaching FMA with an FAMA imprint?

Or both?

DF: I think sometimes both. Depending on when and what they were exposed to from either going to the U.S., or what would be brought to them by people that came from there.

ML: This is not to say that FMA does not have terms—that is not what I am saying at all. I think anything that has survived will have some terms, but I am talking about a very particular mindset. Trying to say that, hey, conform to this, conform to that, is a losing battle.

We may have come from the same stream that has become two different rivers and they have very interesting characteristics to themselves. It is time to say, okay, two rivers? So what? Or two branches?

So what? If you keep getting stuck to, “Oh, this is not the right term,” or “This is not the right moment”— do you really want to go back to India, and have Sanskrit terms for everything? It will be stupid, man.

You can quote me on that.

DW: I will just reiterate that, especially based on everything that we have talked about here, it just seems to me that having an open mind towards it all—being able to accept the commonalities, the similarities, and then even more importantly, accept the differences— leads to a greater understanding of the commonalities. And that, then, dissipates the argument, I think, if you are strong enough. Like Sifu Inosanto says at the end of the BBC documentary, “If you're secure in

FMA & FAMA

your knowledge, you don't have to hide it.”12 Why hide it? You can just bring it out. Actually, in the segment on the Filipino Martial Arts in that documentary, he was talking about how the Chinese hid a lot of things about the sophistication of Filipino Martial Arts, and saying that not as many people were familiar with the Filipino arts at that time, in 1983. I think it all boils down to openness, a willingness to accept—even if you end up not agreeing—that people have a right to their point of view, they have a right to do things the way they do. My belief is that when people do that, they see more and more commonality and more similarity than there are differences.

MS: A favorite topic of mine is this idea that there are different genres within the greater martial arts. I think that Filipino American or U.S. American mindset, that Mahipal is referring to, has given us the understanding that there are different ways to practice, teach, and promote things: you have the very combative, life-or-death thing, you have sport versions, you have 12 The Way of the Warrior - Eskrima the Filipino Way (BBC Documentary, 1983), https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jYU6rTt9Vfo

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fitness or life skill versions, you have preserving-tradition version.

I actually think there are many in the U.S. that do all of them. And then, of course, you have the genre wars where they talk smack about the other genre. It is because it is the only way they can promote their own genre—but they do not understand that they sound terrible.

ML: If I may just tie together a few things, just for my own understanding: evolution is natural, people are different—different races, different geographies, different environments, will get you to move

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differently. What you hear, what you speak, will be different based on the languages you hear. So, it is only natural that, as movement and arts travel, they change. Trying to conform them is a control drama. When a child reaches a certain age, you let the child go. FAMA has grown up—let it go. Let it use its terms, let it use its own language.

If it wants to speak in English, so be it, and if I, or Mark, or anyone decides to make our own language and our own stuff up, so be it. That is the American credo. It is a different animal—I embrace it.

Is Dog Brothers American Filipino Martial Arts?

DF: I do want to throw a Section Five in here that I did not tell you guys about: I believe that Dog Brothers are a version of American Filipino Martial Arts. What say all of you? Let us have it.

DW: I think they are a fabulous Mark Stewart has studied a few different things over the years, but his primary teacher was the late Guro Ted Lucaylucay. In the past 10 years, he has started giving a lot of serious thought to what it was that his father, Guro Lucky Lucaylucay—who also passed away—was teaching.

Lucky referred to his material as directional, which just means simplifying and finishing the fight as quickly as possible. These teachers have given Stewart the direction of his understanding of Filipino Martial Arts. The Lucaylucay family is clearly Filipino Hawaiian American, but maybe not necessarily in that order.

When Stewart looks back at it, they were more like American Hawaiian Filipinos. Stewart has appeared in FMA Discussion Episodes #23 and #335.

FMA & FAMA

example of cultural appreciation. I do not know whether the development of Dog Brothers Martial Arts is necessarily very far removed from something that may have happened in the Philippines.

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DF: No, I am not suggesting it is.

I am just suggesting that as it was created here, and due to all the stuff put into it and all that. I am not saying it is, I wanted to get your views on it.

DW: U.S. Americans will turn just about anything into a sport. Maybe that is an aspect of it. But an American Filipino Martial Art? But then the Filipinos also had stick fighting competitions?

DF: Depends on who you talk to or what region you’re from—you used ironwood sticks or hardwood sticks. Obviously, there was no gear and it ended when that first hand was broken, or the first head was split. But again, just what you guys think, regardless of if they do the same thing over there? Or because it was created here thus it falls under the lens of American Filipino Martial Arts?

MS: I think it is a North American expression of combative sports, but it is combative sports. It is not martial art. I think it is like the first MMA with a stick in your hand— something of that nature.

ML: I know Guro Marc decently well, and we just talked about this.

So, I will say this right again: language is the house of being. What do they talk about: “higher con182 | The Book of the Stick

sciousness through harder contact.” It is a very Western framing, and a lot of this credo is very Americana. A lot of the psychology that Marc talks about comes from Carl Jung, and also comes from certain studies on evolution and aggression. But that is a very cohesive confluence of things that have come together to give form to this very specific expression. So, did stick fighting exist? Yes. But did this training methodology exist? Perhaps not. So, this particular training methodology is a North American gift to the world, an American adaptation. And the way you train is the way you react.

DF: Alright. Let us take a vote. Yay or nay? American Filipino Martial Art?

ML: Hell, yes.

DW: An American adaptation, yes.

MS: Yes, indeed.

DF: Any final thoughts?

DW: It is because of a conversation I had earlier today: I said that if you are extremely politically correct you might say that us, martial artists, we are the biggest criminals when it comes to cultural appropriation. And it is also so stupid: it is obvious that it is cultural appreciation instead.

EPISODE 2:* COMPETING DISTINCTIONS *Transcribed and edited from FMA Discussion Episode #143: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1X3bbfY8bY

DF: Getting back to the matter at hand: Part Two on FMA compared and contrasted to FAMA. It is all about competing distinctions and the journey from classical to non-classical. There will be, again, five sections. Each person will get a first crack at a section and then we will get subsequent commentary and additions from the other folks.

Defining Characteristics

DF: Section One: what are the defining characteristics of FMA? And what are they for Filipino American Martial Arts?

MS: Well, I started in Okinawan karate, karate point fighting, and kickboxing. What I noticed about training in Filipino Martial Arts— as a defining factor compared to the other things—was the idea of

FMA & FAMA

flow, which to me means creating and breaking rhythm. Secondly, there is the idea that you learn weaponry first and empty hand second. And lastly, the emphasis on using geometry, kind of roadmaps on the floor and on the body, to dissect them and use them in different ways to move, attack, defend, and so on. That, to me, was the unique facet of Filipino Martial Arts.

In regard to Filipino American Martial Arts? I would like to start by saying that I do not really think any of the Filipinos living and teaching FMA in the U.S. at the time thought that what they were teaching was Filipino American Martial Arts. They were teaching Filipino Martial Arts. But things change. For me, from my reference point, with my lineage from

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Ted Lucaylucay, I see the defining factor of FMA in what he was doing: a holistic approach to using Filipino Martial Arts as a total package, which meant long weapon, medium-length weapon, short weapon, heavy weapon, medium-weight weapon, light weapon, blunt weapon, edged weapon, empty hands, and so on. And that it was long, middle, close range— so many factors—but it was a holistic pursuit, and a holistic development and creation by him that he had the luxury to do. That is how I see my reference to FAMA as being a little bit different from what I learned earlier on, which I thought was a little bit more directly from the Philippines. Not to say that Ted Lucaylucay was not, but he did take the license to make what he had—from the systems that he learned, from the original masters in Stockton and South San Francisco—to develop something new. He still gave high respect to the resources at all times, but he was doing his own thing, and I really appreciate that.

DW: What Mark said right at the beginning about weaponry before empty hands, emphasis on flow, emphasis on geometry—I had the very same experience, because I

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had never seen anything like that.

I went out to California in 1983, because Dan Inosanto was on the roster at a training camp. I went, even though I was a JKD freak and on the roster it said “Dan Inosanto, Filipino Martial Arts.” Before 1983, my experience of Filipino Martial Arts was an article about Dan Inosanto continuing post Bruce Lee. So, the heading on this one photo sequence is, “Filipino stick fighting technique” and it also says, “part of JKD curriculum.” This is March, 1976 and, for me, it was brand new.

I had never seen anything like that.

I thought, “Okay, I’m into Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do and I know that Dan Inosanto is, as I refer to him, his premier disciple. If he’s doing this Filipino Martial Art thing, it’s got to be good, because he’s not an idiot. So he’s not going to be doing and teaching something that is not worthwhile.” So, I had no problems, I did not have any ego that was like: this is not JKD, Bruce did not do that. I was happy to follow Dan Inosanto or whatever the heck it was that he was teaching. And I have never regretted it, not for one day. It is really tricky for me to find specific delineations, to coin Mahipal’s word, between FMA and FAMA. I

might not see it as clearly as some of you do. When Mark was talking, I was thinking whether Guro Ted is representative of FAMA. All his sources would have been FMA people, do I have that right?

ML: No, all his sources are FAMA. He started with Angel Cabales—I would call that FAMA. He worked with Leo Giron, he worked with Stockton in so many ways.

DW: Okay, I get it now. I think Mahipal just brought it into focus for me.

DF: I have been certainly thinking about the difference between the two. And I think, Dwight, if you have mostly done the Inosanto blend—and even though there are definitely a bunch of different systems incorporated in it—and you have not done other systems, I think it may be easy not to see the distinction among the others. I am just saying this out loud, I am not saying that’s your situation, I do not know.

DW: It is definitely, I would think.

I will tell you what has been my experience having spent most of my time with Inosanto: if I go to somebody who is teaching something specific, I can pick it up, because I have been groomed and schooled

FMA & FAMA

at the altar of “motion is universal.”

So it is only if somebody is teaching a specific sequence, which I am not familiar with, then I have to take a few seconds to work out the motion, get the specific pattern, and then I can go with it. I think Inosanto is such a master instructor that I do not think any of his people, who have truly absorbed what he teaches, would have a problem going from, I will use your phrase “the blend,” to a singular art, a singular approach. I think they will get it. And along the way, they will probably go, “Oh, now I see where Inosanto got that from—he took it from this system.” But over there, in the blend, he took this element from that system and put it with this one and the other one, and so on. But my question is: does that exist in FMA, as well? Or is that a uniquely FAMA approach?

DF: In modern times over there [in the Philippines]? Well, I do not want to get off topic on silat, but you are seeing obviously different weapons coming to FMA over there, weapons that were not there from the get-go are being taught.

So, I think it is going on over there.

Mahipal might have a better answer than I do.

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ML: I see things a little differently.

Let me share what I think about it.

Number one, when I think about FMA, especially about true Filipino arts that have not been catering to teaching martial arts full-time or getting some foreigners to teach them a family system, they are very instinctive. You do not find that sequences have been memorized per se. There are a few things that they do a gazillion times. Number two, this idea of “missed by an inch, killed by an inch”—it is taken to a whole different level, especially with the guys who have truly been there. Three, these guys are close to blood. What I mean is that they have actually drawn their machetes, they have drawn their bolos and actually used them at some point.

Like some of our teachers’ teachers, they were guards in the Tondo region, one of the hardest regions in Manila. It is a very different mindset in many ways. If you look at the brain, that is the reptilian brain: it is either do or die. There is no thinking or analyzing. Most of these guys, when filming them, they could not repeat the things they did exactly the same way two times in a row.

Now, when we start looking at FAMA, it is much more cerebral.

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It is not so much in the reptilian brain; it is much more in the neocortex, where you have the analyzed sequences memorized. I am able to extrapolate and talk very intelligently about these 36 different patterns—but it is completely different. In many ways, on the surface, they might look like the same kinds of cars, but the engines that drive them are completely different. One is a true sports car and the other is a rice rocket,13 if you get the reference. When I look at it, I am looking at what is driving it, what is driving that motion. Is that killer instinct present and out in the front? Is that what drives that movement? Or is the focus on safety and keeping my students around?

About access to the weapons: most of these guys would not go out and make fancy weapons. They did not have an EDC. Their EDC was: “I work in the rice fields, this is what I use,” “I’m working in the forest, this is my weapon.” And these guys are cutting with machetes, with bolos, a thousand times a day. That is a very different engine that is 13 A car, usually an Asian import to the U.S., that has been modified for speed or customized for a flashy appearance.

driving it, as opposed to, say, FAMA where, how many swing the bolo a thousand times a day? How many of them are actually slaughtering the pig with it, let alone getting ready for fights? We in FAMA, we come from a place of luxury—and because we come from this place of luxury, we can sit and analyze and do these 23 other things, and we get caught up in those minor details. Whereas we missed the major point: that is, are you killing me? Or am I killing you?

MS: Let us just use the Stockton example, and of course Ben Largusa in South San Francisco, but that crew in their diversity. They are kind of our founding fathers, at least with the people here on the panel, in regard to Filipino American Martial Arts. But I would guess that they were closer to the description that you just mentioned. And then it became, in the second generation, more luxurious.

ML: If I may share one thing—and I hope I do not get into trouble for this—one of the things in Stockton we would do quite a bit, is that we would go there late at nights.

So understand, I am probably 120

FMA & FAMA

miles outside, and we would go to meet Mang Ron [Saturno]. And then Mang Art Gonzales would also show up, and we would sit and eat, have really cheap moonshine, lots of it. And once we were loaded, then the training would begin.

There would be just four or five of us, and it was a very different training. Very, very different training. You went back home with a lot of scars, and you would hurt like a bitch for the next four or five days.

You would not feel it then, thanks to the moonshine, but that kind of training would not happen in the normal classes, and definitely never in the seminar circuit. So yes, there was a generation that was very close to what some of the old maestros and guros have done.

The question is your access point to it: for them to trust you to be able to show you, that you can sit down and actually hold a drink with them for a long time—have them invite you into their ranch, into their home, and then the training began. So if you hear some of the stories of old Stockton, many students would leave because the old crew—the first-generation students—were hard-asses. They would knock the shit out of people who came, and many

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of them could not hold it. Now, I am not saying that is superior. No, not at all. But what I am saying is that it is a different breed. That is what I mean with: “the engine that drives it is very different.” The way I think about it is that I am looking to live. And then I approach it in a way where I am shutting down my emotions, shutting down my frontal brain, my executive function, and boom, boom, boom—I just do what I have been trained to do a gazillion times. That is a very different kind of approach from, man, hey, I know 64 sinawalis.

DW: That is very interesting. As instructors, have any of you ever done something like this? Has this ever happened to you? Where you look at students training, and you stop class, and you go, you know what, here is the problem with some of you: y’all are not afraid.

can see how they are kind of close, not on top of each other, but close.

Then he gives them a harder trainer—I do not recall exactly what it was, but definitely as far as contact goes, it had more consequences.

Now they are a little farther out.

Then he puts shock-knives in their hands and they are way out. It is a good example to pin along. But I definitely had to stop them—the weapon focus was not there.

ML: I do not train with trainers.

Even when somebody is fresh, I hand them live blades. It teaches them respect: people get cut. They know before they sign up with me that that is the way it is. I am not saying it is a better approach, or best approach. I think each of us have our peculiarities and this is my peculiarity. It just brings true tone.

DW: It eliminates make-believed-

DF: Yes. Regarding the knife, their

ness.

range was just much too close.

Why? Because of the soft training.

The best example I can give you, besides me stopping the class, is to look at Burton’s shock-knife video.14 He has the same two guys and he gives them very soft knives. You

ML: Yeah. And absolutely no

14 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iw4ft1L5a3U

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guards. So suddenly, there is no funny business—they stick to it.

I learned that from two guys, and it completely changed my training 10-12 years ago. I have noticed that, for example, when you look at wushu competitions, you see them with these aluminum blades. They

FMA Discssuion Episode #143

look really pretty. Now take that broadsword out and give them a real broadsword, and almost 50 percent of those motions will not be replicated. The context that you are in dictates the tool and the tool dictates the tactics. That is the way I see it. So, if your context is intellectualization, then, of course, I will even use a kukri knife and start doing FMA with it.

But if my context is survival, then that will dictate, “Hey, what is the thing that I carry or have with me all the time?” and not, “If I have this, what do I do? What do I make happen with this?”

FMA & FAMA

MS: I always interrupt the class.

What I do is walk things backwards; when I notice that people are not catching on, I simplify what I just showed them. So that is how I would do that. In regards to what Mahipal said, I am not quite as extreme as his approach, but I use a graduating process from a padded blade to a harder one, and then to a dull blade. I have not got the shock-knives yet, but I am interested in those. I like to use the progression from safe to less safe to less safe to, “Oh, shit!” Right? It makes sense to me.

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Embodying and Feeling the Differences in the Expressions

DF: Section Two: how does one embody, feel, and see the differences between the two expressions? And secondly, does it create a different fighter?

ML: The short answer is: yes, it creates a very different fighter, the reason being the context driving the tools driving the tactics. So, when I am embodying, “Hey, I am going to go hang out with my buddies and we are going to do calisthenics,” as Mang Romy says—I have to give him the credit for that one—it is a very different than, “We are drunk, let us train now.”

You are using a very different part of your brain and approach. For me, it boils down to whether you are doing this because your life demands it, dictates it. There are family feuds going on for generations and you might be fighting again.

By the way, we see that within our own culture in the U.S.; we see that with gun culture, not as much with a knife culture. In the Deep South, you are going to carry your guns, and you are going to know how to use it really well. First, I think the context really matters. You can usually tell very easily whether this is somebody who has sighted and

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analyzed the weapon to death and can break it down—that is usually a place of luxury. Or is it a person that says, “Okay, do what do you want, and what will emerge will emerge.” Then two: What are you fighting for, and what is worth dying for? I think that is what separates the killers from the calisthenics.

MS: Yes. Based on the definitions that we have already used to make the distinctions, I would say that, if we are talking about FMA in its true sense, it is: finish fast, simple, direct, be aware of your surroundings, and be prepared for the next one or two guys. I would say the key from the FAMA side is becoming well-rounded. Quality of simplicity versus totality, I would say.

DW: I am just thinking that with recreational martial artists in a commercial or professional martial art school, there is no way you can put pure FMA into such a context or situation. But you can make your FAMA training and teaching a hell of a lot better if it is informed by certain elements of FMA. This was something that always used to freak me out about—and I hate to bring it up—JKD people.

You are trying to run a professional school and that means your

focus has to be on retention and growth. They never seem to understand that there is a core group that is going to do and train whatever you want them to train. In the commercial martial art world, that is called the Black Belt Club. In a FAMA school, you could develop that insider club, and those are the ones that go do the moonshine under the moon with the blade.

It is like Inner Baduy and Outer Baduy.15 So, inside your professional school, there is this core group.

And like in the old days of the old Kali Academy, you have to be voted into it. So, the teacher is always on the lookout for the mindset 15 The Baduy people are an indigenous Sundanese ethnic group residing in western Java, Indonesia.

No foreigners are allowed to meet the Inner Baduy, though the Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world. It has been claimed that the fighting art of Pukulan Pentjak Silat Sera/Serak comes from the Inner Baduy, but this claim has not been verified either way—and due to the secretive nature of the Inner Baduy probably will not be, at least not in the near future. To muddy the waters even more, there exist several schools and lineages of Pentjak Silat that contain elements of Sera/Serak within them with their competing versions of the history and origin of the system.

FMA & FAMA

that is present or evident that it can be cultivated. Now you do not feel like you are watering down or selling out. Which is always not for everybody, but that has been a factor for a lot of people.

MS: I would say that it is not necessarily a North American phenomenon alone, but happens worldwide as well as back in the Philippines.

In modern times, I would venture to say that they have been influenced by our model.

DW: I will use the phrase again: if your FAMA is not informed by your knowledge, understanding, appreciation of FMA, then you are not passing on the art. Or your passing on of the art is suffering a little bit, and you should be held accountable for that. Here is why: there are people out there who do know. I went to California in search of Inosanto twenty years before the internet. Now that we have the internet, I do not think there is any excuse for anybody not knowing, especially if they say, oh yeah, I am really interested in such and such topic. I do not think that today there is any excuse for them not knowing. I tell people all the time: if you want to understand the way of the world today, in any situation, you got to ask yourself, “What came before?”

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ML: I think one defining characteristic that comes out is: intuitive response versus learning set patterns and memorizing patterns. I do not know what is the right way. Do you start with set patterns and then go into that individual response?

You can say, okay, that is the path to freedom: you are starting from bondage to these patterns, then moving towards freedom. But if you are already going to end up in freedom, why start from bondage?

I would be remiss if I did not give credit to those who got me thinking like this; this is not my brilliant thought—it was Maestro Keating and Guro Mark Mikita. I owe this idea to those two.

Not saying that either approach is right, or either approach is the only way. But what I have found among those guys who are closer to actually drawing blood—either having drawn blood or learned with guys who actually chopped heads or drew blood and took part in challenge matches—that sense of intuitive response, there is no mistaking it. You can say, “Oh, he has got beautiful flow.” But is it flow? Or is it really good renkiohen—great adaptable perception?

DW: Is the conundrum then: the difference in limit in a place of lux-

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ury and litigiousness? Is that one of the sources for the difficulty in being able to preserve the FMA in a recreational structure?

ML: I think so. Like I said, it is about what is the engine that drives the machine. I’ll bring up the example of Tapado, the art of the long stick again. This Maestro had just insane power. We went down to Bacalod and I was training with these guys. Half a day and my hands were completely bleeding. It was just my damn ego that would not let me drop the stick and stop.

But then ultimately, I think he was testing me out, too. He made me drop the stick. So, my hands, they were gone, they were bleeding like crazy. The guy said, “Oh, I didn’t think you would last so long.” It is a different mindset. I am not saying that is better or worse, but I am just saying it is a different engine.

We got to recognize that. You ride motorcycles for recreation, and you get a really fun motorcycle, you keep it cleaned up. And then you are a biker, you live on it. It is a very different bike, a very different experience. Are both bikers? Okay, sure. Until the shit hits the fan.

DW: Can we take the new student and tell them, “Okay, put your right leg up front and then drop to one

knee,” and smack them in the shin with the padded stick, and then ask them, “What if that was the real stick or a blade? You see where we would be?” And if they go, yeah, I get it, then you go: never forget that while you are training.

ML: I will give you two reference points that I have—two different systems, two different teachers, just so you get an idea. Guro Ron Saturno: “See if you can see this,” and, bam, bam. I was like, what the hell happened? I just felt the whoosh. I thought I had done martial arts for a while. Then a few of his things he connected with—that pain I will never forget. Second time, I was in the Philippines, part of the expedition. Guro JJ Hervas, Mang Romy’s top student, just gives me a helmet. He is like, put it on, and he says, “You’re no longer my brother. I’m going to swing this bloody stick at you as hard as I can. I’m going to take your fucking head off.” Exact words. Gonna take your fucking head off. You either move, or you do not move.

That was that. And suddenly that technique was right there. But is it something that you could do with a new student? I hope not. But I think it creates a very different kind of fighting machine.

FMA & FAMA

DF: I think it is a dying breed, too.

DW: But that is the fight. It has to be preserved, and not let it die.

DF: I am not disagreeing with that, I am just telling what I see if you look at the status quo. Who resembles what you guys are talking about? You look at those who are left, and the funnel is small. Then you look at how it is being taught today. More is more, and all that.

Again, this accumulation of sinawali drills and all this.

ML: It does not bother me, actually. The reason being, in some ways, it is that you are moving towards luxury where this is not required.

And at the moment the context where it is required emerges again, it will just uncover itself.

DF: I think it is a personal thing.

I know what I want from my journey. I am not saying this is the way it should be, or we should go this way. So I think there is a personal aspect to it, obviously—it goes without saying. But the preservation of it? That is tough, I do not know if I have an answer.

MS: It is important that we have contrasting things out there. I do not want everything to be all the same. I would like to make a point

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that, in my experience, specifically in Bangkok, when we were training and I was teaching, that we always had new students come in, and some guys were pretty tough, but they never did weapons sparring ever in their life. But they saw us doing it and they asked if they could join in. And they had no background in FMA whatsoever, and they still could kick ass. My point is that there is something about a weapon—whether it is a stick or a blade—where it is good to have technology because you can get better. But I tell you what: the average Joe with a weapon in his hand is a dangerous character.

Relative Strengths and Weaknesses of the Expressions

DF: Let us dive into Section Three: what are the relative strengths and weaknesses at both of these expressions?

DW: In some ways, we have talked about that already. Relative strength comes from being closer to the source whereas weakness is a dilution and comes from being further removed from the source.

Let us say that you hear about Floro Villabrille. You heard that this guy was really great—and that is all you do with this information, because

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you are not at a school where Floro Villabrille is teaching. You are telling me that you are unable to do any independent research on him?

That you cannot find a way to get to Ben Largusa, Mel Lopez, maybe even to Guy Chase? Just go on the internet and type in the search term! I think that the strengths and the weaknesses are not necessarily in the art or in the approaches themselves. The weaknesses, just like the strengths, would have come from the input of the people.

The weaknesses are not self-created: they come out of the lazinesses of the people doing the thing. So, if you decide to be lazy with your modern day FAMA approach, you do not pay attention to mechanics and all you do is to wave around the sticks doing the 64 sinawalis, you have weakened the art. The weaknesses are coming out of you, it is you and your stinking approach to what it is that you are doing. You are not honoring the FMA and the people who preserved it.

ML: I think that the strengths themselves are the weakness. You cannot have a strength without inherent and opposite weakness emerging in any system. So, in many ways, many of the arts that I have seen emerged because of a very

specific problem that they were trying to solve: that group there uses long sticks, or this group here uses bolo knives. In many ways, there were very specific problems that they were trying to solve, and very specific tools that they had.

Now, what shapes your thinking is conflict. If I am always fighting only the next two villages, guess what my perspective of fighting is: those two villages—and I better know that really well. So that is the strength and the weakness within this aspect. Whether it is FMA, or any tribal or clan art, you could almost generalize that.

Then when you look at FAMA, I think in some ways we are exposed to so much, to so many damn things. If you think about an OODA loop16—observe, orient, decide, and act—you are able to see and recognize things that might not have been needed in a particular tribe; but that does not mean that they would not respond to it.

But your sensory acuity is much more finely tuned and there are more tools that I am able to draw in to say, “Okay, this is how I deal

with it.” I am simplifying it, but I am trying to get this contrast across. But just because I have the tools does not mean I have the “killer instinct” to make it happen.

It is one thing to have the option of three guns, another thing to have the balls to pull the trigger.

MS: Mahipal basically read my mind. I am in love with the yin/ yang philosophy. Basically your apparent strength is your apparent weakness. Thus, if one were at one extreme and that is the strength, then—because they are leaving out the other half—that is also your weakness. The point is that if you are trying to remain true to the source in FAMA in the modern day, and that source is more intuitive and “finish fast and kill or be killed” kind of thing, then that should be the first step. Go with the intuitive first, let them problem-solve on their own before you start to produce the system, or the technology to help them expand their understanding and get even better. Let them be intuitive to begin with, and cycle back and forth between the two.

16 Developed by John Boyd based on his experiences as a fighter pilot in the Korean War.

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Weapons Choice in the Two Expressions

DF: Now onto Section Four: how are the weapons chosen in the two arts and frames of mind?

MS: I believe that there is a class system everywhere, it has been in existence forever and still exists.

So, with that said, people in the Philippines chose weapons based upon their station in life, their wealth and their power, their career, what they did every day. Of course, the most wealthy and powerful had a choice of what they wanted, and had the best craftsmanship and a variety of things to use. Whereas, when you get down into the blue-collar and agricultural world, the tools change and it becomes more of a function of utility—what they use every day.

The use of these tools then expands into the idea of how to protect their life and their family’s lives.

In regard to Filipino American Martial Arts, from the Lucaylucay lineage, it goes back to exactly what I said before: we had the luxury of trying out a number of different things. Long weapons, medium-length weapons, short weapons, blades, sticks, you name it. We collected hockey equipment

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and different tidbits here and there and went at it at different levels of intensity. I think “recreational” is a little bit too light a term, because within the recreational martial arts there can be some intense hardcore stuff as well—of course, not quite the same as in the jungle or the streets. So, about FAMA: my perspective is that we had a choice of learning many, many things, and that is how we made our choice.

In regard to utility, now, for myself: I live in Thailand, and I am on my bicycle every day for four or five hours. I have a long stick that I carry, which is basically for the utility of scaring away dogs that chase me. I have not had to hit one yet because they are scared of it—you just point it at them. But it is on my bicycle also for other reasons: there is road rage, and not everyone likes farang, foreigners.

I have had some close calls, and I think that stick kind of kept people away. If it did not keep them away visually, I would have used it. I also carry a folder, but it is also for utility. I need it for cutting things as I go hiking in the jungle. I have a hardened pen that I keep, which is for utility, but if I am forced to use any one of them, I can probably do a damn good job.

ML: Just to add a little bit to what Mark said about everyday carry— that is what becomes your specialization and the specific range you have focused on. For example, if you are in really narrow streets, you are not going to be carrying a seven-foot staff. Or if you are on flatland, or you are in a tropical forest, that is going to dictate what you have. With FAMA, I have two gripes. It is wonderful, but I have a problem with it: kukri sinawalis, seriously, do not do that, or set patterns where people pick up two kampilan trainers and go at each other with them and I am like, have you really ever even touched a real kampilan?

DW: These are the weaknesses that I am talking about—some person did not really think it through.

They go: I have seen double-stick. I heard that the stick is the training tool for the blade. So I am going to get double-kampilan and I am going to start doing Heaven Six with it. And wow, look how creative I am!

How weapons are chosen? Well, what is the context you find yourself in? I really like to train with the kampilan, but am I going to walk in downtown with one?

DW: I wondered about the context in which the question was asked, as these two gentlemen took a historical approach to it. Was that the context or was it more about the different systems known for focusing on different weapons, and—if they are—how did they choose those weapons? I do not know enough about the history to answer that question.

In the context of personal carry, I do not do much other than go to the gym to train my group and then use public transportation to train my clients, so the telescopic baton is my choice to carry and my rasta-look is my best self-defense.

Nobody is interested in troubling me, because I am the “One Love” guy.

Access to Learning the Expressions

ML: I think the context defines

DF: We are collectively good to

the tactics that then define what and how you train. Creativity is good, but it can also get you into this forever creative state and create more problems than solutions.

ML: When I speak about FMA I

FMA & FAMA

go to Section Five: access to learn FMA and FAMA. am talking about the old-school,

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the intuitive response. You better know the right people, and you better prove your loyalty before that stuff is going to come out. I do not think you are going to be able to buy that. You will hear the terms sang real familia, “blood of the family.” You got to understand that you are either in or you are not, and, if you are in, then there is a certain code that you’d better follow. So that access is earned, I believe.

FAMA, in this case, I am thinking of a professional school, and this approach is more akin to: “Hey, let us figure it out, let us have some fun.” The focus is quite different; it has become about retention and growth. So, they are two very different creatures. It is not that you cannot evolve into becoming that member of that Black Belt Club.

But it is almost like what the Chinese had: the outdoor and the indoor students—and the outdoor students paid for the indoor students to learn.

MS: In the Philippines there is also the other side of the arts, not the intuitive hardcore side. You have to remember that arnis is the national sport and that it is taught in schools. It is kind of the same in Thailand with krabi-krabong. Peo-

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ple learn it but do not understand the depth of what they could learn even from those gym classes—that it may lead them to something really special in their life if they keep looking and doing the research.

But you do have that superficial gym class that teaches how to do the stick. It is not limited to that, but it is highly accessible in the Philippines.

Then, getting back to the point about FAMA: something unmentioned is that Filipino Martial Arts has been studied by many of these guys that are in the combatives genre. For example, Tom Sotis clearly has studied Filipino Martial Arts in creating his system, Amok, although he teaches it as a U.S. American, scientific combative use of the knife. And he is not the only one, there are others out there.

Then the other point that I wanted to bring up is that there has been a movement to align the Filipino Martial Arts with taekwondo and other successfully commercial enterprises in the martial arts world to kind of piggyback and then be co-taught and promoted together.

Those are all interesting dynamics.

Teaching Intuitiveness

DF: Are we ready for Section Six? You had some notes, Sifu Dwight?

DW: These are the five things that I wrote down when I had this idea: mindset, intuitiveness, let them cycle, offense is the best defense, and the creative state avoidance. “Offense is the best defense” puts me in mind of this tall bruiser Filipino Hawaiian named Richard Bustillo who told me that, when you get the new student, teach them how to hit, because defense is instinctive. People know how to get their hands up to stop getting hit in the head, but they do not know what to hit back with. So, teach them how to hit. But here is my question as we are talking about intuitiveness: can I start the new student with how to attack with Angle One?

MS: I think you have to teach attacking before you teach defense, because I do not know if it is natural or intuitive to strike. It just makes more sense to me, because you have to be combative. If you are not combative, you are going to run away all the time.

DW: Tell me if this makes sense to you. My approach has long been that we start with what we call coordination drills. Then we move up

FMA & FAMA

the ladder to combat drills. So, let us say I teach you 1-2-1-2-1-2 being stationary, then I want you to do it advancing and retreating, then angling left and right while moving forward or backward. That is all part of coordination. I tell you that you want to get this quickly, because this is not where it is at: it is when we take that coordination stuff and convert it into offensa-defensa. Am I missing something?

Should I go into offensa-defensa from day one, when they have not yet developed the ability to make the stick talk? Because that is where we want to get to: the freedom that Mahipal talks about? I do not know, I have not worked out a way. Before tonight, I did not even think of it that way.

MS: I would say that in the academy setting, the commercial setting, you have to do it your way, Dwight. Mahipal is talking about the backyard and the hardcore, where you go with the intuitive first.

ML: Yes, I agree with that. Maestro Keating and Guro Mark Mikita have a very interesting approach: this is the problem, go figure it out, and come back to me. You think you figured it out, then they frustrate you a little more: no, it

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did not work, go do some more.

How I approach it—and I am not saying that this is the best way but it works for me—is to show them how to shoot for the target, what is the target I am trying to get at, and just familiarize them with the weapon. Now, instead of saying that this is the only way this weapon has to move, let them discover some new curves. The most dangerous guy is an untrained guy with a knife.

DW: There is a phrase, “frustration is good,” that I recall as coming from Inosanto, and him saying that it came from Johnny Lacoste.

That means: if I find myself frustrated, I work it out. My experience has been: the current generation, they do not accept that. They get frustrated, they leave. That is why I think sometimes a lot of what we discuss is a generational thing.

DW: One of my beliefs, when it comes to teaching martial art professionally, is to try to imbue that kind of mindset into your students where they welcome being frustrated. They welcome being told to work it out, to come back to me later with what they came up with.

If it is not being taught in U.S. culture, if it is something that we import from Filipino culture, then I say more power to it. Because then we do not end up cultivating a crew of softies. I just think that one of your responsibilities as an instructor is to help students to cultivate the mindset.

ML: I think it is a student’s responsibility to extract it, distill it, to draw it out from the teacher. Only then it is yours. If the instructor has to instill it, is that not violence, because I am saying that this is the path for you?

ML: I think there also are these

DW: I am rephrasing it: it becomes

groups that gravitate towards the idea that it takes a special kind of passion to say I want to solve this.

And if everyone thought like that, we would be in a very different world. Not everybody does that, they want the answers to be fed to them so that they can sound intelligent, rather than do the hard work of discovering what would be intelligent for them.

the instructor’s responsibility to teach the student how to extract it.

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EPISODE 3:* UNHOLY MATRIMONY *Transcribed and edited from FMA Discussion Episode #153: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq8eRxwjCKo

Migration to the U.S. and Back to the Philippines

DF: Section One in this episode is: migration to the U.S. and back to the Philippines. Sifu Dwight, what would you like to say regarding this?

DW: This is where the title, unholy matrimony, came from: if we think in terms of migration into the U.S., FMA came because those people came, and those people were FMA. But it was not the art that was coming, the people were coming.

Once the people were here, the art continued to be trained and practiced, and it became a different thing—which is the theme we have been discussing. FMA was a consequence of that initial migration, but it started to become a separate entity. And then people started to come here because

FMA & FAMA

of FMA, because there were people in this country who were now very interested in FMA. So, now you get another wave of migration—and that group of migrants may have had a different approach and different intentions for bringing the art here. Then, as the art grows in popularity, what happens? You get, let us call it, “the FAMA model” now returning to the homeland.

I find it fascinating because I am wondering if there exists—in any other area of human endeavor or activity—another thing that was imported into the United States of America, developed, improved, expanded, and modified there, and then went back to the point of origin? We talked about the fact that the names of certain arts were changed, because other names had become more popular, and were in greater use outside of the Philip-

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pines. So now, a Filipino art adopts a Filipino American name in order to be promoted and that, to me, is just a fascinating development.

But then it brings up the question: would that have happened organically or was that accelerated with, dare I say, a profit motive?

DF: I do not think that is out of the realm if you look at the business model that was created here and I think they adapted it in the in-between stop in Europe.

DW: Did we ever determine whether Europe was the intermediate stop?

DF: I only say that because I am using modern arnis as an example, I am not saying this is true for all systems—I do not want to get misconstrued here. But if I look at modern arnis, what was told to me is that Remy [Presas] came here, but then immediately was called over to Europe to start some stuff there. I am just using that as an example. I am not saying all systems went that route, but definitely, I assume, a few did.

DW: I imagine that must have been very attractive. It is the same way when Dan Inosanto started doing seminars here in the U.S., then, pretty soon, there was a call

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to come to the UK. Then, once you are in one part of Europe, it is fairly easy for everybody to come and see you. And then, at some point, they are going to ask you to come to their country for sure.

MS: I think Dan actually created the model that you see happening now everywhere. He was the one to start teaching seminars, first in the U.S., then in Europe and Asia.

He was the original inspiration for everyone to do the same thing— that is how I see it.

DW: Who else besides Inosanto was by both avocation and vocation an educator? I do not think there was anybody else but him.

He is the only one that was a P.E. coach, a history teacher and a driver's ed teacher. Teaching was in his blood. And so, when the time came, when there was demand for more knowledge about the art, it fell on him to put together a method for people to start to understand it. I have been told that there is a lot of stuff being taught out there that owes its creation to Inosanto.

It was not given to him that way— it was given to him in one manner and he tried to smooth it out so that, in a seminar crowd with three different levels of people in attendance, it would make sense to all those levels.

ML: Let us not confuse pedagogy with fighting, though. I think both have very valuable pieces, but we should keep them separate. I do agree with you in that he probably helped to push things out. But there are quite a few people who, even though down low, have done significant things to push it along.

MS: I was just saying that it was he who created the business model, the model of propagation, to make it popular on an international level. That was my point.

ML: I think it is important that we do not get stuck in a particular timeframe and then think that everything comes from that timeframe. Even if you look at just the past 100 years, you have fishing vessels coming into Hawaii, and then going into Alaska—most of them were Filipinos. Number two, if you look at some of the pirates, who ended up in Florida and Mississippi from the 1800s, about 50 to 60 percent of the sailors/pirates were Filipinos. So you have the influence of Filipino arts going way back in time. But even if you stick just to a hundred years, in about 1920-30s—and I am talking about official records, not hearsay—Kabaroan grandmaster Estelillia's father first came to Hawaii, and

FMA & FAMA

then ended up in Alaska where he actually started teaching. GM Estelillia showed me dated pictures going back to 1938-39, give or take two or three years. So, I would say that the arts were there, but who they were taught to and how they were taught is a different story: it was kept within bloodlines, within friends and family. But even from that period, say the 1930s going down, some of the schools made it down to Minnesota.

Then, coming to about 1963, Manong Cabales opened one of the first public schools, accessible to everybody. The reason for that, by the way, was Max Sarmiento of Cadena de Mano. You had Angel Cabales, Leo Giron, and Max Sarmiento, and these were the big three schools that basically started openly teaching non-Filipinos for the very first time. But if you look at some of the first-generation students that came to the big three schools, they were mostly Filipino Americans. So, you already had the first generation of Filipino Americans practicing these arts. And from there, of course, we had the whole West Coast escrima scene that happened and that was the beginning of the fragmentation.

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My point is that you have a long history of Filipino arts being here and, in many ways, molding and meshing with different things.

Look, for example, at Kajukenbo,17 as a prime example of these developments happening in Hawaii— you had that meshing and an emergence, in some ways, of a new art. This evolution was influenced by the weapons you could have, the environment you lived in, the laws that you faced and so on—you did not want to be a Filipino guy chopping off a white guy's head in the 1950s; that would not have gone too well. So, when you hear some of these stories from the old timers, you will begin to see that trend. The arts were always there, so I do not think we should think that this notion of FMA, or even FAMA, was not there, because that innovation had already started. I actually do not see it as innovation as much as I see it as adaptation.

Very specific adaptations had to be made to the arts to modify them to bigger, stronger guys.

17 A Hawaian hybrid martial art, developed in the late 1940s and founded in 1947. The name Kajukenbo is a combination of the various arts from which its style is derived: ka—Korean karate/Tang Soo Do; ju—judo/jujutsu; ken—kenpo; bo—Western/Chinese boxing.

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I agree with you about the 1980s and 1990s, when this whole seminar thing began. I agree even with the whole Europe trip; these were initially old Cabales' students who had learned portions of the arts, and they were being stationed by the military in Europe in the 1970s.

When they went over to Europe, they started teaching their particular expressions of the art because they were not allowed to teach serrada yet. And so it developed in its own different way. Then, from the 1980s, the whole business model began: the “big three”—who will remain unnamed—and the world domination plan. And that is what happened; that model has now, essentially, gone around the world.

Now, the reason it is the dominant model is because people do not have time, they just want to pay up a little bit, go to a seminar, do those 24 drills and move on with life and say they have mastered it.

There is that shift in how teaching happens. I call it the shift from backyard to taekwondo programs.

Nothing against taekwondo, but it is very well structured, very frontbased. So what happens? You move from training for instinctive response into “these are the drills.”

Now, if I have 26 levels in a seminar, I can still go through the

drills, one after the other, and, as far as I go, give you an illusion that you are learning something. But are you really? Have you learned measure? Have you learned timing? And have you learned how to instinctively respond without being caught inside?

The Business Model in the U.S. and the Philippines

DF: We are going to go onto Section Two: American reps become business minded, and the model goes back to the Philippines.

MS: I will just start with what Mahipal was saying: clearly there has been generational changes. Of course, the oldest generation to practice the Filipino martial arts in the U.S. would have been closer to the way that they learned it and used it back home: very tight-knit, very family-oriented, and then the tribe would naturally expand because of marriages of maybe the daughters to North Americans, as well as to Filipino Americans, and so on. And at a certain point, they saw that there was a way to actually make a career from it. So, what better way than to copy some existing models out there in the modern world of the 1970s. What you have are these changes in training

FMA & FAMA

culture. To bring up taekwondo again: an interesting point is that the old-school taekwondo was really hardcore stuff, highly respected. And again, that is an example of generational changes, modernization and making money out of it. Then the seminars came along, and then this and that came along.

What I want to tie this into is that that notion of being able to succeed with a career and still promote your culture became very attractive. So, when the Filipinos living in the Philippines that taught Filipino Martial Arts saw the Filipino Americans' success in regard to the way they did things, they came over, gave it a try, and adopted the business model. But then what happened was that when the new guys came over, North Americans already doing FAMA became interested in the things that they learned from the new batch. And then the Americans went back to the Philippines to continue to learn more. It is a really good dynamic, actually. It has brought us to the situation now, through Dean's show, to where we are having chats with folks living in the Philippines and us being here, and/or in Europe. And now we can see that there are some grievances

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involved, and we're addressing the grievances. It is a part of the continual evolution of things.

DF: Hopefully these bridges will become even closer and more connected.

ML: About business models: I probably am the worst person to talk about it. I learned the old way, mostly in the backyard with Guro Ron and others. I know the old way, it was much more about family. You eat together, you drink together, you bullshit, and then you fight. That is what I know. I do see this new model, and I do have my biases, I just get a knee-jerk reaction around that. So, I am probably not the best person to talk about it.

I agree with Mark when he spoke about that model coming about and I think it has its place because it allows people to sample the arts.

There is this huge difference as well: when you think about the business model, it becomes a business transaction. And in the old way, it was sang real, blood.

DW: I just want to make sure that people realize that nobody is being condescending towards taekwondo when we say “the taekwondo model.” It is at times an euphemism, but it is also sometimes a

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thing of admiration because, well, they took rough-and-tumble and turned it into a thing that soccer moms became interested in.

But is it not interesting that the old-school taekwondo was roughand-tumble? So you are saying: old school anything was rough-andtumble. Everybody went through some kind of transformation for whatever reason. What I find interesting about the taekwondo model is that a lot of the most dedicated people, the people who are most interested in the art, are the people invited into the Black Belt Club.

I am a little bit obsessed with the idea of teaching hardcore martial arts with integrity, without ever watering it down and throwing 64 drills at people because you want to be able to string them along and have them keep paying over a six-year period for something that they could learn in six months. I have always been intrigued by that idea, because we know that, as long as there is nothing wrong with the instructor or the student, the more you train, the better you get. So even if it is possible to get the art in six months, what is wrong with somebody continuing to train for six years?

FMA Discssuion Episode #153

ML: Nothing wrong. But what I am trying to say is that there are different elements. The way I think about old school, about why you are training, you are not training for anything other than the survival of you, your family and your plans. Expediency matters, being able to go at it matters. Whereas with the business model, the goal is not whether you can fight—the goal is to retain you as a student.

DW: Right. But the goal of the insider's club is that you can fight. So you have, within your school, that insider's club that preserves the art. The rest of it is there for recre-

FMA & FAMA

ation and there is nothing wrong with recreation. And the truth is that more people are interested in entertainment than in education.

If we want to be successful in the real world, then we have to accept that. So now it goes back to the idea of: how will I be successful but maintain integrity? I say it is within the insider's club. I say when you have a vibrant insider's club, where you can teach the real stuff, you go to bed happier at night, knowing that you are doing that as well as providing recreation and edutainment for a larger group of people.

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Offspring and Geographical Contexts

DF: Section Three: Offspring and geographic contexts.

ML: I will continue with talking about this hundred-year arc where you have very specific adaptations emerge. Look at the first generation of the people who were studying it: not everyone was five-foottwo, not everyone was 120 pounds soaking wet. Now you start having these fighting machines who are built very differently. They are going to move differently to begin with: many of them already came with training in other arts, be it boxing, or goju,18 or kajukenbo, or whatever it might be. So, we started to see this emergence of these new offshoots. They might have learned a pure system, and by “a pure system” I mean that they learned it in a very structured way: “This is how it's gone on for generations,” and “This is what you do.”

But then that personal expression was their personal expression: some guys like to get hit-and-go: “Okay, hit me, and then I will take 18 Goju ryu, one of the "big four" karate styles to emerge from Okinawa and Japan, the others being Shotokan, Wado ryu, and Shorin ryu.

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your head off.” And some guys did not want to be touched—they are like, “Okay, I don't want you to even touch me, and I am going to learn how to move to avoid that.”

So you start to see these innovations emerge in very different ways all across the country.

Secondly—how do I say this—some people jumped the gun from learning an art into a business model.

Even when they did not complete a basic or advanced training, they said, “Hey, we're gonna go out and start teaching.” Now what happens? That was their base, and, in some cases, they made that the whole art. Then you see the emergence of a lot of, “Oh, this is my family style, I just did not talk about it until now, after I did four years of training in this school.” So you have that happen as well.

Then you had a lot of people who, for various reasons—usually to pay for college—enrolled in the U.S. armed forces. I am talking here about the Filipino Americans, the first and second generations, they did not have the means to do that otherwise. They went to posts in Europe and started spreading their particular art and particular

expressions, tying in with clubs.19 And that was the beginning of the offspring in some ways. And, of course, you have the whole Inosanto blend. I will not talk about it—you have two guys who have JKD and kali background, I will let them speak about it. I do not think of that development as a bad thing: it comes with its pros, and it comes with its baggage. But I think that when we do not acknowledge the context in which this was born, or how it came to be, and we create and make fake history, we do a disservice to everybody.

DW: At some point, I am going to need somebody to tell me what the Inosanto blend is. Because every time I hear that, I go, man, I feel like I am missing out on something. I will tell you why: we all know the story of him having trained with over 30-something different instructors. And the only thing that I can remember there being a name assigned to it was the seven sources of Inosanto's long and short. That is the only thing that I know of where his name attached to it is valid, be-

cause he would explain to us that the technique comes from Doce Pares, but the way we were getting into it comes from Villabrille-Largusa, and then we were doing it in conjunction with something from serrada, or what have you. But that was it. And what was interesting is that, of those seven sources, one source was called X-Factor, and X-Factor—as he explained—was a bunch of guys who did not want their names out there. Every time I hear about the Inosanto-Lacoste system, or Inosanto blend or what have you, I am like, I missed that lesson again.

DF: Just to give some historical perspective on that: when I first got in, that is how it was brought across to us, as far as categorization or nomenclature. It was construed to us as: “you are learning the Inosanto blend.” I do not know if it is something they did just for sake of deeming it something, but that is how it was always relayed to us. And I am speaking from a Northeastern point of view; I cannot say that for other geographic areas in the States.

19 Interestingly, the early clubs that started to include escrima in Europe were doing Wing Chun.

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DW: If people started requesting that I come teach seminars at their place every weekend, 48 weekends out of the year, guess what I am going to be forced to do: I am going to be forced to organize my material in some form or file. Otherwise, I am gonna go crazy.

ML: Let me bring this back for a minute. My point here was offspring—let us not get stuck on a word. So, just like you said, if you are teaching for 48 weekends a year, you are going to have a structure—give it whatever name you want. But when we think about Guro Inosanto, who was a major influence, we see very particular offspring coming out. From that, many different flowers came out—that's the point. So, if there is a better term, I will use that. But that is the focus.

DW: You are correct, it was packaged that way. It had to be identified, so that people could market it. Think back to the beginning, when Mahipal said it was about family and clan, not marketing, not packaging. It was out of necessity.

I just find it interesting that, out of necessity, you organize in order to be able to spread it. But then it starts to lose its essential quality of being vital and it starts to become

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just whatever it is that you want to call it.

MS: I think this is a good opportunity for me to talk about Ted Lucaylucay a little bit. What he did was that he taught his background Filipino Martial Arts, which were Leo Giron's Largo Mano, Cabales serrada escrima, and Villebrille-Largusa kali. Those were the three arts that he taught to us as a part of his curriculum, but they were taught separately. What he called Lucaylucay kali would have been his combination of those three things.

And then he had a third method of teaching, which was just a progressive approach, which basically was semi-compliant and non-compliant training/sparring. I am not sure if many people are aware of that. But that has been a real effective offspring in my opinion, and I do not think a lot of people are aware of the way that he put things together in that fashion.

What I have in my notes here is that I found some interesting offspring as well. I just wrote down four different names, and these guys, in my opinion, are the ones that tried to get back to the “martial” part of martial art in the Filipino Martial Arts and/or Filipino American Martial Arts. And these

guys do not even call what they do Filipino Martial Arts at all. You have someone like James Keating, you have Tom Sotis in Amok, you have Libre knife fighting, and you have someone like Hock Hockheim. All those people definitely are inspired by Filipino Martial Arts, to varying degrees, but they have returned to a more combative, simpler approach and tried to get, in some ways, divorced from what it had become out there in the world. I see that as an important offspring as well.

Politics, Separation, and Divorce

DF: That leads us neatly into Section Four, which is politics, separation, divorce.

DW: Well see, now here is the thing: Mark just mentioned those four systems. Do you not think some people would see that as divorce, as opposed to offspring?

DF: I can comment on Amok, being a trainer of them, and without getting too deep politically.

Divorce is absolutely more appropriate, because of Amok not wanting to be affiliated with the whole FMA community and all that. So, I think that is fair.

FMA & FAMA

DW: I talked, in the previous section, about staying connected to the root of things with integrity.

That is not the language of divorce; that actually is an attempt to stay married to what it is that you do. I imagine that the people who divorce themselves take it as removing oneself from the original. For whatever reason, you are unhappy in some shape or form with the original, and you have to remove yourself from it. But then I think that people who understand, they can look at you and see what your origin is, or what your connection is. I think it is probably just a personal thing for me, being somebody who does not believe in literal divorce, because I think that you should take your time and make your choices very, very carefully, and not rush into things.

But it is like a lot of things in life; people can have very, very good reasons for divorcing themselves from their original source. We all know stories of people who became so disenchanted with their organization, with the leader of their organization, or what have you, and, for a very good reason, they divorce themselves from that entity. But then, on the other hand, there are people who divorced themselves,

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because they are like, “Well, I could make more money if I'm not tied to such and such. So let me just, you know, break off and go do my own thing.” You got to check people out and what the lineage is: “Let me do the research and find out if this is somebody that I really should be listening to.”

We see it in the JKD world, way too much. When Mark talked about Guro Ted Lucaylucay, I remember him introducing himself at the start of the videos as representing kali-JKD. Over this conversation, I have come to appreciate it even more just how much the two families are related. Even if we talk about them separately, the issues that you have in the group, in the family over here, are the same issues that we have in the family over there—even if we look at it separately. This divorce thing, a lot of times it's all personality, conflict, and desire to make more money for yourself.

DF: I think there are definitely selfish reasons a lot of times, and I think that is fair.

ML: I think it is natural sometimes.

Not everybody that you meet, and not everybody that you dance with, is right for you as a dance partner

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for the rest of your life, for various reasons. What I have seen really comes down to ego, comes down to papers, and paper being held over somebody's head, whether to promote them or not promote them, and money—and when a charismatic leader dies, as to who succeeds them, who is the one true inheritor. Then you end up having people say, okay, he studied at this stage of his development, he is the last student, so the last student has to be the best one, or the first student must be the best one. We find this in all arts—I am sure JKD has that, too. You basically have everyone saying that, oh, we are the only ones who have the one true representation. And I think that, somewhere in their heart, they truly believe it. Some of them truly believe it, and some of them are just using it as a really good marketing ploy to get a particular point of view across.

About divorces: I see this much more like a kid growing up. The kid is not always going to be around the parents. Some have good relationships with the parents or with a partner and some do not. And then some just disown everything about where they come from. I think the damage happens when we fail

to acknowledge our roots. When we fail to acknowledge where we come from, and make up fake histories, that's where a lot of trouble begins. We also see that specifically with the FMA and FAMA community. We have had many people who were North-American-born, American-trained, some of them not even Filipino, who developed a very, very high level of skill. Whether it is ego that says, okay, I want to go check something else out, or what are my roots, or whether they do not have a need to, that separation has happened. But if you see the movement, you know this is FMA—there is no mistaking. It has just taken its own shape, its own particular expression. Movement is movement when we recognize it.

I appreciate trying to stay close to the roots. I appreciate the loyalty, I really do. But at the same time, if you were to look at what happens, sometimes it is the natural progressions: some kids are nice, and some kids are assholes, and in some cases, the father wants to kick the kid out. And in some cases, the kid thinks he is better than the dad. It is just natural. I do not think the arts that we train are any different. It is a life pattern.

FMA & FAMA

DF: I like that we brought up the point about the head person dying, and the fragmentation starting to really happen: the egos and who had more tenure or who was this or that. That was a good point.

ML: I remember Guro Ron told me one story: he said when Manong Angel [Cabales] was alive, everyone knew who was the lion. Everybody else was a rat, and when Angel walked in, everyone scattered around. Nobody said a word. Yet after he died, everyone was trying to be a lion.

MS: Do you think it is appropriate for you to mention that recent correspondence with Guro Ron about him talking about the term FMA and how in the Philippines there is no “FMA”? That basically they refer to what they do as their style.

ML: Guro Ron did mention that, and he is right. If you think about the term FMA, I think it was Manong Max Sarmiento who coined it when—prior to starting the West Coast Eskrima Society— everyone was doing their thing, their family thing, or their fighting, and they were trying to bring the community together. They said we need an umbrella term, much like karate has an umbrella, tae-

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kwondo has an umbrella: we need an umbrella under which all these different styles can coexist. And Mang Max was genius in so many ways, he was truly instrumental in trying to bring the initial big three and some of the others together. And Apo Estalilla was quite influential when there were splits between the big three. He was the man who brought, for example, Giron and Angel back together. So, back in the day, they just did the fighting. They did not classify it as FMA.

between the recreational model and the martial model, just learning how to survive and fight. I think a lot of the divorces that I have seen are based on the fact that people just wanted more practical training and just kind of wanted to get to the heart of things.

MS: I want to go back to some-

DF: Some of it is good intentions.

thing that I think Dwight or Mahipal was talking about. I see this disturbing trend nowadays with the younger generation of martial arts instructors who have websites and online training, the whole package. They make no reference to their background whatsoever; there is no lineage to be even discussed. I guess I am just too oldschool, I just cannot wrap my mind around that principle. That is my pet peeve.

About the divorce thing: for a lot of people there are many reasons behind it, just human factors. But I see a major one as the difference

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DF: Yes, I think there are some valid reasons and some others, whether they were selfless or not.

MS: They do not want to be told what to do anymore. They want to be the boss.

And some of it is, well . . . we will leave it at that.

Reconciliation and Building Bridges

DF: Last section: reconciliation and building bridges.

MS: I will give you credit on this, Dean. I think your show is the perfect bridge for reconciliation. I do not know if reconciliation is too strong of a word. I think we are getting to know each other better.

There cannot be reconciliation for everyone, but I think what we find through some of these discussions and exchange with people on your group, is that we certainly have

more common denominators than the bullshit points that separate us.

DF: I have definitely seen that. It is funny, when I first started doing this I had no idea that there were things that would come kind of indirectly, besides actually talking to people, that there would be people that would actually train together, the online seminars and all that.

Obviously, COVID had a big part in that, too. But, much to your point, I have definitely seen more communication with different organizations and what have you— and hopefully that will continue.

MS: You see the continuous cross-pollination. People from Europe and North America still go to the Philippines to train; people from the Philippines come to the U.S. to teach and to train, and that exchange is going to continue.

ML: I will say two things: let us not forget, we are a martial art. Martial means to fight, so that fighting is important. So, let us fight, but let us fight the good fight. I think that, whether you like it or not, that fight is a relationship, and that which you fight, shapes you. So guys, come: fight us, fight against the FMA and be shaped by

FMA & FAMA

it—we want that. And guys, let us do that, let us be shaped by that, because that is martial arts; we are not bullshitting arts.

Number two: just like Mark, I think that cross-pollination is important. I think it will continue, I think the North American teaching model has become the standard. Whether you like it or not, it has already cross-pollinated. And then some of the old-school methods are coming out into the open here in the West. So that has also found new grounds for it to flourish. So, it is all good. About building bridges, we tend to think that if we fight, we are separating ourselves, but in reality, you are being defined by it.

DW: Have you noticed how certain words crop up almost every time that we talk? Commonality is one of them. Because, like Mahipal is saying, we are talking about fighting. Recently, we had a whole JKD discussion about the “art versus the philosophy” and what have you. Martial is about fighting, martial art, but what Mahipal just talked about, there is also martial philosophy: fight the good fight.

That is not just the physical aspect of it; that is the entire human aspect of it, which is therefore part

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of the philosophy as well. I think that the more we struggle to compete, the more you realize, what is the point of this: the biggest competition is always going to be you, and so we all have to learn to master that, to master ourselves. And sometimes what it takes to really start to appreciate whether or not you've mastered yourself—or what it takes to master yourself—is to get your ass whooped. That is what it takes. I am going to tie that back into the whole thing about the insider club. The insider club at your school is going to be people who can whoop ass, can get their asses whooped, and be compadres at the end of the class. In the moment, there's antagonism or whatever you call it, but then there is reconciliation before you turn the lights out.

DF: And that was the last section.

Thank you guys!

- Dean Franco / Dwight D. Woods / Mahipal Lunia / Mark Stewart

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Darren Patrick Friesen @darren.p.friesen

STICK GRAPPLING & IMPACT TRAINING FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL IN CENTRAL AMERICA

Darren Patrick Friesen

IT WAS QUITE A SHOCK, culture-wise, when we first moved to Costa Rica from Canada roughly 12+ years ago. I think it took almost two years for me to find my footing and actually get over the “deerin-headlights” sentiment to take an active part as a contributing member of society. That “part” also did not come easy even after that point. One of my first gigs here was being subcontracted from a major security firm in the Central Pacific which operated out of seven cities or towns here (Jaco, Quepos, Manuel Antonio, Santa Ana, Dominical, Uvita, and Hermosa). It seemed like a great opportunity to test my skills, expand my portfolio, and re-engage with an outlet I was worried about having left behind in Canada. It was a rather knee-jerk shock to the system, to be sure. My wife did not like the training as I was challenged, tested, and even jumped and threatened at times. The solo ride in the dark from the beach was not always the safest, especially for a foreigner that could break down at any time and be a target for robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and the like. The demographic was often obligated and required to be there—translation: many did not want to and resented the extracurricular commitment.

STICK GRAPPLING FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL

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Remember, too, I was a Caucasian from North America where stereotypes and resentment often run deep from foreign interference politically, expatriate entitlement, and the view (often rightly so) of foreigners´ better chances in life than their own. I was inevitably putting myself in the line of fire, but we needed the money.

The learning curve was steep and unlike anything I had experienced in my teaching and training in Canada to that point. I had taught in some very notably bad areas in downtown Winnipeg, some very sketchy and dangerous people, in the core of what was at the time dubbed “the murder capital of Canada.” But nothing like this. The value of life was much lower, past traumas from violent upbringings were frequent, and exposure to violence was exponentially greater. The circumstances were rife for some very risky and temperamental situations to unfold, which they often did. The security guards

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generally enrolled in the programs were not highly educated, came from very poor backgrounds of abuse and violence, and had been exposed to aggression as simply a part of the growth process. Most came from Nicaragua or lower-class Costa Rica, and a few were from El Salvador, Colombia, and Panama. A number had permanent scars (physical and psychological) from having to commit atrocities to or kill others in their civil wars.

Some revealed as much. Some were ex- (or current) gang members. I remember having to “play-fight” in the center of a circle with one who had admitted to killing multiple people in the war and seemed quite practical and resigned regarding the acts. Real-world stuff and the security industry in Costa Rica in general often do not pay very well, training is minimal, and conflict is often a foregone conclusion. Because of that cocktail, legal liability was often a very real concern for companies.

The first thing that needs to be remembered is that this is Central America, so security is generally done with a low-tech scope, not a high-tech one like most high-level security in North America.

A lot more is left to the “eye” of the guards instead of to technology. That also means that the threats are also much more low-tech than they are high. Top-of-the-line technology is simply not accessible due to the cost for security companies here.

No metal detectors, no computer tech, no digital equipment. I did these workshops for 15-20 groups of 10-15 individuals over the course of five years, not to mention the specialist training for two other security companies, including profiling and vetting potential guards for very specific training in bodyguarding, protecting assets, and giving consultation on security-breach potential, illegal entry, and safety protocols for a major port in the country. All in all, it was a ton of learning-on-the-fly, but one that supercharged the learning curve in a way that no other experience could have legitimately given. It was all with very real threats and potential aggression in mind, not hypotheticals or theory.

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In the end, apart from personal risk, I would not have traded it for other learning methods. Inevitably, my entire martial learning process has come the proverbial hard way from hard men whose history of usage is more pronounced than their martial rank, which has ingrained an experience, immersion, and environments that hardened and gave permanence to the lessons learned. Had I gone the other route, I am not sure how all this would have turned out. I developed a lot of friendships, communication, and networking with the guards. I gained an appreciation for the vulnerability they showed.

And they learned to trust someone willing to throw his ass on the line for learning—theirs and, as it turns out, my own as well. I accepted all challenges, testing, proving ground, and ritualistic “hazing” that were thrown my way and came out the other side with respect and admiration that filtered throughout the companies. It may not have gone that way and any weak link in the chain may have been disastrous, but I also know the testing

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methods we had gone through previously. We inevitably had a “fight club” in Canada filled with the military, law enforcement, security personnel, corrections officers, and long-serving hard martial artists that wanted to push the boundaries of their personal knowledge on violence and counter-violence without ego. I also have an innate mean streak where “challenges” are accepted quite regularly when necessary and when I can dictate the outcome. It served well in the new environment. Without it, I am not sure it would have turned out quite so well. Knowing that all confrontations would be individual instead of multiple (remember, their job still hung in the balance, and I was aware of this), that weapons were left at the door, and that if I succeeded in “breaking” a tough opponent, the rest would fall in line and learning could commence, was a tactical advantage that was utilized with frequency—manipulating the “rules of the game” for a greater purpose. There were injuries produced in establishing group control out of neces-

sity—note that I was subtly threatened, jumped, challenged both verbally and physically, and disrespected on multiple occasions. I remember there being a shoulder subluxation (popped-out shoulder) that I had to put back in using hilot (Filipino bone- and joint-resetting), a blown-out ankle, a deep eye-gouge leaving the victim with a question of seeing the joys of life again, a liver punch that brought a 220-pounder to his knees gasping for air—various MMA and kickboxing exponents that were skeptical of the content and heckled their doubt before “buying in.” It was high-stress, without question.

I was told, whether truthfully or not, that various other martial arts instructors had been brought in only to turn tail and bail the minute the testing and tribalism started, and push-came-to-shove was not met with a return shove. That being said, to be “accepted” into a very tribally driven (and proven) clique was actually very gratifying, and eventually, learning took precedence in each workshop, until the next when the proving began

again. One learns to glean almost immediately—and out of necessity—who in the group will be leaders, who are the malcontents, who are the skeptics, and who has the eyes and body language of the violence experienced.

Apart from this and continuing with the overview of dynamics present in the job description, there were varying threats that these guards faced with some regularity, which immediately opened the door to a very grand sliding scale of potential response, not always easy to glean. The threats were anything from drunk or hostile clients from the workstations they were placed at, hostility from community criminals, to violent gang members building within the community. In one of the major locales where I gave the training, there were ongoing gang battles between Colombians and Dominicans, foreign prostitution rings, and expatriates from North America that were generally known to be on the lam (exiles) from something in their home country (violent crime, money owed, legal

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entanglements, and so on), plus the transients moving from beach town to beach town looking for even low-paying work. The manner of dealing with clients—even disorderly clients—that one wanted to return, to continue staying, and for whom they would want to ensure a great experience even amidst a one-time meltdown, is completely different from dealing with a local trying to access the grounds aggressively, or dealing with a gang member simply there for the violence or chaos. And the last two are community members you may see again on the street away from work on a Saturday night when out with the family— so the dynamics are complex, to say the least.

A couple of the companies themselves did not want firearms as part of their company protocols due to potential legal or financial issues, so the tools used were all impact- and concussion-based.

Now, whether this was because of the history of violence of some of the guards, to increase the need for solid conflict-management

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tools, solely for the potential legal and financial implications should something go wrong, or all of the above, I cannot say. I would bet a combination of the above. But it did change the focus of the training. The training itself was over the course of three, sometimes four afternoons, so it was imperative it was streamlined, functional, easy to absorb, and instantly implementable. The second phase was another four classes for more experienced and term-serving guards with leadership or specialist positions. Time wasted was at the expense of the guards´ safety and survivability.

So, the imperative nature of the classes being high-intensity, easily absorbable, unity- or team-building, understanding threat assessment and assessing accurately, and building confidence in their new repertoire was at the forefront— not an easy task with all the other goings-on mentioned above being prevalent. Confidence was also a rather large barrier as the resentment derived from an inferiority complex over the very people they

were generally there to protect— foreigners, with money, from the First World, in comparison to whom they had a perception of being second-class citizens—a very complex dichotomy. So, learning to stand up to, enforce, and look eye to eye (and not fall for the myth that “eye contact” reflects greater capability for violence, that was quashed early on, as many dangerous men do not give much) was something on the periphery that needed addressing. For all this to work, they had to legitimately (and rightfully) believe they were equals—that violence was not the first option, and that communication and corporal projection was valid, legitimate, and authentic.

Many of the guards themselves did not like their coworkers, so convincing them that every other guard´s goal was to return home safely to family and loved ones— same as theirs—was an ingrained motivation to that team-building.

You could continue hating or disliking your peers/coworkers after the shift ended, but on shift, you were a team, a unit, a working or-

ganism whose sole purpose was to ensure everyone had the ability to achieve that goal. If not, it was on you, trust was broken, and the revenge on you could be repercussive. An intricate human-behavior balance, to be sure, but I cannot stress enough how imperative team-building was, simultaneously with the actual physical and mental training—getting them to understand that they could feel whatever and however they wanted after work ended was their prerogative, but ensuring that those peers were there to feel that way was their responsibility, and that they needed to do everything in their power to make that a reality.

The weapons generally worked with, moving on, were blackjacks (closed and extendable), side-handle batons, pocket sticks, flashlights, and small tactical folders (closed, generally), not to mention any other work-related tools (asymmetrical/unconventional) that could immediately be turned into a momentary arm-of-opportunity, if needed and the situation called for it (a pen is just a pen un-

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til used as a weapon, but a weapon that is legally more justifiable when one is carrying potentially far more lethal or high-impact tools on oneself).

Now, an element often neglected is deployment. Deployment is not so hard when practicing quick removal from a smooth draw-point.

It is quite another when sheaths, Velcro seals, belts, holsters, carry location, and clothing are the staunch prohibition of accessibility—and often for a specific reason in that other tools are supposed to take precedence (e.g. verbal, corporal, communicative, subliminal—friendly, smiling, helpful— remember, clients, community…).

Maintaining networking, positive perception, and community positivity are imperative. Remember, even old warriors often got that way because they knew the value of diplomacy, allies, networking, and not burning bridges. And it is important to note that the R.O.E. (rules of engagement) are still present even here in Central America—legal justifiability, following protocols, the maintenance of the tourism industry´s reputation for positive experience and

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repeat business, industry security (one bad experience can blacklist you from further industry opportunities as word travels fast, security owners often congregate and interact, and it is a small country of five million people—bad reps carry), etc.

Moving on from context to content: there was, as necessary, a ton of content packed into a three- or four-day workshop, out of necessity. However, the overlap of general fight fundamentals and tapping into their natural body movement and innate survival instinct were imperative and the focal point of everything that followed. Too many “new” and unique skills would cause information overload. Overlap, transferability, and principle-based concepts were the nucleus. We often hear that “if you only had two hours / twenty-four hours / three days, or whatever, to teach someone how to survive a violent encounter with a powerful violence-prone opponent, what would you teach them?” So, let us move on to that content: utilization of escalated force over a greater threat, armed or unarmed, for selfor public safety.

Let us break down the stick skills focused on, compartmentalizing them into some order. Let us also acknowledge that “order” when it comes to fighting fundamentals is somewhat overplayed when presented in a “user” environment as opposed to a “practitioner” one.

Most systems I have trained in and instructors I have trained under have often had a “finished product” and functional package at the expense of a syllabus-based methodology, for quite intentional reasons, though those reasons may not have been clear early on. When the focus is adaptability, resilience, critical thinking, problem-solving, and on-the-spot decision-making, a specific chronogram is less adhered to as principles, concepts, and context take precedence out of necessity.

Emotional Impediments As I have mentioned, during a workshop, I can generally tell immediately, when I walk in and have an initial briefing with the trainees, who is the funny guy, who are the challengers and testers, who has peer-pressure control over the others, and so on. That goes into

the profiling aspect and is filed away in the knowledge bank for later.

Regarding those who have a history of violence that could cause knee-jerk reactions to generally non-threatening situations—what are the biases, stereotypes, and triggers that must be explored and made self-aware of? How these states can affect judgment in highstress situations—fight with the wife, hangover or alcohol problem on the job, resentment towards the company, personal vendettas, dislike of or rivalry with a coworker, animosity towards foreigners or tourists. These all shape whether you have the capability of reeling in any emotional elements that can affect job performance and the ability to use force—or not. Confidence, abuse, trauma, and personal issues can also negatively affect the same.

I had one guard who approached me post-session and told me he had been held up twice at knifepoint, and that the other guards, even his wife (displaying how “machismo” is NOT just a male thing, but reinforced by many females here, and

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in the region), belittled him for being a coward. That affects job confidence. So, listening to him, hearing him out, and explaining that these are trauma-inducing events and his confidence being rattled was entirely normal, is crucial. Furthermore, reinforcing the fact that he is alive (not dead) to be there for his children, parents, and loved ones from a position of power and leadership assuage his guilt and shame, as he starts to learn that it is the others (who often have not gone through similar circumstances) that are off with their perception. As well, what the others do not quite seem to understand is that this gentleman was going to be in the trenches with them, covering their back, and acting on their behalf should an issue hit the proverbial fan. Tearing him down and wearing away his confidence could have rather strong repercussions on you if you are relying on someone to watch your back or perform in support of you in times of high stakes.

Courtesy and Carrying Oneself Be. Nice. Your number one job for clients is to make them feel safe, attended to, helpful, and nice—not to intimidate them and make them feel under the microscope. Far too many security officers here, that

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I see, are in constant macho and tough-guy mode. You are a public servant for your clientele. If you are ignorant, rude, and standoffish, their tourist experience will be diminished, and their perception of the country negative. Remember, too, that your discomfort and intimidation tactics make them feel like you are that way for a reason—that incidents may occur regularly, and that is why you have taken on that persona. Not a good look. While the above may not be true all the time, and many may not think that, they could, and a large part of your job is to make people feel safe and relaxed. This does not achieve that. Be a public- and customer-service expert.

If they have confidence and trust in engaging with you, they are far more apt to trust you with something more serious.

More and more guards here, it seems, are waiting for the inevitable violence to happen, or looking for something to give them a reason to use it themselves. Go take MMA, if that is your mentality—this job is not for you. Security work is often boring, slow, and fundamentalist ad nauseam. Fill in those gaps with positive elements, opportunities to study the human factor, and to learn intimately about yourself.

Become proficient at those bor-

ing fundamentals, learn your own self-control, and assess that human behavior on such an intimate level that incidents that do occur will be handled effectively as a natural offshoot of what you have learned.

Basic Non-Lethal Striking Instead of teaching the “48 angles of attack” and having memorization and pattern repetition a part of the matrix, I teach a basic “X” concept where inevitably every other angle or line can derive from.

That way, full attention can be paid to other areas of greater impor-

tance—power generation, targets with the capability of shutdown or biomechanical stoppage via concussive impact, movement while striking, and so on. Basic angles of diagonal up-and-down, horizontal right-and-left, and the thrust1 is a base of simplicity where the focus moves from the one-dimensional to the three-dimensional.

1 Note that thrusting, though fine with a side handle, pocket stick, and even closed folder, can present risks with the collapsible baton or blackjack; it can, as the title infers, collapse, though that will be addressed briefly ahead.

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POWER GENERATION Regarding power generation, I use three general methods of power delivery, dependent on a number of intangibles that are not assessed “mid-stream.” Meaning, if you understand how power works and practice that power from an array of awkward, obscure, off-balance levels, positions, and dynamics, power will be present regardless. a. Elastic Recoil The final third of the impact weapon is used kinetically and with a whip-like motion, whether active or static. The myth that power needs to be delivered in solely traditional means with full-body reinforcement is simply that: a myth.

Delivered by the arm in a whip-like motion, all impact power is left with the target and can be done actively (in motion) or statically.

I did a demonstration once on a guard that did competitive MMA, standing aligned but almost be-

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hind, static, and with my back to him, and hit with enough impact to bend him over, surprised at the amount of power that arm punch generated in that short distance.

“Casting” in fishing is another analogy that is appropriate. b. Kinetic Chain This is the traditional means of delivery power. It starts from the ground, and continues with the torque of the rear foot, up the leg to the hip pivot, shoulder drive, and into the weapon delivered to the target. Boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai are all examples of styles that are at the forefront of this. c. Isotonic This is a “spasm” of explosivity where the entire body simultaneously tenses and explodes with no preparation or telegraphing to give a fully-charged impact to the surprised target.

All of these have their place and, more specifically, range: elastic recoil from mid-to-long range, kinetic chain from short-to-mid range, and isotonic from short range, though this is always and forever context-dependent. It is important to acknowledge, which many industry folks do not, that power is generated in several ways, not just in a traditional one. Power is often innate, and the generation of that power is learned.

Two other elements that I add to all of the three above: d. Ballistic Release This concerns being able to strike from any position—even static— to confound and confuse the opponent. Odd angles, obscure positions, innocuous delivery, and unconventional body movements are all crucial. It is more than simply non-telegraphing; it is about ensuring full-body compliance with the suddenness of the strike.

5. Kinetic Impact All of the impact and power should be left with the target, not

absorbed by the hand-wrist-shoulder of the deliverer. This is done by following through on strikes and continuing the line of trajectory after impact, not by “pushing” into the target post-initial impact.

Flash knockouts and liver shots usually contain this element in professional boxing.

Keep in mind that all of these principles are conceptual and much easier to implement and learn in an exorbitantly short period of time than actually explaining them on “paper,” aligning themselves with the need for quick absorption of understanding and implementation.

(See below for demo videos by the author.2,3)

2 “A Round on the Hanging CQC Bag” video by the author: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i3FCFZKK-k.

3 “On Power Generation” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=znTcKCzpMdY.

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Grips and Grip Changes Remember that knowing the different grips one can use with a stick or impact weapon is but one element, and knowing when to utilize one or more over others is the trick. Often grips of opportunity (how you pick it up from whatever position it is in) or deployment avenues (depending on position, dynamics of the engagement, and deployment availability) are either not within one´s control or dictated by the context of the confrontation—a smooth, textbook deployment is sometimes simply unavailable.

Knowing when to switch grips for striking, locking, takedowns, and throws is a skill built over time and with experience and cannot be achieved when compartmentalizing each of their own volition.

It is transitioning or switching grip from one range to another seamlessly and knowing innately what tools are available from what range and in what situation. If vertical grappling, ground-fighting,

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fighting at distance, on knees vs. grounded opponent, grounded vs. standing opponent, or from stalemates is always done in isolation, those transitions or switches will be near impossible to achieve other than for a select few.

While we address the grip changes from a locking perspective further down the document, let us briefly go over them here as well in a wider context and for striking purposes: 1. Regular or hammer grip This means grabbing with a closed hand, leaving roughly 1.5-2.5 inches of leeway from the butt of the stick to keep that puño available as a secondary striking tool.

2. Baseball bat grip This is a two-handed “dos-manos” technique designed to augment power delivery.

4. Mid-, middle, or medio grip This is like grabbing the stick like a suitcase in the middle, for thrusts, high-hand javelin- or spear-like strikes; the fist loads.

3. Reverse grip This is similar to Bonafant cane techniques from the Argentinean stick source—grabbing the stick at the butt-end, palm-down, and with the index finger nearest to the butt.

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5. Quarterstaff / cross-check grip Here the hands are on both ends of the impact weapon, one palmup, one palm-down, or both palmdown, like with a staff.

7. Loading Here a reinforced hand is used to “load” the strike with the opposing hand and add kinetic impact and force multiplication.

6. “Pool-cue” grip Place the near hand palm-down near the butt, the front hand midway up the shaft palm-up; use in thrusts (either drives or extensions), cross-checks, or powerful butt-ends.

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Dynamics of Violence The above also leads us to the dynamics of the altercation itself that so many tend to neglect or simply pay only lip service to, which is especially pertinent to the security field and real-world dynamics. a. Static “The interview”: two potential combatants standing face to face as a measuring takes place either pre-violence or while managing the conflict. b. Active “The duel”: two combatants square off and engage in ritual violence mano y mano. c. Dynamic “The ambush”: for lack of a more comprehensive and all-encompassing definition. Asymmetrical.

A sucker punch, an ambush, a surprise attack, multiple attackers, or deployment of a weapon by one of the parties.

Each requires a difference in an immediate shift of mindset. Static presents opportunities (read above: clients, clients present, clients onlooking, company protocols, job security, self-restraint). It presents the greatest sliding scale of response. Verbal dissuasion, rational discussion, de-escalation of

potential conflict, mention of repercussions, and generally non-violent approaches with the above in mind.

Active gives less response availability as the squaring-off has already been engaged. So, the responses involve decisions on level of force utilized, assessment of threat on a danger scale, collateral damage (which can mean legal and financial damage to the company), state and intangibles of the opponent (drunk, big, allied, female, aged, and so on). It is not easy to make these assessments on the fly, so discussion, visualization, and decisions prior to these events are imperative.

Dynamic is in the midst of violence itself and the decisions have inevitably been made for you. Your own safety (and that of the clients or patrons) is your only response—mitigating the damage or aftermath, gaining control either yourself or with assistance from your team or partner. As I am told anecdotally (I was not there and therefore cannot confirm)m one of the guards had a very hostile guest that was both under the influence and a Brazilian jiujitsu exponent that ended up in a violent conflict after the guest berated and threw items from the front desk at the receptionist. He

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ended up being on the bottom of the attack and kept his composure before utilizing some non-lethal yet psychological/affective tactics to regain control and handcuff the assailant before yelling for assistance from other guards. Did he “win” the fight? No. Did he do his due diligence covering the above caveats and nullify the situation in a textbook manner? Absolutely. He is a professional security guard, not a street fighter; it is not about ego—it is about context and end goal. Following the rules of engagement while in a very highstakes situation is not easy, but this is where utilizing their previous violent experience can be very beneficial. It is a tool, and one that, when combined with immediately practical tool usage, gives a rather stark advantage over someone— even trained—lacking it.

All of these in the above two categories are far easier to teach than to articulate in writing. The concepts are simple, and the scenarios are made dynamic, so critical thinking, adaptability, on-the-spot decision-making, and problem-solving are utilized from the onset. In a short, compact course, the mind is by far the most important tool, and providing it with an easy, simple conceptual framework with overlapping and transferable usage

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is paramount. The “if you only had two or three hours to teach someone how to stay alive” what-if, we so often hear on social media, is something I have not only had to think about, but put into play in real time with individuals whose safety and security depend on it and had many instances of actual “usage” documented.

Ergonomics of Tool Availability As we mentioned, the guards were outfitted with side-arm batons, blackjacks, pocket sticks, flashlights, and small tactical folders.

Each one has its own nuances and intricacies of usage. While impact damage can be created with each one using the three methods broken down above, they also each have their own niche benefits.

The side-arm baton has a perpendicular extension that can be used for hooking, pulling, pushing, impact, and short-range damage to bones, fossas (bodily indentations), nerves, and joints. It can be used to generate more torque and speed from the long end. Joint locks, controls, and movement containments are more easily applicable. It can also be awkward and grip-confusing, should one not practice with it or utilize it in some manner with regularity.

The baton is steel so the impact as a force multiplier is exponentially greater. The rounded ball on the end adds damage potential to wider target areas like joints, nerve bundles, and bone. It can, upon collapsing, allow one to not miss a beat as one now utilizes it as a closed pocket stick. However, the collapse can catch one off-guard if one is not prepared for it to happen and defaults into the “non-functioning tool” or range-disadvantage mindset.

The flashlight, of course, can be a blinder both longer term (working with seconds and microseconds here) in the dark, and shorter term in the light before utilizing it as an impact weapon. The batteries and functioning on/off switch need to be maintained by the individual; however, the transition from a blinding tool to an impact one is a pre-thought-of option. Getting back to the legal concern: it is generally not seen or perceived as a potential weapon, especially for a night shift.

The pocket stick / tactical pen are subtle tools that many often overlook or brush off as ineffective, but it can be a highly effective impact and containment tool. It has the diversity of doubling as a fist-load, a distraction-cutter (with keys),

a limb-controller, and a pressure-point reinforcement as a secondary level of pain compliance.

That can be two-fold: as a strike to pressure point areas for pain shutdown, and as a “penetrator” into areas like the ribs, jawline, clavicle, hip, brachial plexus/armpit, and so on. Remember, the pointed ones generally carried are not just impactful; they are penetrating and go “into” the body in inches. This is not your “one-touch knockout” variety often seen. It also needs to be used very close to an active, dynamic, three-dimensional individual, so the risk is undeniably greater. Regarding utilization of the keys, we are not talking about the often overstated “keys-betweenthe-fingers” variety, but its role as a flexible weapon for cutting, distraction, misleading, transitioning to a superior position, blinding or to diverting vision, deploying a greater force multiplier, and closing for containment or control— not for finishing.

The tactical folding knife is a utilitarian tool for multi-diverse uses on the job that have absolutely nothing to do with self-defense or counter-violence. Using a blade as a security guard will, 9.99 times out of 10, land you and the company in hot water outside of extremely dire and drastic circumstances.

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However, a closed folder is an option akin to the pocket stick above, and the legal “coverage” of “I had the opportunity to open it and use lethal force but chose not to” is an avenue that might give judge and jury a lot of food for thought and mitigate, in their minds, the level of force actually used.

Deployment In real-world “stick” usage, this is an area often neglected almost entirely but is the difference between carrying and presenting a functional tool vs. being adorned with a decoration on your waistline.

For instance, blackjacks or collapsible batons have form-fitting cases with Velcro straps that simply prevent most single-hand deployment methods. They are tight, the Velcro is non-detachable with a single-hand handle pull, and half-deployments (not clean, not fully deployed) are a regularity. If you do not practice that deployment with both hands—one pulling the Velcro open and sliding down to keep the sheath or holster in place, the other pulling out the baton with a quick snap-open—you are likely going to be in for a very rude awakening. A half-open baton from a clean deployment is another element that rarely goes addressed.

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enforce a solid commanding presentation with a partially opened tool can cause hesitation, shock, or freezing. I have seen it happen. There are multiple elements that go into deploying a blackjack cleanly and smoothly.

The side handle is in a loop at belt-level. While much less problematic than the blackjack, the side handle can get caught on loose clothing or “knot or twist the loop.” It should be one of the reasons why company uniforms are form-fitting and tighter than dayto-day clothing. Not on the whim of expecting violence that will never happen, but loose clothing prevents clean deployment, and it can negate tactile feelings of someone trying to gain control of one of your weapons, lessening weapon-retention possibilities.

The folder needs to be practiced both single- and double-handed.

The clip and where you have it located—pocket, belt-line, or the belt itself—determines the speed of accessibility. Opening a folder is not as easy as one would have you believe, especially under any amount of duress. There are inevitably at least some complex motor skills that go into it, and nothing replaces practice in usage. It can get caught on clothing, it can open

on one’s fingers, and it can also be dropped, or partially deployed. I advocate a two-finger pinch when pulling it out before it is in-palm; if using the second hand, that hand goes into holding the clothing (pocket, belt-line, or the belt itself) in place while detachment is employed.

Note as well that the lack of firearms-carry forces guards to access and develop soft skills on a far greater level. The lack of full accessibility to lethal force leaves some psychological power trips and knee-jerk responses of violence on the cutting room floor.

Guards are forced to understand that they are inevitably customer service reps, peace officers, and tourist assistants before they are an indomitable force throwing their proverbial weight around, either psychologically or mentally.

As a sub-contractor, you are forced to work within the parameters of company protocol and policy, and utilize those elements as strengths.

So, the type of verbal engagement and interaction was addressed with clear vernacular and idiosyncrasies on cultural provocation— words and phrases that could escalate instead of de-escalate were covered, though not pertinent to this article.

During a concealed draw for specific circumstances where drawing attention is not desired (e.g. an emotionally invested crowd is present), distraction and misdirection can also be utilized. This involves keeping your elbows in, limiting the struggle of deployment, smooth innocuous release, and various tactics for keeping that tool hidden: blading the body, palming or reverse-grip aligned with forearms, bodily concealment (covert non-aggressive positions or “submissive” postures). And notice that all weapons carried are black, the same color as the work pants, so color concealment is also rather handy.

In evaluating others, the reverse is true: the “invisible hand” (assume any hand not visible to the naked eye is reaching for something to be utilized against you), elbow extension or protrusion, blading body, odd angle-manipulation, verbal distraction, feigned verbal threats creating uber-focus, layers of crowd participation—the further from the fray, the less invested emotionally the party, or more covert and nefarious the entry.

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Here is a short case-study:

The picture was taken by me outside a major grocery store chain here, where security is always placed due to the reality that these places do get robbed and it is not an aberration when they do. Here is what this tells me: 1. There is zero access to his only carried weapons. Zero. In its current location, he has nil accessibility where it is positioned at the corner-rear of the back. Imagine an oncoming attacker with a weapon moving with intent while he simultaneously tries to deploy with adrenaline.

2. If you have ever worked on deployment with a collapsible baton from a Velcro-laced holder pouch, it sticks even if placed at

the front of the waist without a two-handed deployment, simultaneously pulling the baton and ripping open the Velcro. It takes practice and micro-details for speed. This guy does not even have the butt or tip protruding for easy accessibility. That tells me he has never practiced deployment, making this tool purely a decoration. I do not know what is in the other two pouches (taser? utility blade?), but they are even more poorly positioned for accessibility in the small of the back.

3. No firearm. Here, that tells me that the security company he works for has concerns about liability and accountability. It also tells me they are opposed to the use of escalating force should the situation call for it. He is a stopgap until authorities get there, at best.

4. Hands in his pockets the entire time we were parked out front and inside. Never took them out once: unprepared and oblivious.

5. Having worked in and trained security here, I know his training is deeply lacking or completely nonexistent. Couple that with this: while his weight may well be

an impediment and may demonstrate a lack of conditioning, where it will manifest itself more clearly is in performance. Several scientific case studies in the industry demonstrate that overweight people can and often do have reduced cognitive function, poorer decision-making capacity under stress, and less neuroplasticity.4 That is an element that addresses the “he is overweight so has poor stamina,” “poor conditioning and not in shape make him vulnerable as a fight draws on,” and “fatigue makes fools of us all” rhetoric, which are possibly true, but we should be asking why that is so.

6. He may never need skills and this job may be inevitably nothing more than a sentry posting, but most security guards here come from the lower class, get paid very, very little, and are given (as stated above) poor to no training for high-risk situations. But, as this is often a survival income in a one-income family with a wife and children, why would you not make the attempt to educate yourself on areas that may keep you alive, keep 4 Leaving an example here for perusal: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC7598577/.

your family fed, and minimize the long-term risk of leaving your family vulnerable?

7. This one is a small stretch but I am going to mention it. His features are very Costa Rican—lightskinned with lighter hair, and his accent was more Costa Rican. I trained over 150 guards here; all were either Costa Rican, Nicaraguan, or Salvadorian. Ticos have far less exposure to violence from either civil war, youth initiation, or poverty/extremely low-income upbringing. The Nicaraguan and Salvadorian guards I taught did not usually need to be told any of the things above more than once, if ever. Most often, they knew to do them instinctively. It may not be the case here, but violence breeds an understanding of violence.

(See below for the videos by the author.5,6,7) 5 “Drawing/Deployment Drill” video by the author: https://youtu.be/ Eez9S_waiuo.

6 “Drawing/Deployment Drill 2” video by the author: https://youtu.be/ wenEUIP1X3k.

7 “Strategies for Ground Counter-Deployment in Worst-Case Scenario” video by the author: https://youtu. be/7AIGrk81LFY.

Pre-Event Presentation Deploying a weapon can be either covert or overt. Covert, we discussed above. Overt is presenting it openly to the rival party or parties.

It is done intentionally usually for a psychological, psychic, emotional, or mental effect. Hesitation, inner turmoil, lack of intent, or indecisiveness on potential usage (often pretty overt itself) are absolute killers to projection.

Command presence and psychological intent have to be transmitted and clear. If not, you have just

escalated the force level and tipped your rather precarious hand. As much as a powerful message can be exuded with a strong presentation, so too can a weak message with the weak presentation. And you have likely given off a lot of valuable information for free by doing so.

Your presentation of that impact weapon unequivocally needs to be congruent with your powerful emotional state to have the desired effect. A powerful presentation can be as crippling for the opponent as it can be empowering for you.

Here is an anecdote: In the weapons community, here is what we mean by “successful presentation”: Many tell me, “Then what? What if he calls your bluff?” It is more than thisk though. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, we have the largest Pinoy population in Canada (as an aside, this is where I grew up in my combative martial arts youth, surrounded by quite gifted weapons-folk, which I benefited from being surrounded by sometimes 4-5 times a week). There are a lot of Pinoys here that can take care of themselves: FMA, boxing, street smarts, and predisposition to violence (many are first-generation immigrants, so they grew up in the Philippines). In high school, we had a group of guys that were always heavily into bodybuilding, steroids, and aggression, and who always went out to the bars to fight and intimidate, and so on.

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Now, this is a second-hand story, but it was confirmed by the individual in question, to me directly at a later date. Steroid-rage with alcohol can be a very dangerous combination, often for those around the individual, as they become very unpredictable and aggressive. One of the gents that I know was looking for trouble outside. He saw a short Pinoy gentleman standing outside the nightclub having a cigarette, minding his own business, as most Pinoys do until provoked: a target. He approached the guy and started getting in his face (easy mark: small, seemingly peaceful, not looking for trouble, and having a cigarette)—face-to-face, a couple of inches away, frothing at the mouth, threatening, finger in the face. Next thing he knows the gentleman has a knife to his throat, and he is pressed up against the wall, being asked politely, and with a total calm, “I am sorry, I did not bloody hear you the first time.

Could you repeat, please.”

Turns out that while my acquaintance was mouthing off, the other man had been deploying his blade while finishing his cigarette with the other hand. My acquaintance started whimpering and apologizing, actually shedding a few tears, seeing his life pass before his eyes.

Naturally, the Pinoy let him go.

Upon asking the guy the next time

I saw him what had happened, he filled me in on these exact details, admitting he filled his drawers. “Lesson learned, man. Never again. He had a total calm and I had no idea where that weapon came from.” This is what a successful weapon presentation can accomplish coupled with calm, subtle deployment, surprise, and the perceived will to use. It is not about just showing it as a deterrent (of course, legal consequences are always omnipresent, but the anecdote provides for transmission of meaning and clarity).

Retention Retention is another area of focus.

In any skirmish, and noting the above form-fitting clothing, your weapons are not concealed and are easily seen by others who can formulate ways to access them, and their deployment issues. I always advocate taking note of individuals staring a little too long at your belt line. Some very simple retention methods I utilize in a short course are: •

Explosive retraction—yanking the weapon-hand back rapidly to detach from grasp.

•

Hand-pins—the second you feel your weapon or belt-line touched, live-hand can attack, disconnect, stiff-arm to enforce space.

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•

“De cadena”—hard jarring inner-wrist slaps or hits while creating immediate space.

•

Snake/circular releases—quick circles to put pressure on the opposing wrist to release.

•

“Filipino roll”—the forearm is used as an impact tool on the forearm while circling the weapon-hand inward or outward while pulling or pushing.

•

Utilizing the puño or butt-end to press or impact the grabbing hand.

All are simple, learned almost instantaneously because of reflex actions we already have when retaining something we do not want to give up. Use one movement, not multiple movements, for facilitation.

Once deployed and some distance created—or a sufficient distance to start with—a stiff-arm front-arm to shield the active tool, or rear-hand utilization of strikes and the weapon retention skills explained above covers both potential positions of weapon-back and weapon-front, which are dictated by the scenario, not by choice as many would have you believe in a dueling, weapon-magically-appears-in-hand situation that the dojos of the world often offer. Footwork can be used

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to gain angles of advantageous positive hits, force-delivery re-setting of an opponent, geometric shapes and serpentine movements, and odd delivery angles to throw an opponent off and confuse intent (though also not pertinent to the scope of this article). Active livehand incorporation and natural body weapons reinforce the effectiveness and success of the weapon. This is not fencing—the rules of engagement do not apply in that regard. I have found that, generally, the greater the live-hand interaction with the weapon-hand, the higher the skill and comfort level with both the tool-of-choice and with confrontation itself.

Targeting This is extremely context-dependent, as always. One simply cannot go off and start pounding on someone with a weapon during a work situation, even if that work entails potential violent conflict.

Targets are offered with the caveat that violence is already inevitable, that legal implications are always present, and that the pre-event de-escalation process has already expired, or was ineffective (the biomechanical stoppage, corporal shutdown, or incapacitation are always the first and primary options, if possible):

the shoulder blade (limp arms do not lift weapons well), hands and wrists (little bones break easily), elbows (non-working joints affect three-dimensional movement), knees (no movement, no fight, and disconnection possible), ribs (breathing and torso movement becomes erratic and thrusts can achieve a higher degree of damage with a long solid tool).

As it is the security industry, thrusts to the sternum and back of the neck can be liabilities. As it is aggression, groin shots often do not create the desired effect, at least until later. Hips can be effective if hitting bone, but the more defined the target, the less chance of hitting it, and clothing and movement also play a big role. Tops of feet are difficult to hit with a moving opponent and the close range and the associated vulnerability of one’s own head are liabilities while trying to achieve that hit. A solid hit to the head is the most immediate and decisive hit one can get—a brain no longer active, an unconscious attacker is a fairly placid one, but again, legal issues, long-term damage, and secondary impact from the ground, obstacles, and barriers render it an iffy target. When all else fails, and life is in balance, the calculation is different.

With heavy-impact weapons, some valid targets have the potential to create the above, if hit cleanly, while moving, and with an opponent´s physical intangibles in mind. Noting that often with adrenaline or high stress, altered states, pain tolerance, and pain threshold, there are no guarantees; thus the biomechanical impact shutdown or concussive-force elements are important.

Those aforementioned barriers, obstacles, ground paraphernalia, bystanders, and movement impediments are a thing that I always stressed to prepare for. The better one becomes familiar with one’s work post, the grounds, the layout of the property, and the terrain; the better one has the ability to adapt during high-stress times.

Knowledge is understanding. Understanding is pre-preparation for events acknowledged to be a possibility.

(See below for a demo video by the author.8)

8 “Hand-Head Hunt” video by the author: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=rtDQbLmi_TE,

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LOCKING AND CONTROLS Remember that there is a staunch difference between a “break” and a “control” when it comes to joint locks, whether with a stick or without. We practice “joint locks” often without the acknowledgment that they are designed to break limbs, joints, and bones as an end result.

As a civilian, that is an important distinguishing feature: you cannot hold one in position indefinitely, and if you are not breaking, you are holding and attempting to control, and the one on the receiving end eventually thinks of escape, counter, striking, feigned compliance for release, strength discrepancy, altered states skewing normal pain responses, or becomes accustomed to the pain and psychologically finds ways to alleviate it. That is the truth that many martial artists neglect to mention. “Locks” are a temporary solution to a more long-serving problem, not an end result.

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Note also that violence never happens in a vacuum. Walking up to someone and attempting to jointlock them with or without a tool will likely result in a rather large degree of pain received. Like some arts (aikijutsu and modern arnis, for example), the damage is accumulated and a debilitated opponent resists much less. The following are some theories presented in this regard: a. The damaged-fighter theory—it is far easier to apply control and containment techniques when a fighter is already injured. b. The filling-in-the-gaps theory— hitting early and often. As others focus on one element or another (striking or joint-locking or takedowns or throws or…) we take the “or” out and increase damage exponentially in whatever half-beats are available.

c. The pain-overload theory—the more points of pain, damage, or injury an individual has, the less pain tolerance and threshold come into play, and the central nervous system is shut down or overloaded. d. Suddenness—abrupt, dramatic, and explosive (isotonic) motions yield great results and minimize active response from an opponent. They are unpredictable, immediate, and shift momentum. If you do not know what is coming, you cannot stop it.

Stick-locking is a rather unique skill unto itself when one puts in the time—and few do to that high a level. Opponents can break the lock, counter to escape, or counterstrike to release in a split second—in that “second” adding multi-layered and multi-diverse pain to overload the system, steal-

ing balance to disrupt base, breaking rhythm to prevent pattern recognition and destroy their timing ratio, and ferocity to psychologically hesitate are imperative. It is not a flow drill; it is knowing what connects to what else, inevitably, breaking their spirit to fight back.

One has to remember that stick-locking is transitional, not singularly focused. You need to be able to switch lock type, pressure, and target smoothly, and without impediment, as context and broken rhythm (whether dictated by you or the struggle of the opponent) dictate. I often hear lip service paid to use the stick/ baton/blackjack/pocket stick as an “extension of the hands,” but I propose that it should be used as a “second pair of hands,” and one should be able to transition from one to the other with interchangeable grips as the circumstance calls for it.

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Moving on, instead of teaching 1001 joint locks and noting that “lock” or “hyperextension” in the security industry is more legally viable than “break,” I teach conceptually. I give a number of types of locks that are transferable to different joints on the body. Remembering the concept instead of the technique means having to think less and managing the current situation instead of being overrun with possibilities. The eight I usually introduce and will demonstrate via video or still are: 1. X-lock—used as a pressure, throwing, takedown, control, and temporary (air) choke-compliance tool. One palm-up, one palm-down utilizing the midpart of the impact weapon as a pressure or squeeze element.

One palm-up, the other palmdown as pressure is applied with the forearms crossing as an X, as the name implies, and with both choking up towards the middle of the stick.

2. “Medio lock”—used as a pressure, throwing, and takedown tool. The mid-part of the impact weapon is used with other elements (body, head, wall,

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ground) to inflict pain as a transitional tool for a better position, greater damage, or throw/ takedown. Utilizing the middle part of the stick for pressure, hands can move up and down the ends of the stick depending on whether the situation demands a throw, lever, pressure, or break.

3. Edge lock—90-degree angle used as high-pain, takedown, and temporary (air) choke-compliance tool. The meeting of the two edges of the tip or butt are used as a prying tool on the body. One hand generally guides the puño or butt-end of the stick to the point where pressure is needed, while the other uses the top third of the stick as a fulcrum or lever to drive that butt more devastatingly into the required target.

4. Scissor lock—used as a pressure, throwing, takedown, and temporary (blood and air) choke-compliance tool. The target is in the middle, hands one palm-up, one palm-down as a squeeze; the vertical version of the horizontal X-locks.

An X-lock with an arm-trap, generally to the neck, throat, face as a cross-face, calf, shin, ankle, or foot.

A medio lock is applied to the neck, throat from behind, shin, calf, ankle, shoulder, or back, and done with a partial circular roll inward and a lift of the body weight before driving down or completing the semicircular roll.

An edge lock is applied to the carotid artery or jawline, back, hip, thigh, clavicle, orbital bone, brachial plexus, eye socket, or behind the ear.

A scissor lock is applied to the neck, calf, shin, forearm, upper arm, or ankle.

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5. Vice lock—used as a pressure, take-down, and temporary (blood and air) choke-compliance tool. Circling the target and tucking the impact weapon in the armpit and pulling; the effect is like that, obviously, of a vice grip. Most often tucked under the near armpit after circling the intended target area while pressure is applied up top by pulling the top third of the stick to exponentially increase pressure.

6. Triangle lock—used as a pressure, throwing, and temporary (blood and air) choke-compliance tool. The arms and stick form a triangle around a target and outward pressure increases pain levels. Full triangles are as implied, by creating a triangle with the stick and two forearms.

7. Half-triangle—used as a pressure, throwing, and temporary (blood and air) choke-compliance tool. Same as above but one hand freed to attack viable targets simultaneously to add

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multiple pain levels to overwhelm the tolerance ability; multiple pain areas puts added pressure on the brain to deal with varying levels and types of discomfort. The only difference between the half- and full-triangles is that the nonstick-gripping hand is released to place on a secondary area to add to the push-pull dynamic.

8. Lever/plant-the-flag—used as a takedown, pressure, and transition or position-change tool.

Driving the tip down or utilizing it as a turning or prying mechanism to alter the opponent’s position due to discomfort. *Note also that the point can be driven into certain body parts as well, if not as a pain-compliance mechanism, then to move a body from discomfort into a more beneficial position to apply pain—places like deep in the armpit, fossas like the clavicular notch/back of knee/sternal notch/small of back, and the ribs.

A vice lock is applied to the neck, shin, calf, bicep, elbow, ankle, or foot.

A half-triangle (here) or full-triangle can be applied to the neck, throat, shin, calf, or shoulder.

(See below for demo videos by the author.9,10,11) 9 “Stick-Locking Nuance” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=XZng38YRb_I. A lever can be applied by simply releasing the butt of the stick with the near-body hand, using the knee to keep a body part stable, and using the ground as the base.

Targets include the neck or throat, ribs, thigh, and shin.

10 Mandirigma Arnis Sticklocking” video by the author: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=rp_jcbxglcw.

11 “Vertical Stickgrappling” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=DOl8Gp-n-n8.

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Takedowns The goal of a takedown is to immediately establish ground control and a dominant position for either verbal or psychological submission, calling local authorities, handcuffing, team assistance/ backup, or any combination thereof.

The stick can be used in any number of ways to accomplish those positions. Again, concepts and principles take precedence over an accumulation of techniques: 1. Head-and-neck control takedowns (Neck lock drive-down, scissor lock, rodeo, vice lock, edge lock, butt-end shoulder fossa) 2. Single- and double-leg takedowns (Single-leg with sweep, double-leg with forward momentum, hip-throw from side position) 3. Levers or fulcrums (“backbreaker”, leg-pry, step-on-foot two-hand drive) 4. Limb-isolation takedowns (arm-wrap, single-arm catch/ Doherty, arm- or shoulder- bar)

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It is important to address the fact that the “joint locks” above are not only pain-compliance (I actually prefer “pain-enforcement” as it is not a gradual application, but a sudden, rapid one, ensuring greater cooperation) techniques, but with a transition all inevitably become takedowns or throws as well.

They are multi-diverse and that only adds to the increased learning curve when a concept transfers from one goal to another in an easy fashion and with only a different motive involved.

(See below for demo videos by the author.12,13,14,15,16)

12 “Vice Lock to Takedown” video by the author: https://youtu.be/J4Ccgt96t8s.

13 “Scissor Lock on Arm, to the Ground” video by the author: https:// youtu.be/qh_RsM_aaos.

14 “Medio Lock to ‘Backbreaker’” video by the author: https://youtu.be/ SRFOZ_wBnqI. 15 “Lever to Ground, ‘Plant-theFlag’” video by the author: https:// youtu.be/MhgJh-yGxXM. 16 “Armlock to Takedown” video by the author: https://youtu. be/0986e38z-bU.

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Ground Control and Handcuffing On the contrary to there being liability concerns with firearms in the security industry here, there are more liberties in Central America than in North America regarding the use and application of impact weapons. None of what I proposed with any of the security companies was met with resistance or concern as the playing field is a little different in that manner. While having free hands is preferred with an act that takes some more fine and complex motor skills, the stick can be a very useful tool when controlling opponents that can be in altered states.

For the security training I did, to cover legal avenues and negligence, the owners told me pain-compliance techniques were a prerequisite even if they did not (fully) work because it allowed force multiplication from a legal perspective and perception of witness (read: client) looking on. Without the attempted pain compliance, it was just seen as a force. So, while the standard “pressure points,” as they are used in most corners, are often ineffective against adrenalized opponents, there are ways to uti-

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lize them quite effectively as transitional tools. A highly forceful thumb under the ear with a snarling vocal command sets a psychic and psychological tone of intent and willingness to escalate, as a method of moving a body where you want it to go, or as a drawn freeze response, so tool access can be accomplished. This is not your average “pressure-point control tactics” (PPCT) most law enforcement or security utilize back home in Canada, but a highly efficient form of the subliminal messaging pain-induction method that works without eliciting permanent damage. It also allows for force multiplication from a lower to a higher level should the opponent be non-responsive, struggling, or increasing the threat.

It can be used as a cross-face, neck, and head control, to put true ongoing pressure-point pain on, as shoulder locks and armlocks, “surfboards” (where the stick is in between the arm and body pushing or pulling towards the head while the opponent is stomach down), striking, pins, and position maintenance while driving the middle part of the long stick into the body,

edge locks and “plant-the-flag” pain (opposite of the edge, where the tip of the stick is driven into an opponent), and hits to joints and bones, all reinforced with strong and imposing verbal commands.

It certainly adds a different level of pain, physiological control, and potentially biomechanical stoppage through concussive force that empty-hand controls cannot, especially if backup is either on the scene or arriving shortly.

Positional superiority can be obtained through side knee-onchest/ back-mount/rear-mount, and reverse-mount head control with constant visual-peripherals on potential third parties or allies always at the forefront. What you want is the offender on his stomach or seated, as it is much harder to fight, see escape routes or resistance possibilities, and know exactly what is being applied.

Applied with one of the impact weapons, a number of techniques can be utilized for both application and turnovers into a superior position for cuffing, stomach down: 1. Single-arm turnover—an armlock applied to the far arm from side control can bring the

assailant over, turning towards you while simultaneously trapping the near-arm from accessing a weapon-of-opportunity. The armlock is maintained throughout the turnover so placed behind the back.

2. Neck manipulations (the body goes where the head dictates) can also result in a quick turnover when secondary pain elements are added so as to alleviate the possibility of any neck damage—pressure points under the jaw, the carotid artery, under the nose on the top lip, the cross-face, and behind and below the ear are some that have shown to work on even the biggest of opponents jacked up with adrenaline.

3. The kimura puts immense pressure on the shoulder for a smooth turnover as well, following tightly to the arch of the back and putting the arm in prime position post-turn.

4. The reverse wrist lock with the stick reinforced by the thumbs and sliding both hands towards the center of the stick is also effective.

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As always, the greater overloading of the central nervous system with multiple outlets of pain, the easier a thing is—“point-based” grappling with elbows, knees, chins, that wonderful forearm pipe, “God´s notch” on either side of the wrist, heel, and shin digging into the body, weight on the diaphragm to inhibit breath control, fingers in fossas, “skin-grapples” or twisting the flesh, utilizing the forearm as the body’s lead pipe or a second stick applicant, for example. None of these are “finishing” moves, but they contribute to the multiple levels of pain or discomfort theory and facilitate moving the body into positions of greater advantage.

Like the so often chastised “trapping,” they are misplaced as the end instead of a means to that end.

They are transitional and momentary to create a specific outcome.

If partner-assisted, the potential is even greater for varied elements of effectiveness. Second-party kneeling on the back of the ankles, calves, knees, or thighs is extremely uncomfortable—limb isolation with body weight as well. One person with body weight and control,

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with the other in control of limbs, can be dictated through training with hand or eye signals to make clear one’s role under higher-stress situations.

Be attentive, too, to the fact that struggling, adrenalized, and paindealt people wanting to free themselves are often not compliant, or even sometimes pain-reactive.

Vocal commands explicitly clarify what is expected of them to prevent accidental or unintended bodily injury and legal liability.

Strong, confident tone, inflection, and depth of voice while shouting out commands give expectation to someone otherwise preoccupied with anger, escape, or panic.

Voice coupled with pain can be a very powerful sedative. Be clear on what is expected—yet another element often neglected in traditional martial training, with a stick or without. Subtle growling, snarling, and deep, controlled tone release an inner feral quality and confidence while concurrently giving psychological subliminal messaging to the other party. Remember, though, that projecting a perception of always being in control is an

imperative tool for witness recollection and sway. With onlookers, make sure that intensity does not get carried away into unnecessary aggression or taking advantage of a vulnerable individual.

Voice direction is extremely important, as mentioned earlier, in that often an opponent is intoxicated, adrenalized, agitated, and stressed so they do not know what is expected of them, and they only see a fight for “freedom.” Giving strong voice commands was one of the major points I drilled home because most guards were not experienced enough under duress to maintain that composure while attempting to control and ground an individual. “Turn over,” “Stop fighting and the pain will stop,” “Your shoulder will break if you continue resisting,” “Sit up,” and “Give me your hand,” are all commands—and used with the functional pressure points to facilitate movement simultaneously—that are directed and clear when the brain is reeling. Simple, easy-to-understand commands (commands, not requests), when coupled with an element of discomfort or pain,

are often the difference between successful control and an accidental injury, greater resistance, or third-party intervention. It is not always as easy as it sounds when the guard is under pressure, struggling, or in a scramble with a person who may or may not be with limited or singularly focused faculty. I do not at all like negatively reinforced commands such as “You don’t want that to happen, do you…” because the brain is taxed and tense and the messaging may not come out clearly neurologically to someone under the effects of adrenaline.

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The Pat-Down Generally, I advise a tactile feeland-touch for the most practical and accessible areas that I would— and have—carried a tool or a weapon in. Remember that quick deployment and daily usage are paramount for where one carries potential weapons. They include: 1. The belt-line—feel for clips, butts, ricasso, and spine.

4. Boot- or shoe-line—sometimes boot knives are carried around the ankle, in the shoe-side, or at the boot-line level.

5. Hat-line—people have been known to carry small razors on or in the seam of a hat worn.

6. Shoulder-line—bladed and projectile arms can be carried with a shoulder strap.

2. Pockets (hip-line)—same as above and visually more accessible to the naked eye.

7. If a jacket is being worn, check inside the jacket for hidden seams or pockets where covert weapons can be carried.

3. Chest—hung from the neck via a lanyard so looking at the neck-line is also important.

Inevitably, I go with a similar diagram as that of clothing conversion charts:

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One hand should always act as a feeler or controller of the body, or for sensing movement while the other hand does a full body search.

Distance should be created between vitals and face or head while attention is paid to the hands of the perpetrator and where they are at all times. The hands are most dangerous when at close quarters with an agitated offender.

(See below for demo videos by the author.17,18,19,20) Counter-Knife Just a quick commentary on counter-knife: William Fairbairn supposedly stated that he did not do “empty-hand counter-knife” because it was not realistic. One was at a staunch disadvantage and extremely vulnerable, and thinking in terms of the counter, defense, and response was a defensive attitude that could get one killed.

17 “Buno Armed Grounded-Defense against Ambush-Predator” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=6lR7GwQAkOg. 18 “Cane Buno/Dumog” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Npp6dTiVlGM. 19 “Cuffing Wrist” video by the author: https://youtu.be/uCKLyZa6lpU. 20 “Ground Scramble to Cuffing” video by the author: https://youtu.be/ cFQa4ifzy0U.

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While we did address one’s own weapon deployment and, if successful, lateral movement for presenting a hard target, getting offline of the blade, jamming and passing, elbow containment, armwraps, grab-the-hand, 2-on-1s, a general control, contain, and attack on central nervous system (the three Cs) was the simplest concept for individuals to grasp in that short a period of time. Get control at all costs, hang on for dear life, keep the flat side close to the body, and inflict simultaneous damage to the central nervous system with the simplest, most accessible natural weapons of the body.

After this general principle and pounding it home during live movement resistance, two methods of increasing the odds were found to be successful, one surprisingly so: We did a “counter-knife” experiment where, with minimal time and difficulty adapting the above techniques, there was one rule against a dynamic, three-dimensional knife attacker—survive.

When asked what that meant, my response was “whatever it takes, however you do it, with the simplest means possible—just survive.” I looked on in amazement as the performance suddenly went

through the roof. Visualizing what they were living for by being on the job, they utilized instinctive body movement, innate survival skill elements, evolutionary reaction to evade, hit, and use surprisingly agile footwork, and intense blade consciousness before closing or detaching safely. It was an eye-opener. Letting them dictate outcomes proved far more successful short-term than breaking down options to implement under stress. Whether that would hold true to ongoing, continual, consistent training or not, I cannot say, but in that time frame—generally the four classes of four hours each mentioned, or ongoing 3-4 hours for supervisors and officials—the results were drastic, almost shockingly so.

The simple responses of esgrima criolla,21,22 utilizing shields, materials, obstacles, and barriers to superimpose between themselves and the knife wielder provid21 “Esgrima Criolla Sparring” video by the author: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OKf9GPuJxHc. 22 “Esgrima Criolla 1” video by the author: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bCQPPydw4RY.

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ed much simpler solutions after #1 was implemented. Pulling off t-shirts, work shirts, jackets, belts, hats, or whatever items strewn on the floor for distraction were used almost naturally while grabbing whatever was available as an offside tool-of-opportunity. Simple, basic, and fundamental. Zero complexity, just evening the odds in any way possible.

Frankly, “counter-knife” is—and should be—the weakest part of any even very experienced martial artist’s game, if he or she is being honest. Many are not. But it is not a strength. There are no 90-percent solutions. Survivability is a success, not a guarantee. Non-injury is fortunate, not a foregone conclusion.

Now, since this is, in fact, an article on security-based stick use, those same principles were applied to the stick. Usually, I would break down the nuance and intricacy of the difference between the two weapons and how to address them, but with rank-minimal time, concepts and principles had to overlap in the basest sense. The vast majority of the concepts above were ap-

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plied to the stick as well and with great success. The guards picked up on the “survivability” aspect almost immediately and started honing the predominant elements they felt would up that survivability quotient on their own for a time before coaching intervention and fine-tuning. Basic and fundamental are adaptive.

In closing, when working in an industry with time restraints, sometimes resistant employees, with defined parameters of company protocol, and with legal and financial liability always at the forefront of thought, a distinctly different program is formed through trial and error. With the very real potential here in Central America / Costa Rica of the guards having to face real violence, daily conflict, and potentially high-stakes situations, something well-sculpted comes out the other end. It is a very different entity, especially here, then an ongoing martial arts program.

Pragmatism, immediate functionality, and short-term applicability become streamlined as you go, tweaking and fine-tuning the pro-

gram for maximum effectiveness in minimal time. So, the “what would you teach if you only had hours or days for someone who will be utilizing it for real tomorrow” question is not theory or hypothesis; it is something I have intimately thought about at length because I have had to. You learn to take your attendee’s safety very, very seriously, but it is also imperative to note that the safety, security, and potential lives of clients, guests, attendees, and peers can legitimately be at stake so the payoff and stakes are rather high all around. Due to the cultural, experiential, class, stereotypical, and legal (greater leeway, but greater price) considerations, the content is, by nature and in both content and dynamic, primal, and simple—delivered with fast results, in a specific time frame, and with the potential for immediate usage.

Fighting fundamentals is not a, but the method of delivery, as well as stick aesthetics shaved down to their most bare and base components.

- Darren Patrick Friesen

STICK GRAPPLING FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL

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George E. Georgas https://medievalswordmanship.wordpress.com

GREEK STAFF/ STICK FIGHTING George E. Georgas

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STAFF/STICK FIGHTING HAS deep roots in Greece; it found a use for military training and for civilians to defend themselves. The staff was easy to make as a weapon, so even a person of the lower classes could own and use it easily.

For example, since ancient times, the staff served as a weapon for shepherds to protect their flocks against predators and thieves.

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Vardoukion: The Staves and Maces of the Medieval Greek Period Teenagers underwent preparatory training before serving in the Imperial or Thematic army in the Byzantine era. Training at this time was known as skrimides by medieval Greeks. During the major feast days of our saints, several physical competitions took place in front of the church as men vied with each other in stick fighting, wrestling, pankration, pammachon, running archery, etc.

The mace was one of the favorite weapons used by the Roman or Byzantine army. Various names for the mace are found in contemporary sources, describing multiple types—the apelatikion, bardoukion, matzoukion, koryni, ropalon, ravdion, and sidiroravdion are just some of these terms. Humble soldiers carried the mace-like apelatai and akritai. The elite Tagmata mounted cataphracts, the nobility, and the emperor himself.

Armed with staves and sword staves,1 the Acrites, a kind of frontier guardsmen unit, battled against those threatening the empire’s eastern borders. The Acrites were armed with weapons known 1 A type of wooden sword used in battle and not for training.

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Note the stance of the executioners in the top & bottom photos. [Source: Menologion of Basil II]

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as vardoukia, which was a general term that encompassed clubs, staves, and maces. According to the military manual, The Tatika, written by the emperor, Leon the Wise of Macedon, all units of the imperial army would train with wooden staves/sticks/clubs. Overall, the reconstruction of Roman Hoplomachia or Byzantine Hoplomachia is a challenging task. No fencing manuals have come down to us as they have in Germany or Italy. So, we borrowed from the methodology of experimental archaeology to resurrect these arts. We also study Byzantine literature and art to understand ancient Greek combative traditions.

One of our sources is the Acritic Epic of Basilios Digenis Acritas. Digenis was a semi-mythical person.

He was once known as a Byzantine warrior protecting the empire’s borders. Researchers unearthed a great deal of helpful information about medieval Greeks’ equipment and martial arts from this epic.

Here is a description of a technique with mace and staff. Because the texts come from two different books, the authors describe it as a strike to the head or scalp. The Germans call it Oberhau—a strike from above:

“. . . and emerging from the dark forest, a great wolf, and almost all felt agitated when they saw him. However, Basilios charged against the wolf, and bringing back his great mace, he struck the beast’s head in the middle, and he chopped it in half.”

Theophanous, Basileiou 14:4-8.

In another book, Basilios has a duel with an apelati. Apelates were regular warbands. These warriors did not serve anyone, neither the empire nor the Saracens. Here is a description of a duel between Basilios Acritas and Filopappos the Apelati:

“He [Filopappos] wants to lift his sword to strike me, I step back with a small jump. With my staff or stick I strike at his head from above, and if he did not protect his head with his shield, my strike would have crushed his entire skull.”

Digenis Acritas wins over Filopappos the Apelati, Epic of Basilios Digenis Acritas.

Both events give the same strike with a blunt weapon. In the first chapter, Basilios kills the great wolf with his mace, and in the second, he uses a staff. Basilios strikes on single fencing time without hesitation in the first event. He takes the initiative—the vor for those who follow the German fencing tradition—and he strikes the wolf on his head. It is logical because he fought a beast.

In the second situation, Basilio duels with a savvy fighter. The author describes the event from a literary point of view, but a fencer can understand the author’s intent. Attempting to understand the type of blow struck, we can deduce it resulted from three possible tactics using the same strike to the head.

The first situation is that Filopappos begins his attack striking from above. Still, Basilios reacts with a

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backward jump to avoid the attack and counters with an attack, but Filopappos parries Basilios’s attack with his shield. The second way is the following: Filopappos begins his attack with a strike to the head; Basilios jumps backward to evade Filopappos’s attack and counters as Filopappos tries to regain his balance, but Filopappos manages to parry the counter; finally, Filopappos steps forward and chambers his sword to strike; but Basilios jumps forward and, taking advantage of the opening, delivers a counter strike. So, we have an attack on the preparation of the opponent’s attack, but again Filo-

pappos parries the strike. We can observe the fundamentals of fencing in this description. At times, Basilios opens up the distance to set up his attack. He evades the attack and counters or attacks on the preparation of the attack. From the point of view of Filopappos, we see him both launch and parry attacks.

In the period of Latin occupation, both medieval Greeks and Latin trained with a type of sticks/staves called bastons. It was a popular type of training equally for the knights and the Greek nobles. Some of these bastons looked like rods, and others like wooden swords.

The Pammachoi working from the high guard with the matzoukion.

Left: Pammachos Dimitrios Bogris; Right: Instructor George E. Georgas.

Both fighters closing into melee distance.

Fighter on the right taking control of his opponent’s elbow, breaking the balance and hitting to the head with an upper strike from the left.

A Note about Basilios Digenis Acritas: He was a legendary Medieval Greek hero. The nickname, Digenis, means “he who has two origins.” His mother was a Greek princess of the Byzantine Empire, and his father was an Arab prince.

After the Arab prince became a Christian and a citizen of the empire, the two were married. With their marriage, they had a son named Basilios. From an early age, he committed many brave acts; he killed a lion with bare hands when he was a child, and there were many other such deeds. His most outstanding achievement was that he had a duel with Death in the Marble Halls at the gates of Hades. In this duel, he faced Death with his sword at hand and won, but soon after died from a disease. His last name, as it has come down to us, was Acritas; however, this was not his real last name but the name of a frontier guards’ unit. Of course, Basilios Digenis Acritas was not an actual person. Still, we learn of the spirit and the bravery of all Acrites of the empire, and the way they protected villagers from bandits and the borders from foreign invasion.

They were always a small unit, which forced them to eschew head-on battles but rely on hit-and-run tactics to delay and harass the enemy until the Byzantine emperor could order his generals to mobilize and march the Imperial Armies to the threatened regions.

Katsouna, Hourhouda, and Glitsa: the Staves of the Ottoman Occupation During the Ottoman occupation, staves and sword-staves were the weapons of the poor people and the Christians. The Ottomans allowed Christians to have metal weapons if they were armatoloi, or men at arms who acted as local police or as the personal bodyguard units of provincial rulers. In the early and mid-19th century, clan leaders or the protopalikaro (champion) of the clan acted as martial art instructors to other clan members.

They taught staff/stick fighting to relatives and villagers, so there

were slight stylistic differences because most of them were initially trained by the Ottomans when they served as armatoloi. Hiding in the mountains of Peloponnese were those clans that never accepted Ottoman rule, and they, in many cases, retained the style of their ancestors. The Cretan revolt against the Ottomans in the 19th century was notable in how Greek men attacked the Ottomans with staves and sword-staves at the onset of the rebellion.

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Junior High School students in 1902 practicing the “setting aside” staff movement in Heracleion, Crete, Greece.

[Photo courtesy of Grand Master of Pammachon Martial Education Costas Dervenis]

The Staves of the Late 19th to 20th Centuries in Greece In the late 19th and 20th centuries, the staff was a weapon of self-defense for rural and urban populations, especially elite urban men. The popularity among Greeks carrying wooden sticks in public arose from a ban on duels and the carrying of swords. Due to the ban, many masters of arms switched from fencing with blades to fencing with sticks and canes.

The beginning of the 20th century saw many fencing styles where the master at arms had undertaken an apprenticeship.

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The most popular style in Greece was the French, then the Italian schools. Most Greek fencing masters of arms also served as military instructors for the Royal Hellenic Army. Justifying the teaching of foil fencing at this time to the soldiers, they claimed fencing practice would better prepare soldiers for bayonet use. An example of someone who used his cane to save his cousin’s life comes out of an assassination attempt by the Japanese police officer, Tsuda Sanzō—a

member of the samurai class who, armed with a katana, ended up battling with the cane-wielding Prince George of Greece. Before I get to this story, though, let us go over the life and training of both men before this fateful clash took place.

Pammachon staff lesson, from the Greek students of Trebizonte School around 1911.

[Photo courtesy of Grand Master of Pammachon Martial Education Costas Dervenis]

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Quick bind of the opponent’s staff.

After the bind, the strike comes in tempo before the opponent can react. The attacker is also stepping inward, changing the fencing line.

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Pammachos and Fencer of the Hellenic Fencing Federation, Filipe Faisal Waddington de Mattos-Parreira, parrying a strike from top left fencing line using one of the parries to the head, which puts him in a position to riposte easily as the opponent tries to get back or strike quickly to the opening.

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The Tale of Tsuda Sanzō and Prince George of Greece Tsuda Sanzō was born in 1855 to a family that could claim samurai status and whose ancestors served as doctors to the royal family of Iga province. After receiving the martial training accorded to the samurai of his class, Tsuda joined the army in 1872. He took part in the Satsuma revolution against the new government of Emperor Meiji in 1877. Tsuda served under the Last Samurai, Saigō Takamori (Takanaga). Young Tsudo was a great admirer of the teachings of Saigō Takamori, a living legend who followed the old traditional ways of Japan. After the devastating defeat of Takamori and his samurai army, Tsuda Sanzō surrendered, received a pardon, and joined the Kyoto police force in 1882. He appeared to be an example of a reformed samurai, but the law of bushido held steady in his heart.

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Tsuda Sanzo

On the other hand, Prince George of Greece and Denmark was born in Korfu in 1869. He was the second son of King George I of Greece, from the House of Glücksburg and the Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. Growing up, Prince George had a series of English and Greek tutors. Thanks to his mother, he grew up a devout Orthodox Christian. His education later continued under the Prussian Otto Lynders. An athletic young man, George loved swimming and rowing. At the age of 13, he enrolled in the Hellenic Military Academy in Piraeus, where he saw fencing for the first time, which was taught daily to the cadets. As part of his education, he learned Danish and, in 1885, enrolled in the Royal Danish Naval Academy in Copenhagen. After four years of study, he returned as a different man. Despite his outward serious mien, George, at his core, remained spontaneous, a bit unruly, and a free spirit.

Prince George of Greece

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Returning to Greece, George joined the Royal Navy and became an adjutant to King George I. Prince George was also a cousin to Nicholas Romanov, later Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Nicholas’s father had sent him on a trip throughout Europe and Asia to meet various leaders and prepare him for the throne. After visiting the House

of Habsburg in Vienna, he came to Greece, at which time George joined his cousin for his trip. The royal fleet docked at the port of Nagasaki in 1891. The Japanese emperor honored the two princes with appropriate pomp and display. Prince Nicholas and his escort then decided to visit Kyoto.

Outside the Oriental Hotel, where

Naval Cadets in fencing lesson (Class of 1890).

[Source: Museum of Naval Academy, Piraeus, Greece]

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they were staying, an unruly crowd had gathered, spurred to anger by a recent letter written in blood and made available to the public threatening the Russian diplomatic mission.

On April 29th, the Princes Nicholas and George, escorted by Prince Arisugawa-no-miya, traveled by rickshaws from Kyoto to Ōtsu.

A police escort accompanied the 40 rickshaws used to transport the princes and their companions through the narrow streets of Ōtsu. Tsuda Sanzō was part of this detail. A few days earlier, this group had visited an off-limits Japanese temple. Overriding this injunction against foreigners and polluting the sacred space with their presence to curry favor with Westerners greatly angered some fanatics.

Tsuda Sanzō, a secret bushido fol-

lower, was among them. While the visiting royal entourage was riding in rickshaws through Ōtsu, Tsuda saw an opportunity and took it. Throwing back his coat, he unsheathed his katana, the carrying of which the emperor had banned.

Attacking suddenly and fiercely, Tsuda struck Nicholas in the back of the head. Re-chambering his katana, he prepared to finish him off with a second blow when George, sitting next to Nicholas, threw himself in front of his cousin, parried Tsuda’s second cut with his cane, then disarmed the assassin. Surprised and dismayed at his failure, Tsuda turned and tried to make his escape, but two Japanese drivers took off after him, tackled him, and delivered their prisoner Prince Arisugawa-no-miya.

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The Japanese Emperor Meiji was greatly shocked when he learned of the attack, to the point where he took an overnight train to meet his guest as soon as possible and offer his apologies. He was worried that the incident could be the start of a war with Russia. The two henchmen were given medals for chasing and capturing the perpetrator.

Prince George was very disappointed by the blame he received from the Russian government for putting the crown prince, Nicholas, at risk by encouraging him to visit dangerous places and desecrate a temple, thereby earning the enmity of a people.

Tsuda Sanzō, during his trial, claimed that he wanted to kill the prince because he believed him to be a Russian spy. In May of 1891, he was sentenced to life in a Hokkaido prison called “Japanese Siberia,” but he died on September 30th of

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the same year from pneumonia or hunger as the right to take his own life to atone for his mistakes had been denied him. After his death, the emperor himself forbade the bestowing of the name “Tsuda” to newborn children from Tsuda’s province, and his whole family was dishonored and exiled. There were even thoughts of renaming the city of Ōtsu.

Even though he wasn’t allowed to return to Greece with Nicholas, Tsar Alexander III awarded George the rank of Admiral in the Russian navy. The cane with which he defended Nicholas’s life was engraved with the imperial symbols of Russia and displayed at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Even though Tsuda Sanzō trained in a martial tradition superior to that of Prince George, and despite his life-long immersion in the study of bushido, he failed to avenge a perceived in-

sult to the Japanese people. Then to compound his error, he tried to flee the scene as if he was afraid for his life or somehow ashamed of what he had done. Adding further shame to his already tarnished reputation, he allowed two commoners to tackle and arrest him—altogether a shoddy, pitiful, and amateurish attempt to emulate the feats of those samurai who came before him.

ation. Years later, in Crete during the Nazi invasion of the island, while other family members were cowering in a shelter from the shots and bombs, George, now much older, remained in the back of the roofless car wearing a military helmet, unwilling to hide.

On the other side, we have a mediocre fencer, George, who acted immediately, overcame the fear caused by the attack and parried Tsuda’s second cut with a parry on the first of the head—or a parry on the fifth if referring to modern terms—and then disarming his opponent. Indeed, his reaction resulted from training in the military academies, and it wasn’t the first time he revealed a sang-froid demeanor in a life-or-death situ-

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A Cretan striking a Nazi with his staff during the battle of Crete, as depicted in a WWII newspaper.

The last official use of staves or sword-staves in a battle in the 20th century took place during the invasion of Crete. At this time, villagers determined to protect their land, homes, and families set upon the Nazi paratroopers with farm instruments, staves, and swordstaves, then ripping the weapons out of the hands of the bludgeoned Nazis and turning their fire on those still fighting.

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Pammachon staff training in Athens with Instructor Stamatis Stamatoglou and Grand Master Costas Dervenis.

Stick/Staff Fighting in Greece in the 21st Century Now in the 21st century, we still treasure the fighting stick, following our country’s long tradition.

The method of training today has three fundamental pillars: 1. The logic, the principles, and the tactics emerge out of European fencing. The staff and sword-staff movements all derive from European fencing traditions, which themselves go back to the Bronze Age. Although there have been changes and improvements in the tactics and strategy, the same fundamentals still apply.

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2. The Hellenic traditional martial education method of Pammachon and its training through war dances—the pyrichios, or the “dance of fire.” These war dances have their origins deep in the past, and there is still a living tradition of these dances being used to train young warriors. These dances prepare young men both physically and emotionally to wage war.

An example of this would be the Pontian Pyrichios, the pre-battle dance ritual of the Pontian Greeks who lived around the Black Sea,2 in what is today Northern Anatolia, Southern Russia, and Ukraine.

From those dances still performed today, martial art enthusiasts of ancient Greek warfare can extrapolate ideas of the footwork, tempo, and basic moves that Greek warriors would have once used.

2 Pontus is the ancient Greek word for “-sea.”

3. The historical sources from the manuscripts, manuals-at-arms, and extant paintings give us more clues to how Greek warriors once fought.

Today, the Greek stick/staff fighting is a complete system of fighting. A student begins training footwork and the gymnasio of handwork, which are physically intensive games where students learn to unlock their bodies. From this point, a student will learn the basic guards and attacks, followed by wrestling, disarms, locks, counters, and counters attacks.

Training does not occur indoors exclusively; outdoor training on different kinds of ground and inclement weather conditions are encouraged.

- George E. Georgas

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Staff training for the local children in Chalki island, Dodecanese, Greece, 2016-2017.

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SELECTED REFERENCES

Αυτοκράτορος Λέοντος του Σοφού, Τακτικά, εκδόσεις ελεύθερη σκέψις. Βασιλεύς Κωνσταντίνος τόμος Α, εκδόσεις ‘το Βήμα’.

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. Oxford University Press, 2003.

H Ελληνική Επανάσταση, του Δ. Κόκκινου, Τόμοι 1-5, εκδόσεις Μέλισσα.

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press, 2005. Οι Βυζαντινοί ξιφομάχοι στο Μηνολόγιο του Βασιλείου Β’, Δημήτρης Σκουρτέλης.

Perrin, Noel. Giving Up the Gun. Boston: David R. Godine, 1979.

Ravina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigō Takamori. Wiley, 2004. Τρύφωνος Ε. Ευαγγελίδου (1898). Τα μετά τον Όθωνα: ήτοι ιστορία της μεσοβασιλείας και της βασιλείας Γεωργίου του Α΄. (1862-1898) Εν Αθήναις: Εκδοτικόν Κατάστημα Γεωργίου Δ. Φέξη, σελ. 644.

Yates, Charles. Saigo Takamori: The Man Behind the Myth. New York, NY: Kegan Paul International, 1995.

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David Giomi @david.giomi

SHAOLIN STAFF IN THE 21ST CENTURY A LOOK AT THE PRAGMATIC USE OF CHI FOR POWER GENERATION USING THE SHAOLIN STAFF

David Giomi

NOBODY KNOWS THE EXACT origins of men using a staff as a weapon. Somewhere long ago, one of our ancestors figured out that if they picked up a long stick instead of a rock to hit with, they could get more leverage and distance to hit from. As soon as a second person picked up a big stick to defend themselves, the art of staff fighting was born. It can be found in all cultures around the globe.

Brief History of Shaolin Temple As the story goes, when the Indian monk Bodhidharma (also known as Ta Mo in China) arrived at Shaolin Temple in approximately AD 520-527, he found the monks to be in such poor physical condition that they could not keep up with their spiritual studies and meditation. He then developed exercises to strengthen the monks’ mind, body, and spirit. This is often considered to be the beginning of the mind-body connection that many of the traditional Asian martial arts are famous for.

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Fundamental Staff Many traditional systems, particularly those of a Chinese, Okinawan, or Japanese origin, trace their lineage to Shaolin Temple, and most teach the staff as the first weapon introduced to beginning students.

The fundamental level of staff training will often focus on weapon familiarization and manipulation, coupled with a strong foundation in proper body mechanics, paths of motion, basic attack and defense. Traditional arts from the Chinese, Okinawan, and Japanese lineage will also generally have preset routines, or kata (forms) as well.

Staff training has long been considered the foundation for all the “long weapons” in traditional Chinese martial arts. With the large amount of long weapons available in the traditional martial arts arsenal, and the spear being considered the “king” of the weapons, it is easy to see why a strong foundation in staff fundamentals would be essential. Staves would also be inexpensive to make and readily

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available, as many tools used for farming or daily chores took the shape of a pole or staff.

In the modern era, there is a great deal of interest in “everyday carry,” or EDC items (a quick Google search showed “about 1,170,000,000 results). Everything from concealed carry firearms to knives, phones, and even chapstick, make the list. In earlier times, a walking stick or staff was a common accessory, making the staff the perfect EDC of its day.

As a side note, I currently reside near the Sierra-Nevada mountains, and walking sticks (staves) of various lengths are a relatively common sight, especially as one gets closer to, or into, the mountains.

Even here in town, they are not so uncommon as to draw attention.

Beyond the Basics While all of the fundamental training has great value and multiple benefits, nothing in this category is necessarily unique to Shaolin training. Many systems train the staff and use the same patterns of motion, and the same body mechanics. The foundation of Shaolin training, at least theoretically, is the integration of mind-body synergy for advanced martial arts and health cultivation. To truly look at staff from a Shaolin perspective, we need to look at the use of chi/ki in regards to staff training and usage. Tenured traditional martial artists will be familiar with the concept that the practitioner needs to focus the chi to the tip of the weapon. It stands to reason that if we have not yet learned to focus chi in and through our bodies, then we will not be able to move chi through a weapon. Before we can look at manifesting chi in weapon use, we first have to look at the use of chi without a weapon to enhance power generation.

Many excellent translations of ancient texts and “poems” on chi are currently available. Some describe the different types of chi and indepth methods for its cultivation.

Others translate “poems” which offer obscure insights that need to be pondered and discerned. While it is generally acknowledged in internal martial arts and chi kung circles that there are different types of chi, the focus of this article is in the pragmatic usage of chi as it relates to power generation and practical application, in a manner that can be utilized relatively quickly. When discussing the concept of chi in a pragmatic context, I often refer to the modern definition as “bioelectric energy.” However, even then, the concept of being able to manipulate bioelectric energy to use when striking in a combat situation brings to mind images of “using the Force” and cartoonish video game fireballs.

All of the chi—or energy—cultivation practices I have learned are accepted as being very longterm study. I have heard stories,

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seen demonstrations, and even felt chi being manifested; however, I have still yet to see it used in allout combat. To be clear, I am not saying it is not possible, just that I have yet to see it myself, which means, for me, there is quite a bit that is taken on faith in this training. That being said, I enjoy the trainings involved, and feel much more healthy and vibrant when practicing them, and find that this has value to me, whether I end up being able to manifest chi energy in a combat situation or not. However, our quest is to find an obtainable form of energy manifestation that martial artists can work on and use “in the now” while continuing to work on internal practices for health, vitality, and for the possibility of future martial application.

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Demystifying “Chi” If chi for martial arts application is the cultivation and manipulation of the body’s natural energy, then would not an advanced manipulation of the body’s kinetic energy be a form of using chi? If kinetic energy manipulation is a form of chi generation, and if the yi (the mind—specifically, the intention) leads the chi, then it stands to reason that developing a high level of manipulating the body’s kinetic energy would have value in the development of the skill of manipulating chi for health or martial arts purposes. All of the principles that tenured martial artists were taught still need to be in place.

Proper breath, body alignment, intent, timing, and so on are all still necessary. With these in place, we also need to look at kinetic linking and progressive or staggered vs. simultaneous application.

It is well known that kata/form training, empty hand or with weapons, are meant to develop a myriad of attributes, including power generation. In fact, most of us have heard on numerous occasions regarding forms that “that is where the secrets are hidden.”

Whether that is so or not is beyond the scope of this article. However, the development of focused power through forms/kata is often touted, and is fairly obvious, even to the casual observer.

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Timing is Everything Most master instructors of traditional martial arts emphasize that the key to maximum power is to synchronize the timing of the breath, the intent, body alignment, and a firm, deliberate step—similar to a stomp—with the strike, with great emphasis on the foot and the strike landing in a coordinated manner. This is well known, hardly a secret, or a very open “secret,” if one at all, and bare feet can be heard stomping on gymnasium floors in traditional martial arts tournaments around the world most weekends, usually with great flourish.

Most of us know this, and most of us teach this. It takes countless repetitions that turn weeks into months and months into years to perfect this timing, and most of us practice this for years on end. But what if this is wrong, or at least, not quite right? It is fairly well known that the old masters would hide knowledge. What better way to hide knowledge, than train stu-

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dents in a way that would make it so that all it would take is a small tweak, a slight adjustment in timing, to make it work? Or, what if they did not know? It is not uncommon for some masters to learn and impart some of the more subtle aspects of their arts almost by osmosis. Some students get it, some do not. Sometimes even the instructor is not exactly sure what they are doing or how they are doing it. Watch some of the older masters that are known to have an unusually high amount of power generation, and really observe their timing. Not their sparring timing—focus on the timing within their own bodies as they move.

Here Is the Key The true timing is that, rather than simultaneous, the foot lands a millisecond before the strike, transferring the kinetic energy generated by the body into the strike. This allows kinetic energy manifested in the body to transfer into the strike, be it empty-hand or weapon, and at a higher level into the opponent. When applying this to a weapon such as the staff, we need to take that kinetic energy and let it continue through the body so it can transfer in and through the weapon. This still requires years of diligent practice and a very highly developed sense of timing and energy manipulation; otherwise the strike turns into two strikes. In other words, instead of channelling all of the kinetic energy into the strike, it would cancel with the step, and the power would diminish greatly as it would require a new generation of energy.

Here is an exercise to demonstrate the point: take your staff and drop it on concrete so that it lands flat— i.e., both ends land as close to simultaneously as possible. What

happens? Nothing. When the ends of the staff land at the same time, the kinetic energy discharges at the same time and has nowhere to go, so it cancels itself out.

Next, take your staff and slam one end down well before the other (but let it go) and watch what happens; the staff will bounce back and forth, jumping from end to end. If you watch closely, you can often see the staff vibrating in the air as it bounces.

One more exercise with the staff: take the staff by one end and slam it violently against a concrete floor and hold on to it. We all know what will happen—an incredibly uncomfortable sensation as the staff vibrates violently in our hand. Extremely uncomfortable.

What just happened? We created a dynamic surge of kinetic energy by slamming it on the ground, and that energy has to go somewhere.

Since you are holding on to it, the kinetic energy has nowhere to go except back up the staff and into your skeletal structure.

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It is understood in internal martial arts circles that the chi (kinetic energy?) travels through the body through the bones, in a spiraling manner. It is interesting how the old internal masters were supposed to be able to transfer chi to their opponents’ bodies. Was it “magic,” or just science and great body mechanics, with a proper understanding of how to use their kinetic energy?

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With all the details in place, including proper skeletal alignment, the body reacts similarly to the staff in the exercise. A dynamic surge of energy can be created and directed through a weapon, or into an opponent. This is not easy. It still takes years of practice, and there are many details that need to be in place, such as breath, intent, alignment, timing, and many more, but it is achievable.

The Real Secret The bottom line truth is that all of this has very little value if it cannot be applied in all-out combat. If it cannot, it remains in the realm of martial arts parlor tricks, and a quick search on YouTube shows “martial arts” parlor trick artists being exposed more and more.

The good news is that those of us interested in traditional martial arts, even esoteric martial arts, can bring these martial arts into the new millennium to a higher level than have ever been achieved. The key is in the training method.

Here is the most valuable martial arts “secret” taught to me by Burton Richardson: The JKD Unlimited training method. The key is in progressive resistance. You can take all of your techniques from combat arts ancient or modern,

and run them through the JKD Unlimited filter. What does that mean? Sparring with progressive resistance. Start off light, keep it safe and fun, and you can functionalize almost anything! It may not look exactly like it did in the traditional kata, but it is not supposed to!

The amount of information available today in the martial arts world is unprecedented. Along with that, the advances in training equipment allow us to make everything from free sparring to staff sparring fun, safe, and functional. Those of us with a love for traditional as well as modern arts can bring these arts to new heights, as long as we test our theories in the “lab” of live, safe sparring.

- David Giomi

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Srinivasan Sastri Jeevan Gowda @jeevan.gowda theimmersiondojo.com

AN INTERVIEW WITH

SASTRI SENSEI: JO JUTSU STAFF TECHNIQUES Jeevan Gowda

RECENTLY I HAD the honor to sit down with my oldest martial arts teacher, Srinivasan Sastri Sensei. Sensei has been guiding me in my martial arts practice since I was 19 years old. Now at the age of 85, he has been practicing martial arts for nearly six decades, training in the samurai arts for more than 40 years. I find it best to ask simple questions and let Sensei do what he does best: teach.

Jeevan Gowda: So, what is the advantage of staff training?

Sastri Sensei: Well, first, it will help with the coordination of your body. If you train with no other weapon, or if you are from an empty-hand art it improves the coordination. When you pick up any staff, it becomes an extension of your hand and body! Your legs, your hand, your breathing, all these work together to move your staff. Moving everything together dramatically improves your coordination.

Secondly, a good art will teach you various aspects of using a stick/ staff—striking to different parts of the body, using various types of strikes. Then there are several techniques you can use, such as throws, chokes, and sweeps.

All these various aspects of jo training are improved. The staff will improve your coordination in life.

Also, all the techniques you use, be they striking or throws—how to reach a moving opponent and adapting to the situation. Even if you do not have a traditional staff, then you can use whatever is at hand to protect yourself with your art.

At least that is what a proper staff training means to me!

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JG: How does energizing the stick help with your striking and blocking?

staff will help youturn the force.

Then you can move on into your next strike or block.

SS: Energizing the stick is some-

This may sound like a very simplistic way of explaining this principle.

Some people may have objections to this, but that’s the principle.

The energy of your body becomes part of that weapon. If you don’t understand it and think it’s hocus-pocus—so be it! I guess I’m full of it like so many others [he laughs at that last comment].

thing I can tell you about and show you, but it’s up to the individual to pick up the stick and feel it. They must learn it and know it—o make the staff a part of themselves.

What do I mean by that? Well, it’s the same as any good karate instructor would teach you. When the punch comes, the hand is not stiff. It starts loose and at the end of the movement it tightens. The hand relaxes and retracts. That’s energizing a punch.

When you’re holding a staff, don’t let it be dead. Cultivate a feeling as if the staff is an extension of your hand. In this way, the energy flowing from your hand must flow through the stick to be effective.

The energy flows from the center of your body. In empty-hand styles, it’s also the same. The power comes from your center, and at the last second, you’re throwing that energy. In the same way the energy is going through the stick and causing more damage.

When you’re blocking, this energy helps you feel the force of a block, unlike a dead stick, which will only help you absorb the force. A live

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JG: Sensei, what is better: footwork or speed?

SS: Well, for us, footwork means tai sabaki, or “moving the body out of harm’s way.” So, if you’re going to fight speed against speed, then you are depending on your own speed. If you’re not faster than him, you’re going to lose. You cannot depend on speed. You must use an intelligent way of negating that speed and not follow your opponent’s way of fighting—being the follower and your opponent being the leader. He expects you to defend or go back. With tai sabaki, we don’t stand and defend; we go around!

So which techniques do we use to negate speed? In our system, there are three modes: 1. Block and counter 2. Move out of range 3. Moving into attack Let’s discuss the second one: stepping out of range. The attack is coming very fast. Moving back for a fraction of a second and then going immediately on the offensive.

You are focusing on the strike coming for you, just moving enough to avoid the strike. To be able to do this, one must practice exhaustively.

For instance, you’re stepping back in a defensive mode for a billionth of a second, and the next billionth of a second you're stepping in on the offensive move. Once you’re there, there are hundreds of things you can do. You need to practice millions of times to get the timing right. I’m not an instructor who says: a few months of my class, and you’re an expert. You must pay your dues!

When the strike is coming, if you’re not inside the strike, inside the working end of a sword or a staff of a knife, if you’re not inside the working end and close to the body, then you will lose. So, you must get inside. Why inside? Because his body is the one throwing the fist. The body is the one holding the weapon. So, you must hurt the body.

Of course, a knife fighter wants to cut your hands; a stick fighter wants to hit your hands. Everyone wants to hit your hands. That’s fine, but when you move in close enough that you’re almost kissing him, then you can strike his center.

Then you’re unbalancing him!

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JG: Even with a longer weapon/ staff, Sensei?

SS: Yes, you go in with a longer weapon! Yes, even with a longer weapon, let’s say, a gun.

The first thing you have to say is: “I’m dead!” I want to get that fear of the gun out of me!

YOU won’t be able to do it by just thinking about it. I practice it and tell myself I’m dead every day.

YOU must pay your dues!

YOU must learn it!

YOU must make it a part of your thinking!

Because once you consider yourself dead, you have nothing to fear.

Because fear will hold you back.

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For example, a guy with a gun [is] standing eight feet or more away.

Unless you’re Superman, you can’t cover the distance. You must be smart. He is pointing at the enormous mass of your body. In response you take a long diving roll at a 45-degree angle. Then change angles and move in again. He must follow your movement. By the time he realizes the changes, he will most likely miss you. If he doesn’t miss, well, I can’t protect you from a hundred different situations! You have put in the effort, the thought when facing a gun.

How do you get out? That comes with learning and training every day. So, figure it out!

Staff Versus Blade

JG: A lot of my teachers would teach me the staff and the blade separately. They would tell me they were separate philosophies. So, what are the similarities and differences, and how does staff training help your blade work?

SS: Well, I’m not a great believer in learning weapons one at a time. There is nothing wrong with learning the staff one day and the sword the next. I don’t care if it’s a sword or an axe or a machete.

Because if you look at it, there is something common to every one of these weapons.

If you learn a block from your empty-hand form, then put a stick in your hand, that’s a block, too.

So, you can also use a longer stick or a sword and block that way. So, the basic principle of a block with a weapon of any kind is the same.

The only difference is the length of the weapon in your hand.

here to scratch that person. You break that bone. Even with a knife, you must break that bone before you can cut. So, the same with a knife. It’s chopping. You need to take out that person’s shoulder, his hand. Completely destroy it by cutting it off.

So, everything has a common factor in it. You must see that. If you’ve been taught to learn one art first and then another later, I’m sorry. I don’t agree with that!

Of course, it’s a good idea to learn empty-hand fighting Because that builds a lot of coordination. So maybe if you practice empty hand for a year, you have that coordination and weapons become easier.

The similarities are always there.

Whether it is a staff or a blade, it’s always chopping. If you take a stick and stop right before the moment of contact, then it’s like a dead blow. But if you strike through the body, it is a more effective strike, a more painful strike. You’re not

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Future of Martial Arts in the Modern World

JG: You were talking about fighting someone with a gun.

That’s a modern-day interpretation of an ancient battlefield art.

SS: Well, once again, when you talk about facing a modern-day weapon. I fall back on the techniques I have learned. You must know your tai sabaki, how to step out and back in, so you have moved yourself out of harm’s way Let’s not forget as a martial artist, as I have always taught my students: Be prepared every day when you go to class to say: I will get hit; I will be knifed; I will get shot; I will get punched; I will get kicked.

But your movement is going to minimize the pain, minimize the damage. If you think you’re never

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going to get hit because I’m so super good, you have another thing coming! So, do not be overconfident. Always accept the fact you will be struck, shot, cut!

I’ve said it from day one to all my students: accept it! Don’t say, “Nothing’s going to happen to me.” Don’t say, “My martial arts are so good I can face a guy with a gun, and he’s not going to shoot me.” In my previous example of taking a roll, you may get shot, but the damage will be minimal. So, when facing any weapon, the other guy can get lucky. Sometimes in a boxing match, the guy who’s not so good gets a lucky shot, and they go down. Anything can happen.

There are so many variables So, there’s no hard and fast rule.

To get out of a situation, use your mind and body to help yourself to minimize the danger.

Modern battlefields skills cannot compare to those taught in an ancient art because they didn’t have the same weapons they have to-

day. Take, for instance, a missile defense system where you have a low level, mid-level altitude, and a higher level. Like ancient Japan there would be three levels: soldiers kneeling with swords, behind them would be a row standing, behind them a row with long spears.

So, three different levels. So, there are many levels of ryuha, “battlefield techniques”. I should say battlefield ideas. Because I’m sure generals today study the old battlefield techniques.

The first and foremost thing is not to get encircled, regardless if it is ancient or modern warfare—the only difference being the weapons.

I cannot say much more about modern and ancient battlefield weapons, though I’m sure there are many universal ideas and philosophies.

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Regarding the Future of the Art

JG: How do you think our art is going to advance? Especially as now we teach a varied group of students. They are all very educated and a very different group.

SS: Well, as you said, most of today’s students are high school and college students. So, I always treat them as highly intelligent people, and I talk to them in that manner.

Secondly, I do not teach the old way (which is not going to work), where you must believe everything and not question me. “Just do what I tell you and respect me.” I do not ask for that. Modern students are not going to do that, because their philosophy, the way they’ve grown up, and how they’ve studied in school or college is completely different.

So, they’ve learned to think in this environment. So, you can’t force them to respect you, force them to learn. You must earn the students' respect. The students must have an exchange of information. If they have doubts, you have to answer it; you must show them.

Modern-day teaching is not the old way. Teach them honestly. Try to teach a certain amount of information. If it goes beyond the

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hour of class, say, “Hey guys, I’ve got to do another 15-20 more minutes. I hope you can stay.” Show them that you’re more interested in them learning, rather than your time. Because no kid today must learn martial arts—they don’t need to. They are doing it voluntarily, giving up their time. So, as they respect your time, you should respect their time.

If they don’t stay, deal with them accordingly. You might not do this again, or you might not ask them. Bend a certain amount and no more. As an instructor, don’t bend back so much that you’ll fall.

Students must be in class to learn if they are yelling out questions. “I saw something in a movie.” Well, then go somewhere else, don’t bother me.

- Jeevan Gowda / Srinivasan Sastri

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Mukatder Gül, Ph.D @sifuguel

THE

WING CHUN LONG POLE LOOK DIM BOON QUAN / SIX-AND-A-HALF-POINT LONG POLE FORM

Mukatder Gül

EVERYTHING I CAN SAY OR write about Wing Chun long pole is based on my experiences and training. The most important and authentic source for me is, of course, my Sifu Ip Ching, who taught me the long pole form and the use of the weapon. Of course, I also asked him about the historical aspects of the long pole. In addition, I am in constant contact with my friends who are themselves Sifus in several other Wing Chun lineages, such as Wong Shun Leung, Ip Chun, and Leung Sheung. Therefore, I have insight also into the different interpretations and versions of the Wing Chun long pole.

My Sifu Ip Ching Ip Ching was born in Foshan, China, and is the youngest son of Grandmaster Ip Man. Even at an early age, he showed great interest in martial arts and began his Wing Chun training under the guidance of his father at the age of seven.

Ip Man taught his students fre-

quently at the family home and as Ip Ching lived with his father, this gave him tremendous insights into the Wing Chun system and his father’s teaching methods. Because of this fact, he assisted his father in teaching the students in Wing Chun until his death in 1972. Ip Ching knows exactly who learned what from his father. As an honorable disciple and a committed son, Ip Ching is following his father’s footsteps as his successor in the Wing Chun system. Among others, he is honored with the titles of The Master of the Keys and The Keeper of the Art and, for me, he is currently the highest authority in the Ip Man Wing Chun system. His authority does not rest only on his knowledge of the art; the character—the honesty, patience, and the warmth he gives to a student—of this extraordinary man is equally important. It is always the person behind the martial art who makes the art successful.

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TECHNICAL DATA & FEATURES

The six-and-a-half-point long pole form is the fifth form in the Wing Chun curriculum and the first weapon form.

The following are the Wing Chun forms in order: 1. Siu Lim Tao (“the little idea”) 2. Cham Kiu (“the bridging arms / searching the bridge”) 3. Biu Jee (“the stinging fingers”) 4. Muk Jan Chong (“the wooden dummy”) 5. Look Dim Boon Quan (“the long pole”) 6. Bart Cham Dao (“the double-knife”)

Depending on the version, the Wing Chun pole is approximately 270-330 cm (8-10 ft) long. The tip of the conical staff is about 2.5- 3 cm (1-1.2 in) in diameter, whereas the handle diameter is about 3.5-4 cm (1.3-1.6 in). The pole is made of wood and has a corresponding weight of about 3 kg (6.5 lb).

The conical form provides power and mass concentration on one point, similarly to a billiard cue.

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Why Six-and-a-Half?

The name, six-and-a-half, refers to the techniques of the form; there are six-and-a-half techniques to be carried out with the long pole. You could, of course, say seven, but the original name is, in essence, very “Chinese”, and culturally rooted.

The Wing Chun long pole training is split into three sections or phases of exercise, as is generally the case in Wing Chun: 1. Practicing the form itself.

2. The practice of isolated techniques.

3. Partner exercises.

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It should be noted that section two is usually practiced before the first section(!).

The Wing Chun long pole form reflects everything that Wing Chun is known for: Simplicity—only techniques

six-and-a-half

Effectiveness—achieve a lot with just a few movements Explosiveness—a strong, uncomplicated, and extremely dangerous weapon

History The very first known records concerning the Wing Chun system are the records of the legendary Red Junk/Boat Opera Company.

There are many stories and legends regarding the genesis of the Wing Chun system before the “Red Junk,” but first written records and remarks are from the period between late 1800s and early 1900s.

Also, the Wing Chun long pole is mentioned for the first time in these records and plays an important role therein, which makes sense because of the circumstances, since the junks were moved and steered with long poles on the shallow water.

Other sources and legends report that the long pole form descended from the use of a spear as a cheap alternative for it, as the spearhead was too expensive an item for the generally poor population. There are also those who claim that the form comes from the Shaolin monks since they were thought not allowed to use bladed weaponry.

There exist quite a few of these conflicting narratives and theories. These, however, concern more the other Chinese long stick shapes and kung fu systems. As such, the Wing Chun long pole

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form is special and the weapon differs in length and texture from the common ones used by other systems. In consequence, the version of the long pole used on the junks is, in dimensions and shape, closer to the Wing Chun long pole than to the staves of these other systems. There are, of course, other cultures where long poles and staves are used in a similar way to that of Wing Chun.

Weapon for the Elderly & Women Training with the long pole is very strenuous and power-consuming, especially in the beginning. How-

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ever, once learned, it is relatively easy for an older man or a woman to use this weapon effectively. For example, if a rider comes riding through a narrow alley, he can be pushed from the horse with relatively little force from the side (this is also an important Wing Chun principle of “using the weak side”).

Another example of use: a trained swordsman fights against an older gentleman, or a woman, who does not know how to handle a sword.

The chances to win this fight using a sword is close to zero. However, with a long pole, he or she can keep the experienced swordsman

at a distance with relatively little effort, and will be able to stop him from closing the distance.

The Red Junk Opera Company The Red Junk Opera Company popularized Cantonese opera by traveling the Pearl River Estuary in the Guangzhou region in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was common at the time that the actors also engaged in martial arts, as the work at the opera was physically demanding, making physical fitness and body control very important qualities. In our particu-

lar case, the Red Junk Opera was a place of reunification for the founders and developers of Wing Chun and their successors.

Short & Quick Historical Summary The Chinese emperor forbade the practice of martial arts, after which the masters were pursued, hunted, and imprisoned or killed.

These masters sought refuge in the Shaolin Monastery. During this time, they developed Wing Chun kung fu (which is fast and easy to learn for anyone, regardless of strength, physique, and so on). The monastery was burned

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down, and the masters fled in different directions. Ng Mui taught Yim Wing Chun, who passed the system on to her husband, who, in turn, was hired onto the Red Junk Opera Company. There were also other masters who were members of the Red Junk at the same time period. Why, then, the Red Junk Opera Company?

1. Because the actors of the opera mostly wore heavy make-up, a wanted person could easily camouflage and hide.

2. The opera troupe was constantly traveling, so the wanted person did not need to stay in one place for too long, and thus the risk of being discovered was lower.

3. On the junk, the workers were sailors, cooks, and so on. The work on ships was tough. Kung fu fighters were used to hard work and had special skills such as dealing with the long poles used to maneuver the boats with.

Whether this congregation of masters was a coincidence or planned is not known. The fact is that the boats proved to be ideal for the system to be completed and improved on.

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Was the Wing Chun Long Pole Form Just an Add-On? There are different interpretations regarding the Wing Chun weapon forms. There are also different pole forms that are taught and trained.

Some say, for example, that the long pole form had originally nothing to do with Wing Chun, and was just added on to the system.

For some lineages, I can support this statement, because I find that the forms taught within them have nothing to do with Wing Chun. In my opinion, this separation does not lead back to the time of the Red Junk, but to modern times. Indeed, there are some Wing Chun lineages that practice a long pole form that has been taken from other kung fu systems.

Why did this happen? It was because they did not learn the original and true Wing Chun long pole form. But it should be known that there is a long pole form in the Wing Chun system, so it should be gotten from where it is “complete.” I notice the same problem with the second weapon form, the double-knife (Bart Cham Dao).

This, anyway, is my theory regarding the matter, due to the fact that what I see has nothing to do with what I learned and could see from my Sifu.

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Some important points: If you have been training the Wing Chun long pole form, you will soon realize how strongly it is connected to Wing Chun. The Wing Chun long pole form connects all techniques, concepts, and principles, and improves all knowledge from the first four forms of the system.

The pole form trains your stance and serves your structure due to its length and weight. The stance is particularly important. That is the first thing that is taught in the first form, Siu Lim Tao (“the little idea”). It also improves your striking techniques, which is also an important part of the first form.

It improves your understanding of the centerline theory, which again is an important principle of the first form. It uses the principles of the second form (Cham Kiu)—for example: angle work, positioning, and fighting or defending against multiple attackers. It trains your explosive power, which is the core concept of the third form (Biu Gee).

Based on these examples, we can refute the theory that the long pole form was added to the system only for it to have a weapon form. Likewise, practitioners should worry if their long pole form makes them feel that the principles of the sys-

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tem are not implemented and promoted, or the form lacks the reference to the empty-hand techniques.

Simple But Not Easy to Learn Learning the Wing Chun long pole form is neither easy nor comparable to long pole forms from other systems. Although the form itself only consists of six-and-a-half techniques, beginners will not be able to perform it.

In the beginning, you have the feeling that the long pole drains all your energy. After only a short practice, you are completely exhausted. Only when you have completed the exercises to stand correctly, keep your structure, and strengthen yourself, and you are able to work longer than just a few minutes with the long pole, can you start with the actual form.

Now, the form itself is about control, precision, and explosive power. The thrust with the Wing Chun long pole is (through the Cronus and the use of the Wing Chun explosive force) like a shot from the rifle. As is usual in Wing Chun, forward movement is as important as movement backward. No movement is wasted or meaningless.

The length, the weight, and the acceleration of the weapon forc-

es you to stand properly, control your movements, and act economically. An exaggerated movement can lead to loss of control or loss of balance and, thus, to losing the fight or even your life. These are the challenges inherent in learning the Wing Chun pole.

Once you have mastered the long pole, you will be able to keep several attackers at bay and take them out of action early and efficiently.

It actually does not matter if your attacker or attackers are armed or not.

long pole is enormously important, even indispensable, for developing our empty-hand techniques and self-defense skills. The long pole enhances our attributes and makes us stronger. Training with the pole also greatly improves and strengthens our understanding of the principles and concepts of the Wing Chun system as a whole.

- Mukatder Gül

The Wing Chun long pole is the optimal long-distance weapon.

With the simplest and smallest of movements, you are able to cover 360 degrees.

In the third phase, you will learn how to use the long pole techniques against attacks with various weapons such as the long pole, spear, sword, saber, double sword, and so on. Thus, the student also learns the peculiarities and pros and cons of various popular traditional weapons.

Is the Long Pole Still Up to Date?

Of course, it is not that common today that we walk around with long poles, and we generally do not use them for self-defense.

Nevertheless, training with the

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Nicole Holzmann @nicole.holzmann.980

LA CANNE DE COMBAT Nicole Holzmann

DUELING WITH SHARP weapons was an upper-class phenomenon from as early as the modern age until the end of the 18th century and often resulted in severe injuries or fatalities. It was also customary to carry an epée to defend oneself against assaults in cities like Paris. The French Revolution put an end to that, banning all swords and other fencing weapons from the streets of France. And anyone caught dueling was severely dealt with by a judge.

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At that time, criminal gangs had already established kicking techniques that they called "savate" after a designation for “old shoe” and utilized canes as weapons. For the upper class, being stripped of their sharp weapons but used to carrying canes as walking aids or as a fashion statement, the idea of adopting the kicking and cane techniques as a self-defensive alternative was not far-fetched.

And so, savate and la canne found their way into France’s gymnasiums

and fencing halls. While the techniques of English boxing had been incorporated into savate and had become known as boxe française around 1830, la canne became part of the standard repertoire of weapons taught by fencing teachers. They further developed la canne techniques based on sabre fencing. Different styles and directions shaped by different masters emerged, and soldiers in the French army learned savate and la

canne. These defensive weapons were unified in 1843 by Louis Leboucher in his work, Théorie pour apprendre tirer la canne en vingtcinq leçons (“The theory behind learning how to fight with la canne in twenty-five lessons”).

Towards the end of the 19th century, the streets of Paris became safer, and the self-defensive aspect of la canne became less important.

In 1899, Joseph Charlemont pub-

lished his textbook, L’art de la boxe française et de la canne: nouveau traité théorique et pratique (“The art of la boxe française and la canne: new theoretical and practical essays”). In this book, Charlemont championed the shifting of savate and la canne to a more sporting-oriented event. His method was employed when la canne was a demonstration sport in the Paris Olympic Games of 1900 and 1924.

With World War I came the decline of the two arts; the era of the Belle Époque was over, and walking canes became unpopular. Many practitioners and masters had fallen in battle. After World War II, it took some time until savate and la canne recovered.

In the 1950s, Roger Lafond established a unique method. The attacking strikes became more circular with an extended forearm mainly out of the wrist, still strongly resembling sabre fencing techniques. Attempts to further develop la canne towards a dynamic and modern competition sport, setting up rules and eliminating dangerous strikes, followed in the years. A repertoire of techniques became standardized and described in Maurice Sarry’s book, La Canne: Arme de defense, sport de combat (“The walking stick: defensive weapon, combat sport”) from the late 1970s, which is the basis for the sport that we today know under the name, “la canne de combat.”

In the same time frame, savate underwent a similar development from a mainly self-defensive art towards a competitive sport. From 1965, French savateurs organized themselves in a national commission called Comité National de Boxe Française, and ten years later, the French Savate Federation was founded, uniting both la boxe française and la canne de combat under one roof. The first la canne de combat competitions took place in 1979 and saw the establishment of the first French championship one year later.

Another ten years later, in 1985, the International Savate Federations, or FISav, was founded.

World championships in la canne de combat were first realized in the French overseas department of Ile de la Réunion in 2004, initially as a separate event and with a four-year frequency. Since 2016, la canne de combat world championships joined with savate assaut, the light-contact variant of boxe française, and a two-year cycle.

Today, national federations from more than 60 countries and all five continents belong to the International Federation. The FISav is a member federation of the GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations) and was featured in the 2013 World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Currently, the FISav is applying for recognition as an Olympic sport.

Alongside la canne de combat, several associated cane and staff disciplines were developed with or parallel to la canne—for instance, the addition of savate kicks to the la canne strikes known as la canne chausson (“cane with slipper”), or the variant with two sticks, double la canne, which is based on la canne techniques to a great degree but using two hands and carried out with either 140 or 120 cm staves.

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Historically, up to the shoulder height is the batôn fédérale. A longer staff of between 160 and 180 cm, traditionally up to nose height and used with a different gripping technique, is common for batôn de joinville. Their unique swinging techniques distinguish it from other methods.

Several different groups in France have experimented with competition formats for several of the associated disciplines. So far, only la canne de combat has established itself as an international competitive sport.

World Combat Games 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

[Photo courtesy of Ollie Batts]

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TECHNIQUES OF LA CANNE

With its development towards a competitive sport, most self-defensive elements of la canne de combat were deemed too dangerous and no longer practiced. Some of its techniques, movements, and tactical rules might appear counterintuitive to practitioners of other martial arts. Overall, la canne’s techniques are more fluid and spacious than short and effective. The proper execution of the strike is as important as the target hit itself. Consequently, la canne is an elegant and stylish sport that is very appealing for spectators.

Before we get into more detail about the specifics of la canne de combat, we would like to note that, as the sport is relatively young, the rules regarding the competition setup and the techniques are in

flux and have been subject to various changes over the years. Regulations may also differ between different national and international federations. Our explanations aim to take this into account.

The weapon used in competition is a straight and slightly conical 95-cm-long cane weighing between 100 and 120 grams, made of chestnut wood and wielded with one hand. The lower quarter on the thicker end is designated as the grip area and may be wrapped with tape to reduce slipping. The “upper quarter” or quart supérieur is the hitting area. While it is allowed to use the entire cane length to parry incoming strikes, only the upper quarter is a valid area to hit your opponent’s target areas.

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There are three designated target areas: the head (from the sides, the front, and the top, but not the back), the torso (the area below the breast and above the pelvic bone, depending on the rule set either only front and sides or all way around) and the lower legs (below the knee and above the ankle, and all way around). The protective equipment consists of a padded jacket, trousers and gloves, a padded fencing mask, shin pads, and a breast guard for female athletes or a cup for male athletes.

The fighting area is a circle with a diameter of nine meters, denoted by markings on the floor.

Unlike classical fencing, where the athletes only move forward and backward, cannists are free to move in every direction within this area and leave the fighting axis by moving to the side, which is called décalage or débordement.

Consequently, the footwork and movements in la canne somewhat resemble martial arts like boxing or savate rather than the classical fencing disciplines.

La Canne de Combat World Championship 2014 in Budapest, Hungary.

[Photo courtesy of Ollie Batts]

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In la canne, there are six striking techniques. Each strike needs to fulfill six technical criteria for a hit to be valid. We will only describe two of the strikes in more detail.

The techniques are distinguishable by their trajectory plane, whether the attacker executes the strike on the exterior side of the body (i.e., the side of the weapon-holding hand) or the interior side of the body (i.e., the side opposite the weapon-holding hand), and for the

vertical strikes, whether they target the high or the low target areas. The techniques are: the latéral extérieur (horizontal exterior), the latéral croisé (horizontal interior), the brisé (vertical exterior, high line), the croisé haut / croisé tête (vertical interior, high line), the enlevé (vertical exterior, low line) and the croisé bas / croisé jambe (vertical interior, low line). The horizontal strikes can target all three areas, while the vertical ones are limited to either the head or the legs.

La Canne de Combat World Championship 2014 in Budapest, Hungary.

[Photo courtesy of Ollie Batts]

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SIX TECHNICAL CRITERIA FOR LA CANNE DE COMBAT STRIKES The cannist has an obligation to:

1) Prepare a strike with an armé 2) Carry out a lunge/fente when attacking the legs 3) Respect the horizontal or vertical plane of the strike 4) Carry out the cane rotation behind the spine 5) Engage an open >90°, shoulder-arm angle in the moment of target contact 6) Fully extend the arm with the cane in prolongation of the arm at the moment of target contact

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The initial position for the strikes is usually the so-called garde normale, where the foot corresponding to your weapon hand is slightly in front, and the cane is pointing upwards in a neutral where it is not endangering your opponent’s position. It is, however, also allowed to carry out strikes from the garde opposée, with the foot opposite of the weapon hand leading.

However, for most people, the execution of the techniques seems to

be easier from the normal guard position. It is allowed and customary to change both the guard position and the weapon hand as one sees fit. The ability to change one’s guard position and weapon hand is an important feature in la canne de combat. It ensures that you can attack from every position and out of every situation, no matter how and where you or your opponent have moved within the circular fighting area.

Evolution of latéral extérieur, including guard (far left) and armé (third from left) position

Here, we would like to illustrate the technical rules for the la canne de combat strikes with the example of the latéral extérieur (horizontal exterior) strike. Like every strike, the latéral extérieur begins with a preparation movement. First, the armé: the body is rotated by 90° into the direction of your weapon hand (i.e., exterior), so clockwise if you are holding the cane in your right hand. With this rotation, you place your weapon hand

behind your spinal cord and bring the cane into a horizontal position over your head, the tip of the cane pointing toward your opponent.

In the execution of the strike, the cane has to fulfill a full circle until it reaches the target. The largest part of the circular movement of the cane has to occur behind your spine. At the same time, the horizontal plane of the strike maintains its integrity. Practically this means that, from the armé position, you

first only move the cane in your hand. When, during the rotation, the cane passes behind your body, you extend and straighten your arm and start your delayed body rotation. The cane is supposed to finish its rotation together with your body, hitting your target from the side. During the last quarter of the strike, the weapon arm is fully extended and elongated until contact. If your opponent is not your size or if you attack the torso, it is, of course, not possible to carry out the strike with the cane perfectly

The fente arrière (backward lunge).

horizontal. Thus, it is allowed to deviate from horizontality slightly.

However, there must be no kinks or waves in the overall trajectory.

And the cane point must not drop or rise out of the modified plane.

One must carry out a lunge or fente when attacking the legs to avoid a diagonal trajectory. Due to the fente, the cannist’s body and thus the cane’s trajectory is lowered, facilitating the horizontal plane of the strike. In a fente, one leg has to be bent (while rules differ on the extent of the flexion), and one

needs to stretch out. In la canne, we distinguish between two kinds of lunges: the fente avant (forward lunge) where the front leg flexes— this is basically the same lunge as utilized in classical fencing—and the fente arrière (backward lunge), where the front leg stretches out and the back leg is bent. During an exchange, the cannists often change their relative position to each other. It is not unusual to see both lunges carried out to the side rather than strictly forward or backward. The fente avant and the fente arriére can still visually be easily distinguished, as, in the former, both legs are parallel, while in the latter, the bent leg is orthogonal to the straight leg.

The horizontal interior strike (latéral croisé) is carried out in the same way as the latéral extérieur, only the direction of body and the cane rotation reverses.

Target areas in la canne de combat: head, torso, and lower leg with fente avant.

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Likewise, vertical strikes work after the same principle. For example, let us look at the vertical exterior strike (brisé) that is aiming at the top of the opponent’s head. First, you take to the armé position by turning your body 90° clockwise, as this is again an exterior strike, and move your hand behind your spine, roughly at hip height. The cane lies on the plane along the fighting axis, which runs through you and your target. As for the vertical strikes, it is not always feasible to point the cane tip perfectly at your opponent. In these cases,

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the circular movement of the cane is reducible to about three quarters of a circle. In the brisé, you rotate the cane behind your spine, at first keeping your hand fixed at hip height. Only when the cane is in the rising phase of its trajectory behind your body do you start extending your arm and rotating your body. The cane is then supposed to hit your opponent’s head from the top while your arm is fully extended and elongated at the moment of contact. Ensure neither your hand nor the cane leave the vertical plane at any time during your strike.

Evolution of brisé, including guard (far left) and armé (third from left) position.

“The fact that la canne excludes close-distance combat is in contrast to most other martial arts and adds the challenge of correct distance-setting in every situation of the dynamic exchange during a bout.”

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Apart from the six technical criteria that all have to be met for a strike to be valid and score points, four more criteria come into play in the interaction with the opponent. The first is the obligation to abide by the parade/esquive-riposte (parry/evasion-riposte) rule found in foil and sabre fencing, where the first cannist initiating an attack has the right to complete it.

The opponent can only overtake this right of way when the defender avoids the hit by either a parry or by dodging the strike and answering with a riposte right away. This avoids situations where both cannists hit a target at the same time, disregarding the objective of hitting without being hit.

The second additional criterion states that only the last quarter of the cane can make contact with the opponent. This narrowly defines the distance at which you are allowed to hit. The fact that la canne excludes close-distance combat is in contrast to most other martial arts and adds the challenge of correct distance-setting in every situation of the dynamic exchange during a bout. This was established when la canne moved away from self-defense towards a competitive sport, and close-range techniques like strangleholds or two-handed parries were discard-

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ed. Classical fencing does possess close-range techniques like the attack out of the neuvième parry, or pulling your weapon arm high and behind your back close to the rear shoulder. However, it is customary to pause the bout if the fencer’s bodies touch or if the exchange gets too unclear for the judge to follow. However, in fencing, you usually want to close the distance to your opponent when attacking, while backward movements are normally for evasion. In la canne, it is also sometimes necessary to open the distance when attacking.

This is achieved mainly by footwork, but specific techniques like the fente arrière (backward lunge) can be used to open the distance to your opponent during your strike.

This particular lunge does not, for example, exist in classical fencing.

The third criterion is about the impact of the hits, which are supposed only to be a touch and without force. La canne de combat is a light-contact sport that does not focus on the strike’s effectiveness or harming an opponent, but rather it is about technique and scoring points. The last criterion covers the designated target areas: the head except the back, the torso between the breast and pelvic bone, and the thighs between the knee and the ankle.

Esquive-riposte Top: Left cannist partially dodges by lifting her front leg while preparing her own strike.

Bottom: Right cannist dodges by jumping while striking.

Later, additional rules came into play to prevent dangerous or destructive play. For instance, it is prohibited to destroy your opponent’s distance by advancing into an ongoing strike—the anti-jeu rule.

In competition, a referee is present in the fighting area who is responsible for the correct proceeding of the bout for the safety of the fighters, such as remarking on rule violations. There are three scoring judges, one sitting at every 120° around the nine-meter-diameter circle, to cover every viewing angle. They have the complex task of evaluating whether hits were carried out according to the criteria— as the fight is not stopped after

each hit as in fencing, and the judges only have a very short time window to do so. Rather than mentally ticking off boxes for one criterion after another, the judges assess the “global image,” or l’image globale, and whether the techniques are free from dissonances. They then score by hits, either done openly by lifting a blue or yellow colored flag associated with the fighter who scored a hit or using concealed clickers. An alternative scoring system similar to the one used in savate or boxing is currently in trial. Here, the judges evaluate which fighter is predominating according to their observations and then assign a score for each round. A bout consists of three to five rounds

“La canne de combat is a light-contact sport that does not focus on the strike’s effectiveness or harming an opponent, but rather it is about technique and scoring points.”

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[Photo courtesy of Svetlana Drobinskaya]

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of one and a half or two minutes.

Another more casual competition format is where teams of two or three cannists take turns in a bout of up to nine minutes. This method of scoring is employed in three well-established and annually held friendly team competitions in France: the Titis Parisiens in Paris, the Miladiou in Toulouse, and the Bazhataeg in Quimper.

As you might have remarked, la canne is a very technical sport, and the technical rules for the validity of the strikes might appear daunting for the la canne novice at first. Having previous knowledge in other martial arts, especially savate, will surely facilitate your entry. Although it visually is not necessarily recognizable, the principle of body rotation with a punch or kick is an element in numerous martial arts. And once you tackle the techniques, la canne leaves a lot of liberty around the sole techniques and gives room to develop your own style. Also, the limited number of six striking techniques and two lunges might appear quite restrictive at first glance, but combinations and variations, such as secondary techniques like feints, jumps, turns, or cane manipula-

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tions, are allowed as long as they are not violating any rules. Some of the latter have been developed recently by athletes, but others have a historical background. Charlemont, for instance, described in 1899 already that voltes or “turns” can be employed when fighting against several opponents and should be used to move towards free space.

Lately, there have been attempts to emphasize the stylistic aspects of la canne de combat by modifying the competition rules. These trends aim towards awarding points for style and a broad variety of applied techniques rather than solely focusing on hits.

La canne de combat has a lot to offer: on the one hand, it is a dynamic and tactical competitive sport; on the other hand, it is quite technical but elegant at the same time.

As a young sport, there is a lot of room for creative development and contribution to shaping it in the future. If you have the opportunity to try it out, grab it!

- Nicole Holzmann [All photos in this article were provided by courtesy of Henti Smith, unless otherwise indicated.]

Damon Honeycutt @damon.honeycutt.52

CUDGEL OF THE GREAT SAGE APPLICATION, HISTORY, & PERSONAL EVOLUTION OF THE MONKEY KUNG FU STAFF Damon Honeycutt

not seeing you fruitlessly grasp snarled teeth make for dangerous encounters for again and again I meet you in an unfriendly manner

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STORIES, ARCHETYPES, AND personal mythology informed my martial journey from a young age.

I read the Go Rin No Sho1 while studying danzan-ryu jujitsu at the Medford Judo Academy. Reading the Mahabharata inspired me when I learned yoga with Paul and Suzee Grilley, and even the role of Sun Wukong when I was an apprentice to Qi Jianguo of the Beijing Opera. These stories informed my idea of practice and launched my never-ending journey for answers that lay outside of rhetorical knowledge and theory. While I was a student of both dance and music at the California Institute of the Arts, I had the honor of studying with Paulie Zink. The training was in-depth, arduous, and always at night. His methods were unique and powerful, and he created a space in his garage in Burbank transcending the surrounding environment. The sense of place created an altered state of being that informed my training and thus 1 Published in the West as The Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi.

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awakened me to ideas, skills, and methods that are difficult to arrive at without passing through a similar gate of knowledge and practice.

It is because of that time with Paulie Zink, and how it has continued to inform my martial arts up to this day, that I call myself a practitioner of da sheng pigua men (大聖劈掛 門), or more popularly, “monkey style kung fu.” I also believe, as did the celebrated Chinese general, Qi Jiguang, that, “although each one has its own specific proficiency, still as they are handed down, the traditions are incomplete, some missing the lower part, some missing the upper.” All the elements of my training come together as a synthesis of my choices, which has forged my passionate, personal relationship with tradition, research, embodiment, and conflict.

I feel these elements in me pushing me onward. And with this in mind, here is a partial and incomplete aspect of the ongoing journey of my evolution.

Monkey Style Kung Fu Monkey style kung fu, or da sheng pigua men, is named in honor of the Great Sage, Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King in the Ming Dynasty novel, Journey to the West. Nevertheless, I feel that this is a misnomer, much like the “monkey staff ” case discussed below. In this article, I will explore my findings, insights, and technique gleaned from years of training in the above art and following the myth of the Monkey King to other teachers that sparked ideas, clarified specific skills, and supported me in my evolution of this style.

This article is about my take on technique, tradition, and training

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methods. The skills and opinions I put forth are my own, informed by my direct experience with masters of martial arts and embodied research in performance as well as scholarly and mystical modalities.

My goals with this article are to: • Make more people aware of da sheng pigua men’s techniques, especially the weapon and fighting principles, and what makes it unique in skill and scope from my perspective; • Add to the body of work and contribute to the field of hoplology; • Create a dialogue about different trajectories of martial tradition.

What makes the monkey staff different? Is it a “staff,” or does it just have the shape of a staff? The answer is not apparent. The name of Sun Wukong’s famous weapon is ruyi jingu bang (如意金箍棒), or “do-as-you-will cudgel.” Monkey staff is hou gun (猴棍). The last character raises an important distinction between bang (棒—a cudgel) vs. gun (棍—a staff). Even though the weapon looks like a staff, its usage is dissimilar, as suggested by its name and its material. Usually, one works with staves made from wood, rattan, or, for the sake of argument, another organic compound.

Forged from metal, the monkey staff is different. Some are steel, most are aluminum, but mine is titanium. “In performing the staff form, the master uses a silver staff to honor the Great Sage, Sun Wukong / Monkey King of Chinese folklore.” Because of this, the techniques used for combat are different yet related to other forms of staff fighting. As noted by Zink and Matsuda (1999), “the monkey staff techniques are completely different from the conventional stick-fighting techniques found in other kung fu systems.” The monkey cudgel is incredibly strong and unforgiving. It cannot be cut with

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a blade and only bends under extreme weight. It is thus heavier, and flowing movements such as spinning and flourishes are minimal and generally slower. When used close to the body, the body becomes a series of resting shelves for positions, launch points for power, and sticking points for radial attacks and defense. Hand and foot placement on the weapon is modular. The monkey cudgel was tailor-made to the practitioner in the tradition I learned. Its height is to either the chin or eyebrow, and its diameter needs to be comfortable in the hand, not prescribed by systematic constraints.

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The emphasis on movement comes from the lower and middle dantian (丹田—“elixir field” or “field of qi”). How I first like to describe the dantian as it relates to movement is to imagine three spheres gliding on top of each other from the base of the pelvis up. We also need to look at the shape of the torso as a whole. The shoulder and pelvic girdle work as a pivot and stopping zones for targeting in conjunction with the limbs to guide and aim the weapon. This technique helps generate force and momentum.

However, it can limit the range of the engagement. There are basic movements like the one above

that are done thousands of times to make them second nature to develop this skill. Once done to one’s satisfaction in a static position, you can implement them while moving and then drop them down to monkey-style height. Eventually, it does help to do many of the static drills without seeing yourself in the mirror. Slowly take away the necessity to visually correct one’s movements and begin to bring a sense of self-awareness into the body, fully and kinesthetically experiencing one’s movements. This added awareness gives the practitioner the ability to “listen to” the flow of the weapon.

As far as fighting attitude with the da sheng pigua men goes, the system I learned develops and explores five virtues: • Stealth • Evasion • Intimidation • Destructiveness • Cruelty

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This applies to open hand as well as weapon work. In the open hand arena, I feel a lot of attention mistakenly focuses on the forms of da sheng pigua men (i.e., the five monkey forms or the Pigua Lifting and Cleaving style conjoined with it). I, however, am choosing to focus on the five virtues, as they are usually not addressed. When applying the five virtues with hand-to-hand fighting in the order listed above, I have found that the techniques, when distilled from the art, seem to be created to fight the same opponents repeatedly. The origin story of the da sheng art states that it was created in prison by Kou Si in the early part of the last century.

The name, Kou Si (寇四), translates to “bandit number four”. I would surmise that he had to fight and/ or deal with similar situations repeatedly. Looking at this environmental constraint, I can see how the above virtues would help one deal with a pecking order among the other individuals imprisoned with Kou Si. I would like to eventually do more in-depth research on this specific topic, for there are

many practitioners in the world that could help support or nullify this theory. It would also be helpful and very informative to look at other systems of combat developed or adapted to a permanently locked environment to see where, if, and how the methods and strategies would be similar or different.

Once out of prison, the question arises regarding the types of transmissions, whether full or partial, still existing and any modifications made over the years.

In these types of systems, fighting skills are often hidden in poetics.

While I withdrew to the mountains of Vermont to refine my skill through meditation, solitude, and training in nature, I composed the following poem based on my theory: not seeing you fruitlessly grasp snarled teeth make for dangerous encounters for again and again I meet you in an unfriendly manner

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Preparatory Skills - Grips, Stances, and Essential Basics When I lived in Connecticut and was studying under Hu Jianqiang, one time during class, he once told me, “Jibengong (基本功—essential basics) good, anything possible! Jibengong bad, be careful!”

He always quietly laughed when he said this. This moment sank into my conscience and continues to inform my practice. The weapon needs to be an extension of the body. This is an axiom expressed in many martial arts. In training to use the monkey cudgel, one must first feel comfortable with the essential basics of a typical staff. Then the practitioner applies and translates those skills to the heavier metal weapon. Unlike lighter weapons, the monkey

cudgel begins to have a mind and spirit of its own, and that mind/ spirit is directly related to gravity and inertia. The needs of the technique demand a slow cultivation of dynamic strength coupled with a high level of sensitivity and dexterity. Being strong alone to cause damage is not enough, nor is just having a supreme technique to flourish one’s skill. Both roads can lead to wielding the weapon. However, to understand it, you must be informed by both.

The fact that the cudgel is more or less tailored to the practitioner allows one to get in touch with the five virtues of combat. The following is my interpretation of these virtues. Stealth is the first. Stealth

is more than being unseen or invisible; for this reason, da sheng pigua men is an excellent art for such skills. Nevertheless, in this article, I want to address how to apply stealth while in a confrontation, specifically with the monkey cudgel. As I mentioned before, the cudgel is more or less tailored to the practitioner. This gives the weapon an individual relationship to the person wielding it. It is a long cylinder to easily carry and blend in with other types of pipe or metal tubing, and you can grab it anywhere, for it is not sharp.

Also, given the nature of da sheng pigua men and that it is low to the ground, the application of many techniques both for attack and defense are executed from a low horizon line, making it difficult and unusual to react to.

Evasion is next on the list. This can be dodging, rolling, and running.

However, to truly evade, one needs some creativity. A strategic withdrawal, or maneuvering of one’s opponent or opponents, is essential. This may entail luring them into uncomfortable situations, using objects or people around you to benefit your survival.

Intimidation is one of the most simian and primal aspects of our art. This quality is more than just showing off your skill or bashing something with your fists or a weapon. There is a silence within intimidation cultivated through practice, meditation, and knowing violence in oneself. If you look at animals when they return your gaze, there is a charge that puls-

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es through you. The monkey cudgel is an excellent tool for this. It is a frightening weapon to work with. All the damage you can do to your opponent, you also inflict on yourself if you are not well-practiced, lose control, or are careless.

Of course, this is true for any live weapon, which can cause lethal damage with the simplest of skills.

Destructiveness is causing havoc and disorder. It can be seen as an amalgam of the first three virtues woven into fluid strategy. A plethora of means can accomplish it: with direct confrontation, coercion, damaging of one's surrounding environment, or surprise attacks against your opponent, which does the most damage with the least effort. That is wholly different from cruelty, for when one reaches down into themselves to attack with cruel intentions, the damage is long-lasting, crippling, and, in my opinion, more of an intention to maim and disfigure your opponent rather than to finish or submit them.

2 Climbing the cudgel is not part of Paulie Zink’s system but is seen in other Chinese monkey systems (editor).

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Another advantage to the metal cudgel is that it cannot be easily cut or split with a blade. Not only that, but it can also cause damage to a blade edge upon contact, even in defense. The weight from an attack on the monkey cudgel, especially a full swing, can cause severe concussive bludgeoning damage more easily than a conventional wooden stick. The monkey cudgel is also very good at destroying objects, such as armor and weapons, and causing blunt trauma to whatever lies behind them. Its very density can allow the combatant to feel empowered to engage heavy list melee weapons such as hammers, axes, and pikes. Though the cudgel might not have the speed or range of a spear, it can more than make up for that disadvantage in the hands of the right user with its crushing gravitational power and formidable density.

Another often overlooked aspect of the cudgel is that you can climb it.2 This is famously demonstrated in several forms where a monkey stylist will perch in an iconic Monkey King pose. While super cool to do and a lot of fun, it is also harder than it looks, as there is more to climbing the cudgel than meets the eye. More practically, you can hang from it and do pull ups, create a bridge, lean it on a barrier, climb up it with confidence, and then pull it up and take it with you. Of course, metal weapons also have drawbacks—specifically, electricity and water. Like any long metal weapon, the cudgel might as well be a hand-held lightning rod.

Water makes the metal slippery and thus difficult to handle, and because it is metal can lead to rusting. A thin layer of cloth tape will help with the slipperiness if you choose to wrap it.

- Damon Honeycutt

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Mark Human @mark.human.9

APPLYING STICK FIGHTING SKILLS IN THE MODERN ENVIRONMENT Mark Human

Part 1 AS A CHILD GROWING UP IN Pretoria, South Africa, during the 1970s and 1980’s, formal martial arts training was quite limited in scope. Unlike firearms, this was particularly evident when it came to edged and impact weapons training.

After a year of proverbially having my face up against the dojo window, watching the adults-only Japanese kobu jitsu weapons classes, my Funakoshi instructor vouched for myself and one other student, both of us 12 years old. He had allowed us to attend the kobu jitsu classes on a trial-run basis, and this, it turned out, was my introduction to formal weapons training.

During this time, I was also "playing sticks" with the local gardener, a kind and caring Venda man named Joel. A few times a week, when he had a break, we would try to "tag" each other for around 15-20 minutes at a time. We used lightweight PVC rods as makeshift knobkerries (attacking sticks) and

a lightweight piece of willow plus a t-shirt wrapped around our shielding stick and hand for protection (he never used the African terms).

During school holidays, my forays into fighting extended to "stick fights" with the neighborhood kids using sticks for striking and dustbin lids or for shields. Many times these games that began in a spirit of fun devolved into frayed tempers and the odd cracked knuckle, and sometimes broke out into rock-throwing fights. As for Joel, after a couple of years, he moved back to what was then called Venda Land. Looking back, I think I was his practice dummy. I never considered or had any clue as to the heritage of African stick fighting. I did not experience this as training like my kobu jitsu classes, this was just fun and play fighting.

Little did I realize that my path into adulthood would be influenced by both my formal training and informal playing to develop a training regime for dealing with violent criminal attacks.

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A Modern Combative Look at Stick Fighting in South Africa Before leaving South Africa as a young adult, I had added a few gradings to my martial arts repertoire, completed a degree in sports sciences and military mustering as a biokineticist. Completing this varied coursework helped me immeasurably in understanding the psychology, human mechanics, timing, and recognition skills needed to succeed in close-quarter combat.

After six years of living, training, and working abroad, my wife Kelee (she had been away from South Africa for fourteen years) and I returned to live in Cape Town in 1998. We were both "armed" with a good martial arts background and practical experience in the field.

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South Africa had plenty going for it, but violent crime had started to become a genuine part of daily life.

Within no time, we were drawn into training and problem-solving to deal with violent criminals.

Our first substantial training contract was with a company responsible for stopping cable theft along the railway line on the most dangerous stretches of a track just outside Cape Town. Response units would face firearm, knife, machete, and impact weapon attacks. Our job was to train team members in close-quarter firearm retention and use. Along with firearms training, we were tasked with presenting training and use of tactical batons and OC (pepper spray) to counter edged and impact weapon attacks and to effect arrest procedures.

To make a real difference, we realized that we couldn’t overlay our pre-conceived ideas onto a dangerous environment, where simple mistakes could cost a life. We had to understand the mentality and anatomy of those with whom we were regularly engaging. Time spent working in the field with teams to effect arrests and understand what they were facing would ensure that our training was congruent with the training programs we would develop. The Cape Flats gang and informal settlement areas that bordered the tracks meant dealing with these threats was part of the daily routine. We formalized early threat recognition and linked the appropriate skills to pre-empt ambushes.

Along with training and skills, a large part of the success of this program could be attributed to the fact that staff were brought in from "outside areas." As a result of the team living outside the area, they did not have to worry about returning home or leaving families at home in gang-infested territories. Previous situations had made us aware that the outcome could be severely compromised if team members were part of these communities, but that’s another story all on its own.

One thing was glaringly evident when the element of surprise was removed and these criminals had to fight: regardless of the weapon in their hands, their skill set often resembled the attributes common to African stick fighting.

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Early days playing sticks and knives putting things to test.

We were also fortunate enough to have many team members that had grown up in the middle of the stick fighting culture, with some still participating in informal township tournaments on weekends. We would take every opportunity to "play sticks and knives" with them during training sessions (something we still do as part of training whenever the opportunity presents itself). These experimental bouts would be instrumental in understanding how to deal with these attributes when they occur in the field.

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Because of limited time available to transfer understanding and skills to team members, we would have to break down the skills and attributes of a complex challenge into an easy-to-understand and effectively countered threats. We analyzed and dissected the ability and attributes criminals were using in the field. From this point, we developed an easily remembered set of intensive pre-emptives and countermeasures. More importantly, we could provide team members with on-the-job effectiveness and bring them back safely after their shifts.

Our team members would have to be taught to recognize, match, and deny their enemy their skillsets.

I must admit that, for the task at hand, I was indifferent towards how the culture or heritage of African stick fighting had permeated the world of criminals and gangs over the last century. In any case, I am sure most of the gang members and criminals could not care less about this heritage any more than you or I would be concerned about how cream filling gets into doughnuts.

We have come a long way since 1998 and regularly provide training for various teams that face criminal and gang violence in the course of their daily duties. Skills are used effectively in the field by park rangers, Mountain Men Security, response officers, and civilians.

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Life-Saving Tools of the Trade Firearms are a prominent and important part of the solution to dealing with violent criminal attacks. Still, for numerous reasons, they are not always the best firstline option and in many cases not freely available to all members of security teams. Standard equipment for many include: OC spray

Long weapons

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(pepper gas), a collapsible tactical baton, and a pair of handcuffs.

Tactical batons are used to effect arrests. In South Africa, they are used effectively to pre-empt and counter one or more violent attackers armed with small blades such as the okapis and kitchen knives, machetes, pangas, hammers, and longer impact weapons.

Medium weapons

Small weapons

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An understanding of these violent attacks and the effective use of these tools can mean the difference between life and death. The range of threats faced here in South Africa daily means the content structure of baton training differs in both mindset and application to the curricula presented for the use of tactical batons in first-world environments. If the current patterns of formal and informal transnational migration persist, threats to civilians, security, and law enforcement officers will become an increase. Consequently, soon-

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er or later, first-world countries will have to adapt their mindset, skillset, and even legal constraints that limit effective personal safety. Also, suffice it to say that good combat skills are universal, and many of the skills and tactics in African stick fighting are common to many of the stick and blade arts around the world.

Park rangers—baton and OC spray application for arrest procedures.

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KEY ATTRIBUTES & TACTICS OF BATON PROGRAMS USED

BY TEAMS WE TRAIN

Power Striking

Thrusting Strikes

Power striking utilizing the whole body is necessary to generate enough force to stop life-threatening attacks by disrupting a violent attacker’s structure, limiting their mobility and ability to continue to grasp their weapon. Targeting large muscle groups does not provide consistent stopping power when dealing with committed, adrenalin- or tik- (a local variant of methamphetamine) fuelled attackers with intent to kill. To stop these attacks, we target the following areas to disrupt structure by breaking joints and bone. If it sticks out, we hit it:

Thrusting strikes with the collapsible tactical batons are used when distance management is compromised. These are thrust into torso, throat, or face areas to create space between the threat and team members.

•

the wrist

•

the elbow

•

the knee

•

the shoulder (acromion and scapula)

•

the head

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Highlighting effective striking targets.

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OC and baton used in synergy to counter blade threats.

Simple Tools Working Synergistically (Baton and OC spray) Depending on the nature of the threat and the level of force necessary to stop attackers, the baton and OC spray are utilized and prioritized interchangeably.

Because of the short periods to transfer skills, the use of the baton as a blocking tool is not emphasized. Targeting with power strikes

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and thrusts with baton is used in combination with OC spray, which serves to manage distance as well as disorient attackers to set up and safely deliver targeted power strikes with the baton.

OC spray can be a very effective tool, yet results and reactions are too inconsistent to be relied on as a tool on its own; consequently, team members may be required to utilize their batons should the

results not be effective. With the use of OC, we have categorized five key reactions to OC spray that our team members have to recognize and deal with when defending themselves or effecting arrests, shown in the next section.

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KEY ATTRIBUTES (cont.)

Multi-Dimensional Warrior (MDW) Classification for Reaction to OC Spray and Appropriate Use of Batons 1. Effective compliant: The typical reaction to OC spray is to cease resistance and comply with instructions. It is not necessary to use any other force to gain compliance.

2. Effective, non-compliant, and non-aggressive: When attackers are sprayed with OC spray, their response is to cease resistance yet not comply with instructions, often curling up in a fetal position. This can be a dangerous situation for our team members as it requires empty-hand control tactics that can expose them to concealed weapon threats.

However, any use of force such as striking with the baton is viewed as the use of excessive force.

3. Effective, non-compliant, and aggressive: It is not an uncommon reaction for attackers (even though OC spray has a painful effect on them) to continue to launch aggressive attacks. In these situations, the use of the baton is necessary to disrupt and stop attacks to avoid injury to team members.

4. Ineffective or delayed response: Should an attacker not be affected or have a delayed response to OC spray, the baton should be in a position to disrupt the continued attack.

5. Trained response: Overall, we find that an overreliance on one tool will not adequately deal with all the types of situations we encounter. Instead, we should be mentally and physically prepared to draw upon other tools to ensure the successful resolution of an encounter.

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Stick fighting is still a common part of the lives of many of those we come across in our line of work in South Africa. For us, this means that we often run up against those who resort to the body mechanics and weapon manipulation of traditional African stick arts when employing other weapons. To this end, I have included a section on Zulu stick fighting to give a brief overview of how this traditional pastime persists.

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Nguni stick fighters in traditional dress.

Part 2 Here I provide a simple background of Nguni stick fighting and highlight some of its most common attributes. The reader should beware of falling prey to the idea of thinking that what you read here is an exhaustive description of the art. There are many individual styles and subtleties beyond the scope of this article.

Before we go any further, I would like to thank Jacques Sibomana, Chief Executive from the Ultimate Stick Fighting Championship (USF Championship) project and a promoter of indigenous African stick

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fighting, for sharing thoughts, debating concepts, and providing information and stock photographs for this part of the article.

The modern roots of Nguni stick fighting in South Africa can be traced back to the mid-1600s, in the Umhlatuze Valley in Natal (There are differences in opinion as to the exact origin). The legendary Shaka Zulu was a fierce competitor as a child and formalized stick fighting that incorporated the use of a spear and knobkerrie as part of training for his warriors.

Mark Human meeting with Jacques Simbomana to share ideas on stick fighting.

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Kids playing sticks.

By the late 1800s, stick fighting was less of a warring art and was being used as entertainment at celebrations such as weddings and to settle personal or local disputes. Well embedded in black South African culture, stick fighting was, and still is, a part of the coming-of-age ritual in many rural tribes. With a steady rural-to-urban migration of people, stick fighting has moved into the townships and city life. It is not uncommon to see laborers in areas like the dockyards of Cape Town or kids in the street "playing sticks’" when they get some free time.

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"Underground" tournaments with rudimentary rules are regular events in township areas, a source of income, and betting opportunities. These underground tournaments often lack experienced fighters and judges and are, in part, responsible for injuries and deaths that taint a proud cultural tradition. There have been recent attempts to formalize Nguni stick fighting as an exciting cultural sport with precise safety precautions and rules designating ex-

plicit targeting, scoring, submission, and knock-out guidelines.

Although popular, it has failed to become a structured mainstream sport or formalized martial art like the Filipino stick fighting arts.

An example of this is the Ultimate Stick Fighting Championship (USF Championship) project, whose aim was to develop and promote indigenous African games while positively impacting and contributing to the well-being of various communities across the continent.

Jacques Simbomana with Nguni sport fighting competition sticks.

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A BREAKDOWN OF THE MOST COMMON ATTRIBUTES OF TRADITIONAL NGUNI STICK FIGHTING - THE BASICS

The Use of the Lead Hand and Back Hand The lead hand (shielding hand) holds a shielding stick with a protective wrap such as a jacket or t-shirt. It serves the following functions: 1. Shielding and blocking incoming strikes 2. Probing and attacking 3. Ranging, distancing, and timing 4. Redirecting and distracting 5. Pinning your opponent’s arms In summary, it serves to protect the fighter while setting up openings for back-hand attacks.

The back hand (weapon hand) serves the following functions: 1. Striking and counterstriking 2. Redirecting and distracting 3. Secondary blocking options

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Front shielding stick and rear striking stick.

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High guard position protecting the head area.

High Guard A high guard is used to protect the head area, with both striking stick and shielding stick held above the head as fighters close the distance.

They clash shielding sticks while trying to land blows by flicking strikes around or over their opponent’s guard.

Stretched Guard or Open Guard The stretched guard is more common when fighters are separated by more than the length of their striking sticks.

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Stretched or open guard position.

Open guard application in JNR Divisions of Ultimate Stick Fighting Tournament.

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Opposite extremes on footwork.

Blocking and counterstriking.

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Footwork

Timing and Targeting

For the most part, the lead foot and shielding stick match with the striking stick held in the back hand.

There is seldom a lead change in hands or feet.

The knobkerrie’s primary design function is to smash a skull, so, although not limited to targeting the head and neck area, this naturally dominates most serious engagements. Targeting the joints and limbs is also common, especially in sporting events. As the knobkerrie is an impact weapon, it requires force to smash bone.

The whole body is used to generate force and the knobkerrie with its hefty "knob" tip used for powerful strikes and counter/recounter-strikes—generally with a onefor me-one-for-you timing.

Stances range from less than shoulder-width right to very wide stances when delivering overhead or power strikes to the legs. Unlike many empty-hand arts, and because of the weapons reach, fighters are not overly concerned with kicks to the legs or knees, so it is not uncommon to see a "straight knee" on the front leg.

Most footwork involves linear shuffling for distance management and timing, both for attack and evasive movement. Although less formalized and with higher variances in stance length, this resembles basic boxing footwork or kali retirada footwork.

- Mark Human

A fighter will often use what we call a rock step or a back step with a hanging leg to evade an attack to their front leg and follow up with a powerful counterstrike. This involves placing the weight on their back leg and swinging the front leg back out of the way and then back forward again, setting the leg firmly on the ground in the lead position.

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Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D https://chinesemartialstudies.com/

Jared Miracle, Ph.D https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/15098190.Jared_Miracle

THE WEAPON OF A JEDI KNIGHT: LIGHTSABER COMBAT AS A HYPER-REAL MARTIAL ART Benjamin N. Judkins & Jared Miracle

Lightsaber Combat as a Global Movement IN FEBRUARY OF 2019, THE French Fencing Federation (Fédération Française d’Escrime; FFE) made the news. News stories ran in many major magazines, and the comedian Trevor Noah even graced the FFE with a Daily Show segment.1,2 Yet the topic of debate was not traditional sport fencing.

Rather, the FFE had announced they were adding the LED saber, or replica lightsaber, as an official fourth weapon within the French fencing establishment, alongside the better-established foil, epee, and saber.

The response to this announcement was electric. Some commentators were delighted, others aghast. The viral spread of this conversation, which went far be1 Sixt Wetzler, “Martial Arts Studies as Kulturwissenschaft: A Possible Theoretical Framework,” Martial Arts Studies 1 (2015): 20-33.

2 Paul Bowman, Deconstructing Martial Arts (Cardiff: Cardiff University Press, 2019), 44.

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yond the sorts of individuals who typically took any interest in fencing, played directly into the FFE’s media strategy. Like many oldguard sports federations, it was concerned as fewer new students took up fencing. And keep in mind, other governing bodies had already proved that adopting a new telegenic “extreme sport,” such as snowboarding, parkour, skateboarding, or rock-climbing, was a tried-andtrue strategy for boosting an organization’s relevance in the current era.

This announcement did not come as a surprise to members of France’s Lightsaber Combat community.

The FFE had openly announced its intentions and publicly examined several different approaches to the LED saber championed by various pre-existing clubs before finally settling on its preferred model. It is interesting to note that, while Star Wars is often thought of as a quintessentially American film, Lightsaber Combat is a global phenomenon, which has grown more quickly in France than perhaps anywhere else.

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Yet, how did this global community emerge, and what is the nature of their practice? Clearly, one might design a competitive sport based on ideas found in a fictional film, but is it possible to create a new martial art while drawing inspiration from these sources? What specifically is the relationship between historical practice and modern media? Most important were the many traditional instructors who contributed to the development of these practices. And was the FFE correct in their assertions that the LED saber could reach new audiences uninterested in historical blade or stick-fighting?

The following article addresses these questions. It begins with a brief description of the LED saber both as a material object and in relation to the development of the larger Star Wars film franchise.

Next, we review the creation and expansion of the Lightsaber Combat community between its first stirrings in the early 2000s and the current moment. Lastly, we directly address the function of history, fiction, and hyper-reality within the martial arts.

[Source: Author's collection, featured on: https://chinesemartialstudies.com/2019/07/11/historyand-myth-in-lightsaber-combat/]

The Question of Legitimacy & Historical Legacy For most individuals, it is virtually impossible to separate the term traditional from martial art. Many practitioners exhibit something close to religious reverence for the history of their practice. For some cultural traditions such as those often seen in the Chinese martial arts, the authenticity of one’s art is

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inexorably linked with the legitimacy of one’s lineage status. Within such a framework, a practice without the proper sort of history such as Lightsaber Combat, Mixed Martial Arts, or even something like the Keysi Fighting Method, could not be entirely accepted as a “legitimate” martial art.

Much debate has occurred recently in scholarly circles as to how we

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should define the concept of “martial arts” in a cross-cultural context and whether engaging in such a definitional exercise is even a good idea. Benjamin Judkins has made his own contributions to this discussion, specifically addressing the reasons to accept Lightsaber Combat as a martial art, for theoretical purposes, and how this realization affects our understanding of how these communities function.3 We do not intend to relitigate those debates here. Instead, we focus on a related problem in this article.

Practitioners often claim to be deeply impacted by the historical legacies of their arts. Yet the development of the interdisciplinary academic field of Martial Arts Studies has demonstrated that many of the claims passed on within traditional hand-combat communities fall into the realm of myths and legends. Most of the Chinese martial arts practiced today are not the product of an ineffable past; 3 Benjamin N. Judkins, “The Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat: Hyper-Reality and the Invention of the Martial Arts,” Martial Arts Studies 2 (2016): 6-22.

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instead, they are the legacies of the final decades of the 19th century and the Republic of China period (1911-1949). Rather than being an “ancient Korean art,” Taekwondo developed as a clear attempt to appropriate and nationalize Japanese karate in the post-war period.

Further, the entire understanding of the “samurai spirit” promoted in many Japanese budo contexts is primarily the product of nationalist reformers, working with Western sources in the Meiji period, rather than an authentic reflection of the medieval past.4,5,6 While all martial arts have a history, it does not always bear a close resemblance to the stories venerated by their students. What happens to our experience of the 4 Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson, The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (Albany: SUNY Press, 2015).

5 Udo Moennig, Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport (London: Routledge, 2015).

6 Oleg Benesch, Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushidō in Modern Japan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).

practice of a fighting system when we cannot attempt to historicize our legends? Can real techniques be transmitted and honed when those relating them compel the receiver to accept the mythic nature of the exercise fully? The Star Wars films, after all, may be the most successful modern myth ever produced, but no one would claim the lightsaber as history. Yet, the very nature of Lightsaber Combat forces one to practice as if they were.

Origins of a Community One suspects that fan-sponsored lightsaber duels began to occur the day after George Lucas’ epic space opera opened in 1977.

Yet, the first identifiable Lightsaber Combat organizations did not emerge until late 2005 and 2006.

Given the immense popularity of these films and the iconic nature of their signature weapon, how should we understand this delay?

The current generation of replica lightsabers, including the LED-illuminated stunt sabers most often used in a martial arts context, dates only to the early 2000s. Initially, the arts developed as part of

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the marketing effort surrounding the release of the prequel trilogy (1999, 2002, and 2005). At this time, Lucasfilm began to issue licensed replicas of a number of weapons seen on screen. These had detailed metal hilts, sound effects, and blades that appeared to ignite.

It was difficult for individuals who held these early sabers not to feel as though they had just been given a relic from that far-off galaxy.

Soon, third-party vendors entered this market space, offering simple training sabers with in-hilt LED modules and hollow polycarbonate blades. These sabers still had aluminum hilts, though more ergonomically designed and better balanced than the original film props.

While marketing some of these sabers to collectors, other nearly indestructible weapons were developed specifically for staged choreography and martial arts applications. It was only a matter of time before various martial artists decided to seriously investigate what these new sabers were capable of within a training context.

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The franchise’s marketing efforts encouraged this desire to explore the world of lightsabers more fully.

In 2002, an archeologist employed as an author by Lucasfilm by the name of Dr. David West Reynolds published an article titled “Fightsaber” in the October issue of the Star Wars Insider fan magazine.7 He acknowledged that lightsabers had dominated much of the personal combat on screen. They played a progressively greater role in each new film, but very little was mentioned about the specialized training required to wield such a weapon. Dr. Reynolds, a non-martial artist, sought to fill this lacuna by exploring the “seven classic forms of Lightsaber Combat,” as taught in the fictional Jedi temple. His descriptions borrow much from the image of the Asian martial arts that circulates in popular culture.

This tendency towards Orientalism—the West’s idealization of the East—only grew as successive video games, novels, and comic books sought to expand the lore, drawing on an ever-widening body of pop culture references.

7 https://starwars.fandom.com/ wiki/David_West_Reynolds_(author)

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Again, it was only a matter of time before actual martial artists started to ask what combination of real-world fighting techniques could best replicate the alluring reality that was beginning to emerge around the idea of Lightsaber Combat. The inexpensive, durable, and versatile nature of LED sabers as material objects ensured a wide variety of practitioners would be swept up in the task of reconstructing the lost systems of Lightsaber Combat. For some, this was simply an extension of their Star Wars fandom. In other cases, individuals saw it as an intellectual and technical puzzle deepening their appreciation for various stick and blade-based martial arts.

Given the global appeal of this franchise, it is probably impossible to know, with certainty, where the very first dedicated lightsaber group emerged. Greg Ember, who has carefully tracked the creation of groups within this community, hypothesizes that the first schools or performance troops may have formed in either Russia or the

Philippines.8 Lightsaber Combat remains extremely popular in Russia and across Southeast Asia.

However, the first group to generate sustained media attention was NY Jedi, which offered classes in New York City after marching in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in 2005. The press coverage that this group would generate along with the creation of the Saber Guild in 2006 led to an explosion of other small clubs across the Eastern seaboard of the United States in the coming years.

Most of this first generation of groups focused on a type of fight choreography that attempted to emulate the techniques and costumes seen in the films. They often organized themselves as non-profit enterprises and would perform at fan gatherings and charity events.

However, as there was not yet an ecosystem of specialized lightsaber schools and organizations, many members had a relatively diverse set of interests and practices.

Perhaps the first truly specialized group to emerge was Ludosport, 8 Personal correspondence, April 16, 2016.

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created in 2006. This Italian organization used the same LED sabers to develop a fast-paced combat sport. Their approach to Lightsaber Combat is unique in that they favor light contact and tend not to wear protective gear beyond light gloves and occasionally eye protection. Initially drawing inspiration from the seven classic forms of Lightsaber Combat, they began to offer instruction in a set of progressive techniques, allowing for safe play with minimal gear.

For much of the next decade, Ludosport expanded its network of academies across Europe, opening its first location in North America in 2016.

However, Ludosport has not been alone in approaching Lightsaber Combat as a competitive sport.

The publicity preceding the 2015 release of The Force Awakens helped support a wave of specialization within theLightsaber Combat community. On May 4, 2015, two important groups were created. In North America, this date saw the formal emergence of the Saber Legion, a heavy dueling league featuring full-contact, full-force striking. Participants in these contests

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typically wear heavy hockey, motorcycle, or HEMA armor, which has been selected and decorated to invoke a specific persona. On the same day, the Sport Saber League was created in France. It occupies a middle ground, requiring fencing masks, heavy gloves, and some other minimal equipment while only allowing medium-intensity contact.

The third category of Lightsaber Combat groups also emerged in the lead-up to the most recent trilogy of Star Wars films. While choreography clubs and sports leagues often appropriated traditional combat systems’ pedagogical or tactical insights, this last set of organizations explicitly identify themselves as martial arts schools.

This is something leagues such as Ludosport or the Saber Legion have been hesitant to do, even when their members or creators have been traditional martial artists.

This rhetorical choice reflects a more fundamental shift in the goals and self-understanding of these groups. The growth and differentiation of the community

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in recent years have allowed for the establishment of a number of schools focused on questions of realism. In a few cases like the Lightspeed Saber League, organized in southern California in 2016, their discourse centers on the hypothesized nature of the lightsaber as a weapon with unique characteristics. Depending on how these are understood, one can attempt to derive techniques fitting this mental map.

More common are schools that seek to achieve a sense of realism in the sorts of techniques employed. This approach allows them to use the lightsaber as a means of testing and teaching a vast range of real-world fighting philosophies that might not otherwise come into contact with one another. One cannot easily walk into a kendo school to test your HEMA techniques against unsuspecting Japanese martial artists. These practices’ historical, national, and even ideological aspects tend to prevent this sort of exchange, except in special limited circumstances.

Yet the ahistorical nature of the lightsaber, as well as the complex

mythology that surrounds it, tends to encourage exactly this sort of creative play. In some cases, this means mixing and matching techniques from within a single cultural framework. Other organizations might draw on a much wider variety of source materials in their attempt to realize the full breadth of the seven classical forms of Lightsaber Combat, essentially imagining each component as a distinct and separate art.

The Terra Prime Light Armory (TPLA) is one of the first and most influential martial schools within the Lightsaber Combat community. Established in 2012, it has posted instructional videos on YouTube to create an open-source instructional system drawing on various Chinese and, to a lesser extent, European fighting styles.

Indeed, the creators of this system viewed the lightsaber as an ideal tool to test and preserve these techniques in a quickly changing era. Remember, too, the TPLA’s approach and progressive curriculum formed the basis of the LED saber program recently adopted by the FFE. Further, it has recent-

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ly entered into a partnership with the FFE to promote its competitive ruleset in the United States.

Unsurprisingly, there is often a regional component to the relationship between martially oriented lightsaber groups and the historical styles from which they draw.

HEMA techniques appear more frequently in European lightsaber schools. Likewise, organizations like the Saber Authority (established in 2014) have promoted systems with a distinctly Southeast Asian flavor, drawing on their region’s rich stick and blade-work traditions.

Instructors in this last group of schools often express enthusiasm for two ideas that may at first appear to be in tension with each other. On the one hand, they note the freedom that the LED saber grants them to test and combine styles that might not otherwise meet on culturally neutral ground.

This allows for genuine martial exchange and a welcome escape from the politics of the traditional martial arts. At the same time, they also note the LED saber’s potential to reach new audiences, popular-

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ize, and preserve skills that have emerged from historic martial arts.

When commenting on his students who regularly compete in Saber Legion tournaments, Stephen Fick, a noted HEMA instructor who also runs a saber training program, notes: “One of the things that I like about working with them [the Lightsaber Combat community] is that they are taking what is essentially a silly weapon and learning how to bring it to life. The skills that they learn, the questions they ask, and the work they put into learning the lightsaber is what makes it a valid martial training tool.”9 Lightsaber Combat as Martial Art Such commentary about the efficacy of lightsaber training as a martial art in the same capacity as other more established styles still raises questions about its legitimacy among the broader fighting arts community. It also draws attention to the question of history and tradition, providing a compara9 Personal correspondence, February 21, 2019.

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tive lens through which to consider their pragmatic purpose in the study of any given close-combat system. When the apparent goal of a martial art is to become skillful in a given mode of fighting, why bother maintaining nonfunctional behaviors at all?

Traditional practices are embedded in many systems, including uniforms, courtesy behaviors like bowing and honorifics, and the memorization of foreign words and phrases that serve no special function. For example, from a combat-efficacy standpoint, there is no pragmatic reason to practice solo, dance-like patterns while counting in Japanese. Likewise, a resident of any developed nation today has no logical combative goal in studying traditional swordsmanship. Even in martial arts marketed as practical for personal protection, such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, there is often an element of the traditional such as judo uniforms and a colored belt ranking system.

Likely no martial arts component is more tradition-bound, however, than their origin stories. As with all types of folklore, these oral tra-

ditions are often transmitted informally between practitioners, usually growing more extraordinary over time, and tend to conform to certain tale types. The narrative structures of these stories are so formulaic that they match common folktale structures found internationally. These stories are usually fantastic in some way. Perhaps the style’s founder was inspired by watching two animals fight; a physically weak individual developed techniques that enabled him to overcome larger opponents, or, in some more ancient cases, a demon or god transmitted knowledge to the founder.

Regardless, folklorist Thomas Green has argued that “martial arts folk histories reflect the desire of modern practitioners to establish credibility through association with a legendary past.”10 Legends are an important part of life. Humans rely on the inspiration and 10 Thomas Green, “Sense in Nonsense: The Role of Folk History in the Martial Arts,” in Martial Arts in the Modern World, ed. Thomas A. Green and Joseph Svinth (Westport, Connecticut & London: Praeger, 2003), 5.

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framework found in legends and myths to make sense of the world and its place in it. These stories do not simply conform to established mythical structures—they are ultimately about finding or creating conformity to structure in our own lives. The historiographical events that led to any given martial art’s creation are inevitably complicated and muddy compared with their practitioners’ clean, formulaic renditions. Indeed, as Judkins has written of martial arts history, “[o]ften these genealogies exist only in the realm of popular lore.”11 Suppose the exponents of a martial art are cognizant of its fictionalized origin story. In that case, it is at least worth considering that a new style emerging from such a fantastical background is equally legitimate in every capacity to which that word might apply.

Lightsabers are not imminently practical weapons for daily self-defense, but neither are whips, flails, broadswords, deer horn knives, or polearms. Jedi clothing is not 11 Judkins, “The Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat,” 8.

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the most practical athletic wear— however comfortable—but it is no less imminently practical than the pleated skirt-like hakama or even a judo outfit.

Such impractical features as myths, costumes, and irrational beliefs within any group of people serve very practical purposes. Uniforms of any type are a powerful means of creating group identity and cohesion. We are naturally defensive of those who appear to be members of our tribe. For the same reason, military recruits and marching bands spend painful hours training to step in precise formation with their units, not because modern warfare or music calls for it, but because it creates a collective rhythm, a sort of flow state.

Belief in an art’s extraordinary origins gives the individual an opportunity to project a personal identity onto known or at least suspected mythic structures, extending his agency beyond the self and into a realm above the mundane. This state of hyper-reality is a portal allowing individuals to perceive themselves as existing within a constructed reality—that is, sub-

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stituting the mundane for the preferred, potentially necessary, extraordinary. This is useful from a survival standpoint as the human brain can understand the world as a harsh, unforgiving, essentially meaningless exercise in futility and suffering. Instead of accepting such a reality, though, a hyper-real existence is one in which the suffering has a purpose and actions accompany a teleological outcome. As the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz famously wrote of cockfighting in Bali, our actions become “stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.”12 It is largely through these mechanisms that the martial arts have become a powerful pathway for asserting personal agency in the modern world.

When one puts on a karate uniform to undergo formal training, there is an uncomfortable blurring of the line between daily mundane reality and the costumed fantasy that plays out in the minds of those within the practice space.

12 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973) 448.

However, this line is very clear among lightsaber groups, as trainees don acknowledged costumes and may even use Star Wars-inspired character names. The result of both karate and lightsaber combat is the same, yet there is greater clarity about the nature of the exercise among the lightsaber group.

This is also true of origin narratives. Not only does Star Wars fulfill classical mythic structure, but George Lucas himself has been quite vocal about his intent to do so, stating that “I consciously set about to recreate myths and the . . . classic mythological motifs. And I wanted to use those motifs to deal with issues that existed today.”13 It is instructive to compare the transparent origins of Lightsaber Combat with an origin narrative from the classical Japanese martial arts, which did so much to inspire them. In 1159, a young Minamoto no Yoshitsune was driven into ex13 George Lucas, “The Mythology of ‘Star Wars’ with George Lucas,” interview with Bill Moyers, June 18, 1999, video, https://billmoyers.com/content/mythology-of-star-wars-georgelucas/.

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ile on Mt. Kurama by Taira no Kiyomori, where he was to live as a monk. The mountain was heavily wooded and known to house supernatural creatures. As chance would have it, Yoshitsune became acquainted with a tengu (a sort of magical, crow-like goblin), which taught him martial arts. He became uncannily powerful, skilled in arms, and could run and jump with preternatural agility. He then staged a coup and seized back his hereditary position of power. This story is the basis for a number of martial arts styles in Japan.

Historiographically, it is doubtful that the twelfth-century warlord received tutelage from a mystical folk spirit. One would be hardpressed to locate a practitioner of the Japanese martial arts today who genuinely believes the story’s accuracy. Instead, the classical combat arts community engages this and similar narratives with a comfortable skepticism, even as the tale continues to be passed on to new students with the utmost seriousness. The function of such fantasy is, rationally, not to convey historical trivia but to contribute

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to creating a larger life schema, portraying aggrandized interpretations of both physical and cognitive behaviors encouraged by the school. Just as group identity and flow states facilitate profound development from an athletic standpoint, they can also be applied in this sense to develop the trainee’s personality through a constellation of psychosocial immersion and proprioceptive education.

Governments have employed such didactic tactics to recondition public thought and behavior. For instance, Japanese youths were mandated to train in kendo, judo, and other martial arts during the early 20th century. There was little expectation that these would be useful battlefield methods, but rather, the goal was to indoctrinate children with the morals the ruling institution found most desirable.

Although less extreme, this same basic function and methodology is visible in Lightsaber Combat communities. The Star Wars narrative is largely a chronicle of morality. It conveys the values and preferred qualities of modern heroic

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archetypes portrayed dramatically.

These qualities embodied in the Jedi knights are one whose role one inhabits while participating.

Whether taken strictly as a sporting endeavor or accompanied with detailed costuming and pseudonyms, the fact that Lightsaber Combat communities are organized entirely around the iconic fantasy weapon unites them in a symbolic, tangible, somatic expression of shared principles. While the lightsaber may not be real, those values and identities are.

The specific definitions of martial art notwithstanding, these are some of the essential qualities that attend those activities exhibited

by Lightsaber Combat. Compared with many traditional martial arts, however, the endorsed personal qualities in lightsaber groups are made clear due to the recent advent of their origin narratives.

Rather than making affectations to legitimize a fictional history, they overtly embrace the fictional narrative. This, in turn, situates training and competition not as severe and life-or-death preparation for conflict but as a community-oriented form of creative play.

Fick’s support of the lightsaber as a helpful training implement points to the benefits of openly accepting a pleasurable pursuit as such; to wit, reduced stress on the trainee results in improved performance precisely because the stakes are not high. Yet, the practice carries powerful meaning because of the deeply mythic structure of its origin narrative. Given the instinct found in many animals to develop skill through play, it seems that, as Alan Watts suggested, “[m]an suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”14

- Benjamin N. Judkins & Jared Miracle

14 Alan Watts, Become What You Are (Boston, London: Shambalah, 2003) 29.

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Riichi Kitano @riichikitanous

KATORI SHINTO RYU Riichi Kitano

KATORI SHINTO RYU WAS founded in the mid-Muromachi era (AD 1400s) by Iizasa Choisai Ienao (1387-1488). It is known to be one of the oldest martial arts in Japan and also considered as one of the roots of Japanese martial arts. The history of Katori Shinto ryu can go back in time as early as the era of the deities. Historically, people believed in multiple gods in

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Japan. Japanese people call them yaoyorozu no kami. The literal translation of this is “eight million gods.” Japanese people find gods everywhere and in everything, and it is common for them to worship many, if not all, of them. We do not have enough time and space to write about all the stories and history regarding Japanese gods, so I will focus on some important ones that have a connection to Katori Shinto ryu and provide a brief history of them.

Of these many gods, some are considered gods of martial arts, such as Marishiten, Takemikazuchi no kami, and Futsunushi no kami. Two of these are closely related to Katori Shinto ryu: Marishiten and Futsunushi no kami. Marishiten was believed to protect the samurai in the Japanese medieval era. This is why many samurai worshipped Marishiten. The other god that is closely related to Katori Shinto ryu is Futsunushi no kami. The name, Katori Shinto ryu, came from Katori Shrine, which is located in the Katori region of Japan. It is said that the Katori Shrine was built more than 2,600 years ago (643 BC). Futsunushi no kami is a god of this Katori Shrine and has been worshipped by people, particularly by samurai all over Japan because he is a god of the martial arts. He is

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also a god who helped conquer and govern Japan in Japanese mythology. This is why he is considered to be a god for all of Japan.

Now that we know two of the main gods who are connected to Katori Shinto ryu, let me elaborate in more detail. Katori Shinto ryu’s full name is Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto ryu. Tenshinsho is another name for Futsunushi no kami, and den means “from” or “hand down” in this sense. That is, Katori Shinto ryu was handed down from Futsunushi no kami to Izasa Choisai Ienao. Izasa Choisai Ienao was a servant to a lord of his region (current Tako-machi in Chiba prefecture). He was a well-known samurai and had never been defeated by any opponent. After he turned 60, he decided to give up everything and to train in the Katori Shrine for 1,000 days. One day, Katori no kami (another name for Futsunushi no kami) came to him and gave him a scroll of Katori Shinto ryu.

Moreover, according to one scroll, Marishiten taught Futsunushi no kami Omote no tachi—which is the first of four kata (forms) students learn upon joining Katori Shinto ryu—before conquering and governing Japan. For this reason, even in modern days, we still carry on norito (Japanese religious chanting) of Marishiten, and worship

those two gods in Katori Shinto ryu. From the days of Izasa Choisai Ienao, numerous samurai have learned Katori Shinto ryu and relied on it to survive. Now that we know the brief history of Katori Shinto ryu, let us move on to more details of the school.

Japanese martial arts have evolved on battlefields and samurai relied on them to survive. On the battlefield, it is common to use multiple

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weapons depending on the situation, as each weapon offers some advantages and disadvantages. It was thus vitally important to know both the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon in order for them to increase one’s chances of survival. This is the reason why Shinto ryu practitioners still train in multiple weapons, even though the main weapon of Shinto ryu is the katana. Although it has been

said that some arts, such as kusarigama, have been lost over the years, they still practice kenjutsu (katana), iai (sword drawing), bo (staff), naginata (Japanese halberd), ryoto (two swords), kodachi (short sword), and yari (spear), as well as jujutsu (non-weapon physical combat) today.

On the battlefield, barring some weapons that can attack opponents from afar, such as bows and arrows, yari and naginata offer samurai the longest range of attack.

For this reason, samurai usually started fighting with longer weapons such as the yari or naginata.

However, it is not uncommon for the weapons to break during the fight. When a yari and naginata break during the fight, a samurai was forced to use the rest of the weapon’s heft sans its blade as a bo. This is the reason why all the samurai, including higher-ranking samurai, needed to know how to fight with the bo, even though it is considered a weapon for lower-ranking samurai. Once the bo is broken, they use the katana as the next weapon. When the katana is broken, they use the kodachi.

When the kodachi is broken, they use jujutsu, or unarmed physical combat. There is no place for any complaints to exist. They had to fight with what they got at that

exact moment, no matter how difficult the situation was. As you can see, they started fighting using the longest weapons, and ended with bare hands; that is, the fight evolves from the longest to the shortest weapon range. Now that we know some of the basic reasons why Shinto ryu practitioners have been learning all these weapons, let us take a look at how they practice them, and in what order.

When a person joins Shinto ryu, they first learn kenjutsu (katana).

There are multiple different kenjutsu techniques based on different situations in Shinto ryu, but the very first one that students learn is called Omote no tachi.

Since the main weapon of Shinto ryu is the katana, and practitioners start learning the art starting from katana techniques prior to moving on to learn other weapons, it is necessary for us to know how they learn the techniques, and how they move on to learn other weapons, in order for us to fully understand the reason and system of learning other longer weapons such as the yari, naginata, or bo.

Omote no tachi are the techniques for when a samurai wears armor.

We take a lower stance than in other kenjutsu techniques and movements in the system. One of

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the characteristics of Omote no tachi is that the movement is big and strong, like a lion. The other characteristic of Omote no tachi is its length. Omote no tachi is significantly longer in length compared to other styles of kenjutsu. This aspect of having an extra-long kata is one of the essences of Shinto ryu.

This is especially true for all the basic kata including those for the bo and naginata. One of the main reasons for this is to build cardiovascular strength, as there are multiple opponents on the battlefield, and we do not know when the fight will end. In order for a samurai to be prepared for the long and strenuous fight, they needed to build good cardiovascular strength.

I would also like to introduce one of the interesting educational characteristics of Shinto ryu and Japanese martial arts overall. Since the techniques are used on the battlefield, it goes without saying that keeping the techniques hidden and secret is crucial in order for a samurai to survive in the battle. Once the techniques are known, it creates potential harm and makes their user that much more vulnerable to the opponents. For this reason, all the kata are made to hide the actual techniques. It is particularly true in Shinto ryu kata. When someone outside of the school watches them

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secretly, and perhaps tries to steal the techniques, all they could observe is practitioners hitting katana against katana multiple times.

However, in the hidden techniques called kuzushi, we do not hit katana against other katana, and we always aim for counterattacks. For example, when it looks like one is blocking the opponent’s attack, it is actually taking a counter, and cutting the opponent rather than blocking. These hidden techniques are apparent in not only katana techniques, but also all the other weapons such as the naginata and bo as well. It is also important to know that kuzushi was not taught to every student. Students need first to reach a certain level to be taught these hidden techniques.

As you can see, keeping the techniques hidden was crucial in Shinto ryu. For this reason, Shinto ryu has a rather unique way that students must join the school, so that they can differentiate who are the actual members of Katori Shinto ryu. Upon joining, all students must submit their blood oath. The blood oath was one of the forms in order to make any document official back in the days. It is like a signature in modern days, and was widely used in many different occasions in ancient Japan. Although the concept of a blood oath was

not unique, the way they used it was. Upon joining, students must cut above the first joint of their left ring finger with a small katana (tanto), and use their right thumb to stamp their fingerprint to complete the blood oath. When someone outside of the school came to seek training, they asked them whether they had submitted the blood oath or not, and how they completed it. If they answered incorrectly, they were not permitted to stay and learn.

Before moving on to the longer weapons, I would also like to further discuss how we learn each technique. This is true for all the weapons. We learn all the movements and techniques through kata, which is a set form and collection of many movements.

Teachers show students the movements, and students mimic each movement as precisely as they possibly can. When students learn a new kata, they continue and repeat that same kata over and over

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until the new kata becomes a part of them. In the Japanese language, the word “to learn” is manabu.

Manabu is derived from the word, manebu, which means “to mimic.”

That is, we learn through mimicking and imitating the movements of our teachers through our bodies, rather than learning through words. In other words, we value body learning rather than brain learning. Instead of learning things through a textbook, samurai learn things through their body and make the learning part of their body. It is like learning how to ride a bicycle by actually practicing, instead of learning how to ride a bicycle by reading the instructions of how to ride it. Once you can ride a bicycle, it is impossible for you to genuinely fall on purpose. You

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can fake it, but you cannot genuinely fall from the bicycle. Your body refuses it. Likewise, samurai learn all the techniques and carve that into their subconscious self. It takes more time to learn, but once you get it, it stays with you forever.

Furthermore, only through body learning can we attain and learn the precise control of timing and space, which were invisible to the students before. Through training, things that were invisible before begin, at some point, to become visible. No one knows when it happens, and it depends on each practitioner, but it will eventually happen, sooner or later. Moreover, by repeating the set form even after mastering its sequence, we can finally start polishing the internal movements, flows of energy,

and eliminating any unnecessary movements. This concept of body learning is one of the cores of Japanese martial arts education.

Now that we know the principles of learning the system, let us move on to the topic of longer weapons, and start with the bo. As I mentioned previously, a bo is typically a weapon for lower-ranking samurai. However, higher-ranking samurai also knew how to use it, just in case their yari or naginata was broken during the battle.

They simply used the staves of the yari and naginata as a bo. Students start learning bo techniques about two years after joining the school, after they master the basic maneuvers of the katana. In Shinto ryu, we start learning bo techniques with bo against katana.

This bo-against-katana technique is called Omote no bo. We have six distinct kata of bo against katana.

Once they have learned Omote no bo, they then move on to bo against bo which is called Chudan no bo. We also have six distinct bo-againstbo kata. They are considered more advanced than bo against katana, because of the range and the use of the bo. The length of a bo is about six feet (182 cm). The unique characteristic of our use of the bo is its pulling movement. In order for us to maximize the striking range of the bo, we hold either end of it.

After striking the opponent, using one side of the bo, we quickly pull it back, and hold the other end of it in order to prepare for the next attack or block. We call this movement kogu. When students

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start learning the bo, they first need to master this pulling movement in order to move smoothly and effortlessly. Otherwise, they cannot catch up with the speed of the katana, even though they have some advantage in terms of reach.

For many other martial arts, such as karate, this pulling movement does not exist, and they typically hold the middle third of the bo to maneuver the weapon. It is not an argument of which is better or worse, but it is simply the different use of the same weapon.

Furthermore, in Shinto ryu, the strikes of the bo usually start from the upper position (right next to the face) no matter what the intended aim of the strike is, be it head, torso, or legs. This not only hides where they are going to strike, but also confuses the opponent. There

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are, of course, some exceptions depending on the situations, but students are taught to pull the bo up at the basic level. Teachers advise students to practice pulling up the bo over and over again, and when they can do it naturally, they are also building enough muscular strength in their lats to use the bo sufficiently well.

As for kata in kenjutsu, Omote no bo has many more techniques than it appears due to the hidden techniques of kuzushi. While it looks like we are blocking the attack of a katana, we are actually taking counterattacks to the opponent’s head and wrists. Since the bo has an advantage in the reach of a strike, students need to be careful not to injure their partners while they are training. This is a difficult yet interesting part of the training

of Shinto ryu; while we are moving to do one motion, we also have to have the intention of the other kuzushi movement hidden inside of the external movement. In Shinto ryu, we have been told that “if we have time to block, cut.”

I would like to add the fascinating insight of this saying. In Japanese martial arts, we have a saying, “Under the cutting edge, there is hell. Step in, and you will see heaven.” When students learn kuzushi physically, and embed kuzushi into their subconscious, their perspectives start to shift. When they learn how to block against any attack, the only thing they can see is the danger of an attack. However, when they learn kuzushi, and embed that into their subconscious, the only thing they could see is the weak points or openings of the

same attack. That is, while they could only see potential danger in the beginning, they can eventually start seeing opportunities to win from the same attack that is coming toward them. Here, I would like to introduce one other Japanese term, kiki. Kiki means danger and consists of two characters. The first ki means “danger” and the second ki means “opportunity.” That is, when we have danger, we also have an opportunity. By practicing Katori Shinto ryu, we develop the ability to see opportunities under severe risks and potential danger.

As you can see, Shinto ryu’s kata teaches us without words to see the positive instead of the negative. It teaches us to see the light in the darkness. It teaches us to convert risk into success.

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After students successfully learn the use of the bo, they move on to practice the naginata. Naginata is a weapon that was widely used in the Kamakura era. The length of Katori Shinto ryu naginata is a little more than eight feet (251 cm to be exact). This length of naginata is more for the samurai in the Kamakura era, and not for the modern-day naginata, which is about seven feet long. The naginata has a cutting blade on one end to cut, and also an iron cover on the other end for striking at opponents.

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Thus, in Katori Shinto ryu, we use both ends of the naginata to attack. Moreover, because of its length and weight, we hold the middle of the naginata to have better control of it. Historically, the naginata was used in one-on-one combat during the Kamakura era.

However, since the weapon is long, and it needs more momentum and circular motion, it was not as suitable for a group fight, since there is the potential danger of harming the allies around you.

Students practice the naginata against katana, just like they did bo against katana. We have four kata for naginata in Katori Shinto ryu.

For an outsider, some of the movements of naginata look strange and even unnecessary. One of the strangest movements might be the one where we spin during the kata, which is called Yamameguri (“going through a mountain”)—the spinning movement that completely shows our back to the opponents.

Although it might appear unnecessary, this movement also has kuzushi. I would like to introduce the hidden meaning of this: as we turn our back to the opponent, we are showing our weak spot to them—in this case our neck—to lure the opponent and make them initiate an attack. When they come in for this bait to cut the neck, we block with the opposite end of the naginata, and use the blade to cut their torso. It goes without saying that students who just learned naginata do not even have a slightest clue about what they are doing.

However, as they practice, they begin to see the meaning of it.

It seems that the naginata has more movements than the bo or kenjutsu, which also appear unfamiliar and rather strange to outsiders, or to the new students.

However, learning these seeming-

ly unimportant and unnecessary movements cultivates a very important human character, which is trust. It is a trend nowadays that people do not do things unless they see the benefit of it. However, this does not apply in martial arts.

Students are expected to do things as instructed by their teachers, even though they cannot see any benefits. Questioning their teacher’s teachings is frowned upon, or even forbidden in Japanese martial arts. We just need to trust our teachers, and just need to do as we are instructed to over and over again. The benefit will come to us eventually. This is the mentality of students of the samurai and Japanese martial arts. This is especially important in the modern days that we live in. Everything is rather instant, and people tend to chase instant pleasure rather than delayed gratification. With this tendency, people will become more and more selfish, and lose the virtue of self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is another very important teaching of Katori Shinto ryu and samurai culture overall. We are taught to live with a code of honor. Especially, the concepts of jin and gi are two of the most important principles. Jin is compassion, or having a caring feeling toward others. Gi is justice, and the spirit of self-sac-

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Bojutsu

rifice. I would like to share one of the teachings of Katori Shinto ryu. There is a saying, “We, that is sheep.” Let me elaborate this point since this might not make sense to many people. When we write the character of gi in Japanese, it consists of two characters: “sheep” and “self.” Back in the days, the sheep was an animal that was used as a sacrifice to provide the benefits to others. For the samurai, and Katori Shinto ryu practitioners, justice means sacrificing ourselves to benefit others. However, we need to keep in mind that we do not nec-

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essarily give up our lives to benefit others in daily life. If we have to give up our actual life, it would be too extreme. Sacrificing ourselves to benefit others means to do the things that are not necessary for you to do, in order to provide the benefits to others. For example, when you are on an airplane, and find that the restroom is not clean, you clean the restroom so that the next person who uses the restroom can feel better. It is clearly not your job to clean the restroom, since you are a customer; yet, you voluntarily do it for oth-

ers. The list of things you can do to sacrifice yourself for others is infinite. A samurai always acts with this code of honor no matter how small or big the sacrifice is, and so do Katori Shinto ryu practitioners.

This aspect is very important for our modern society as well—to be a person with compassion and to do things for others.

Now that we know some basic characteristics of the naginata, let us move on to the yari. The yari is a Japanese spear. The length of the yari that we use in Katori Shinto ryu is a little less than 10 feet (288

cm to be exact). Needless to say, we can see many different lengths of yari throughout history, and it can sometimes exceed way over 15 feet.

The long yari was especially useful to fight against opponents who were on horses. There are six different kata for the yari. Students will learn the yari after completing all the other weapons, such as the naginata, bo, kenjutsu, ryoto, and kodachi. It usually takes 10 years for students to start learning how to use the yari.

The attacks with the yari in Katori Shinto ryu are usually stabbing

with its blade, and we aim for the eyes, throat, shoulders, belly button, thighs, and knees depending on the situation. However, we are also taught that we can use the yari to strike opponents using its staff or the other end when it comes to close combat in a real battlefield.

The yari is especially useful and beneficial for battle during the night. While a katana or naginata makes a louder wind-cutting noise when we cut, the yari only makes a minimal sound. Hence, it is very difficult for opponents to tell the timing of a yari attack when it is difficult to see in the dark, and when they have to rely more on their ears. In Katori Shinto ryu, students practice yari against katana during practice like with the naginata or bo.

One of the unique characteristics of how we use the yari in Katori Shinto ryu is to stab the opponent with Kirimomi (creating a spiral momentum). Kirimomi is rotating the yari as much as possible and creating a spiral motion to increase the strength of piercing through the opponent. Creating a spiral momentum is the same concept as with bullets fired from rifled guns and other firearms.

In addition, after each thrust, we take the yari to a lower position in

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order for us to minimize its vulnerability. One of the advantages of long weapons such as the yari, naginata, and bo is to be able to attack opponents farther away than with a katana. Still, when there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. The main disadvantage of longer weapons is their use at short distances. In order for people to understand this concept, I must first explain how a katana can win against a yari, or any other longer weapon in this regard. In Katori Shinto ryu, there is kuzushi of a katana technique called Hashikakaru (“building the bridge in between”).

As you have seen, we practice longer weapons against the katana in Shinto ryu. As opponents use longer weapons, it becomes more difficult for us to fight against them with the katana, since the range of the attack is shorter. Hashikakaru is a technique to kill the distance immediately, and go into the shorter distance to have more advantage for the katana. We block any attacks with longer weapons with the katana, and immediately run close to the opponent. This technique is not apparent until the kata of yari, but we can see a glimpse of Hashikakaru in the kata from bo and naginata as well. Now that we know the concept of Hashikakaru, let me explain one way

Naginatajutsu

Sojutsu

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to prevent this attack with a katana when we use the yari. As you can imagine now, when an opponent succeeds in killing the distance and comes close to us, it becomes very difficult for the long weapon to fight. This is especially true for the longest weapon, the yari. For this reason, after the attack, we always take the yari to a lower position to eliminate the weakness, and to make it harder for the opponents to kill the distance. Moreover, just in case they try to come closer to attack us, even after we take a lower position, we use the same technique we use for the bo—i.e., pulling (kogu). When the opponent tries to kill the distance between us and run toward us, we run back as well, and pull our yari at the same time to block any attacks with the katana. During practice, we do not show the thrust after the block, but we are always finishing with the yari in the position from where we can thrust at the opponent.

This is another hidden technique of the yari.

These form the basic knowledge and characteristics of longer weapons such as the bo, naginata, and yari. Now, I would like to add a lit-

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tle more skill that makes it easier for us to maneuver all of these long weapons. Since the weapons are longer than the katana, we need to have more muscular strength to control them, and we also need to have more stamina. In order for us to have better control, with less physical effort, we always put either hand—left or right—on our pelvis or head to stabilize the weapon. Needless to say, there are times that neither one of our hands is attached to our body when we use the weapons, but in that case, the handles or lengths of the weapon are attached to our body for better stabilization. In this way, we can control longer weapons better and, at the same time, increase accuracy, execute attacks with more power, and preserve our stamina in battle.

Just like putting one hand on our pelvis is required to have better control in all of the long weapons, there is one more thing that is extremely important throughout any weapon system in Katori Shinto ryu. This aspect is not really physical, but more spiritual. On the battlefield, or in an actual fight, it is 99 percent spiritual and 1 percent

physical. That means that even if you have outstanding techniques, if you do not have the gut to execute the technique, it is meaningless. Even if you have the sharpest katana in your hands, if you do not have the determination to cut the opponent, it is the same as if you had the dullest katana, or did not have a katana at all. Moreover, it is a very scary thing when someone is literally trying to kill you with a katana, naginata, yari, or any other weapon. Thus, it is required from all of the samurai to somehow overcome fear on the battlefield.

Now, how did they achieve it? How did they overcome the fear and fought bravely?

In order for us to understand this very important aspect of Japanese martial arts, I would like to dig a little deeper. The samurai were not stupid. They were in fact intellectually very smart. Here, we need to know that our brain is not programmed to be happy. Our brain is programmed to survive. That is why smart people tend to see more negative aspects in things in order to survive. This is the reason why, when we are walking on the mountain at night or go into a cave, we

are worried that something like a bear or mountain lion might come and attack us, even though the chances that they are there and will start attacking us are very low.

This is called the spotlight effect.

We tend, in life, to see negative things more strongly than positive things for reasons of survival.

However, if a samurai keeps seeing only negative things, their ability to fight decreases. It is not acceptable for them to keep seeing the negative aspects. At the same time, it is not acceptable for samurai to be fearless. Some people might get to thinking that being fearless is good on a battlefield, but in fact, being fearless and being courageous are two completely different things.

Please allow me to elaborate. Being fearless means that you have nothing to fear. You fail to see any negative aspects, and you cannot prepare for any unexpected attacks or ambushes. You might even cause more harm than good. Being fearless is like taking a selfie right on the edge of the Grand Canyon, or walking on the edge of the top of the Empire State Building—it is meaningless. Being courageous,

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however, is the complete opposite.

People often overlook the fact that we need to have fear in order for us to have courage. Courage is the will power to overcome all fear.

That is, courageous people see potential danger and negativity, but they overcome it with their courage. They execute things even if it is scary. Hence, samurai need to be courageous instead of fearless.

The question is: how can we achieve this mental state? How can we be more courageous? These are the questions many of us need to tackle even in modern days. Let us keep these questions for now, and let us ask more questions that people might have for purposes of learning Katori Shinto ryu, an ancient samurai martial art in modern times. Some people may wonder if there are any benefits to practicing weapons such as the naginata or yari because we do not use any of those weapons in our daily lives. In addition to that, Katori Shinto ryu does not even offer or hold any competitions. Furthermore, Katori Shinto ryu even prohibits students from participating in fights. For these reasons, it is very understandable that many people develop such questions, because what they are saying makes sense in a way. I can absolutely see their point. And now it is time for

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me to answer the pending questions above: How can we be more courageous? How can we achieve it?

As is explained above, the real fight is 99 percent spiritual and only 1 percent technical. That is, all the techniques you learned through all the training are almost meaningless if you cannot learn the spiritual aspect of being courageous. Katori Shinto ryu achieves this by making a big kiai. Kiai is a spiritual yell that is a distinct feature of Japanese martial arts. This is even more true in Katori Shinto ryu. As we attack, cut, strike, or perform any other attack—you name it—in Katori Shinto ryu, we make a big kiai. Some may wonder why it helps, so let me elaborate a little. For example, when you go into a haunted mansion in a theme park, you can see that many people are screaming. This is for them to reduce their fear; by screaming, people can reduce their fear tremendously. The samurai used this aspect and used the kiai to reduce the fear that they felt on the battlefield. But please note that a samurai used the loud voice or yell to overcome their fear, but they were not screaming out of fear. Kiai also has another purpose: it is to intimidate the opponent and give a shock to their physical system. We

as humans tend to stop when we hear some extremely loud noises all of a sudden, especially when it is unexpected. It is just like: you stop walking when you hear the sound of a big car crash across the street.

The samurai used this human reaction strategically to intimidate their opponents. As you can see kiai is one way to overcome fear and be more courageous instantaneously.

However, voicing a kiai when they attack does not really support being courageous when one is wholly under an ambush. Therefore, we usually do not shout kiai when we block in Katori Shinto ryu. Now, I would like to explain one more aspect of how to get to the state of being calm and collected during a battle. In order for us to be calm and collected, we need to be confident. When you are confident, you are more courageous. When you are confident, you are not scared.

When you are confident, you can get more things done. Then, we just need to be confident. It is definitely easier said than done. We all know we should be confident, but many of us fail. However, samurai somehow managed to be confident and Katori Shinto ryu training offers people the means of becoming more confident without them even realizing it. This is another aspect

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of cultivating spiritual strength.

This is true especially when we use longer weapons.

How can an ancient form of weapon training make people more confident, particularly when it does not even offer sparring or tournament competitions? There is no winning or losing during the training, either. The answer is simple: Katori Shinto ryu uses physical movement to gain access to the subconscious. Many people fail to change because they only try to change with their conscious self. In order for anyone to truly change who they are, they need to change their subconscious. This is very hard to do, and that is why it is called sub-conscious. The reason why Katori Shinto ryu training can achieve a change in the subconscious self is because it uses the physical movement to change the spiritual aspects. It is said that people can control their emotions by motion. Now, let us imagine a person with low confidence. How do they speak? How do they walk?

What kind of posture do they hold? When you imagine a person with low confidence, they tend to speak quietly, walk with smaller steps, and have bad posture. On the other hand, when you imagine a person with high confidence, they speak louder, walk with big-

ger steps, and have good posture.

In Katori Shinto ryu, we take big steps (about twice as big as shoulder width), make a big kiai, and maintain good posture to have better control of the weapons and produce more force. By doing so, practitioners of Katori Shinto ryu cannot be anything but confident, because their physical body becomes the same as that of a confident person. Furthermore, when we use any type of weapon, both our shoulders have to be low. We cannot raise our shoulders to maneuver the weapons. It is simply impossible. By dropping both of our shoulders in the most stressful situation, such as during an opponent’s attack, we train our bodies not to get stressed out. As you can see, through practicing Katori Shinto ryu, people can achieve a strong mental state of being cool, calm, and collected. Needless to say, there are many more physical aspects that contribute to practitioners’ well-being throughout the training, and all of them can impact our subconscious self. This is why Katori Shinto ryu can achieve the mental strength of a samurai who is ready for an actual fight.

its training system. We have also discussed how the training of Katori Shinto ryu can improve each practitioner as a person, and can make their daily life better. Although people might think that it is old-fashioned, and that there is not much to gain from it, the actual benefit that they can get from the training is undeniable. This article is not a full explanation of the training, or of Katori Shinto ryu itself, and people cannot learn everything just by reading it. But I hope that people can get a glimpse of the merits of training in this beautiful ancient art just as the samurai from hundreds of years ago did.

- Riichi Kitano

In this article, we have covered a brief history of Katori Shinto ryu, some of the weapons that its practitioners use to train with, and

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Dexter Labanog http://martialarts-history.com/Dexter_Labonog

BRIDGES OF RATTAN, TITLE

BOLOS, SUBTITLEAND DAGGERS Author Dexter Labonog

ADIT PLITATIONET INT ES dusae. Fero dolorio tem rerum cor magnam autendae. Iquatat quarerspid quod quo volupti untium mend andaere mporupta doluptate sitem. Nam, coriatus, core volupsa quae. Lectionem dis rendam, tas aut hil in reptatempor mosto STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA, KNOWN FOR its productive agrisunt. quatemp orumque nimi, officit culture and immigrant population before of the millen-tematinctothe iumturn si offic te volupta Xerepudam, ut quia cum non placnium, thrives today as a city tryingporupta to survive quodpost-bankruptcy, molut et dolor sit cae eium hariandunto evelibu santhe homeless population, and the cycle of impoverished families versperitem et voluptat rerro endi tis unt denimpe riorempore sint that continue from generation to generation.

Despite its que notoriaute veliquam corrum corumofficiistrum esed et facepudae volety as the city with the most homicides in a single year anddoluptas the quis dolor aut exerchicia ora dolorpo ratur, si blaut id momost foreclosed homes in the nation, still are pa signs of op-volesinis ilitthere volorit apictat luptat. timistic hopes for the city: a new hockey arena and now henducidis a bassUciis excestio blabore Nem utatur?

Moa illor quampark de ketball team, new ant baseball in nos downtown, food festivals, non explaudipsam evenia illatusandit laccullor dolorepta community events,siand the efforts nonsequo of local groups tryingIcide to preofficatur? con cus sollupt asimaxi mporporrum fugit serve the little positive history Stockton proudiltomod hangeles on to. dellamis repel maxim est quae sequiaes et porupta vosundit la volorem sum coribus anluptatur? dendi dolor repudae nos ad quiduciuntis dus aut experibus aut Cea niet recab il in ex est, ut qui faccuptia velit pore prestet esti todolore plit rat endebis as verrovi taquatur mo expe pora core pro

The Port of Stockton, once the most inland deepwater port in California, was a major hub point for many Filipinos in the 1900s through the early 1970s and a significant employer for longshoreman workers. The surrounding military bases were also a significant source of employment, but agriculture is where many of the first Filipino laborers found work.

As the surrounding communities and families became established, pockets of economic differences became apparent, and in Southside Stockton (West) and south of Charter Way, a sizeable Filipino community had developed.

Filipino lodges and organizations thrived on helping each other in times of uncertainty or hardship and as a resource for guidance to new families arriving or individuals looking for work.

Fast-forwarding to 1978, out of high school and attending Delta Community College, I discovered my own Filipino culture has a form of martial arts called escrima.

Because of the boom of popularity that Bruce Lee brought to the movie screen at that time, martial arts was a trendy thing to do. But what is this escrima? Meaning "to

skirmish or fight," it is the name given by the Spaniards that occupied the Islands for nearly four hundred years.

My sister asked if I was interested in learning escrima because her friend Thomas Bernardo needed a training partner in the Leo Giron School of Filipino Arnis Escrima located on San Joaquin Street, Stockton. I was told to go to the school to talk to the teacher (Leo Giron). The address was close by on San Joaquin street. So I went over, walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, and while waiting for someone to answer I looked around. It was hard to tell where classes were held. I later found out that the lower portion of the house, though above ground, was considered a basement where classes were taught during the winter, and then in the backyard in the summer. After the interview to see if I would be accepted, I was told to return for class on a Monday. I became curious about this escrima; some of what Leo said to me about the war (WWII) sounded like what my father went through in the U.S. Army, piquing my interest even more.

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Day 1 at the Leo Giron School of Arnis Escrima—October, 1978

dowel was always meant to represent a bladed bolo or “sword.”

The class was inside the basement, I was early, and Leo gave me a clipboard, with several sheets of paper attached that was the teaching or learning sequence he developed.

He used a rubber stamp to log your attendance and progress on the sheet. He had for purchase birchwood dowels 24 inches long that was your training tool sort of like a pencil you would bring to school, and without a pencil, you couldn’t learn the lesson of the day, but this

To know how to defend is to learn how to attack, and the twelve angles of attack are introduced as fundamentals of escrima in the Leo Giron School of Arnis Escrima.

I would later discover this to be a common practice in many schools of escrima. From here, I began my study of a coded language between escrimadors, something us American-born Filipinos can now relate to our heritage and each other, because most of us were not taught

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even our native language—it was our parents’ desire that their children become as American as possible to achieve a successful future in America.

My 200 Hours Leo required a minimum of 200 hours of physical training to be considered to graduate from his school. My classmates in that time—Thomas Bernardo, Ray Munoz, my brother Mike, and Dave Arnaiz—were the consistent students. There were a few other students that started later during those hours and were able to help accelerate the learning process because when you trained with a student at a lower level of skill, you would be helping the student learn what you learned previously.

The training was intense because of the uniqueness of this martial art, and there wasn’t any reference to be found in books or magazines until Dan Inosanto and Rene Latosa published their books.

sisted of Largo Mano, De Fondo, in-fighting (lock and block), block counter sparring (Sumbrada), Sinawali, Sonkete, and Abanico. There were also many other methods he kept listed on the wall that he let us know were there for us to learn should you decide to continue to train after graduating. The year 1979 was Leo’s first public group demonstration with a large group of martial arts at the Barrio Fiesta Stockton, CA. Thinking back, this was a historic and exciting time to be in Eecrima martial arts. In the winter of 1979, the elders of escrima in America came together to make sense of the organization to unite all the styles, beginning to expose themselves to the western world. In 1980 the West Coast Escrima Society (WES) was born.

The repetitious movements started to make sense; the angles of attack could be instinctively detected as the art helps one to develop the ability to determine the next possible direction of attack. Leo’s core curriculum to graduate con-

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Graduating—1980 Together with my brother Mike, Thomas, and Dave, I was tested in February 1980 by Dentoy Revillar, who today is the founder of the SLD system (Serrada, Largo Mano, Decuerdas). Leo always often mentioned that De Fondo was introduced to give the student more exposure to the short weapon 24 inches and less. From his experience in war he suggested the best style for combat is the style of Largo Mano because of the concept of no blocking and direct cutting

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or hitting which means a simultaneous defense and counter in one movement. Leo also insisted that your bolo should always be sharp especially in combat, and don’t forget to bring a spare.

At this stage, it felt like only discovering the tip of the iceberg, as Dan Inosanto mentions in his first book. I decided to enlist into the U.S. Air Force, and fortunately was stationed to a nearby base called McClellan AFB, and in October, I was back in California and commuting to Stockton to continue

training and learning the list of methods and styles Leo kept on the wall. During the next two years, it was intense advanced training with anyone who showed up to class no matter what level of skill—a collaboration to understand the styles and concepts that Leo considered essential to know or at least be aware of, such as bolonte (up-and-down striking), asad, (short-pointed weapon on both ends used to hook and thrust), de salon (fast-shifting footwork), and redondo (repeating circular striking). Approximately twenty techniques total were on the list. He often reflected on his emphasis of how to respond to what one faces in a combat situation. This started to make a lot of sense because of his military background and now my military focus emphasizing the same criteria in a Cold War era, which is to know your enemy so you may know its capabilities and respond accordingly.

This was a time now to learn what techniques to use to counter Largo Mano, De Fondo, or Abanico. We started collaborations with Leo that emphasized defending against group attacks, triangle formations used in hand-to-hand combat in WWII, and the teamwork to watch your left and right to protect your comrade. The guerilla warfare tac-

tics used on assignment with local Philippine guerilla fighters taught him more than the basic movements shared in military training among the first and second Filipino American Infantry Army.

Reflecting on the defunct WES, I believe in 1987 was the one time of hope that the original "Bladed Bolo" generation could maintain unity for the future generation that now struggles to keep identity of heritage and culture because of those that have focused efforts more on making profits and exploiting the Filipino Martial Arts culture, especially in Stockton.

They have fragmented the Filipino community of martial arts.

Such sadness—those that continue to thrive on profits, especially making claims to trademark rights and preventing individuals whose heritage and culture enriched the growth and popularity of Filipino Martial Arts in Stockton. One of the good things to come from Stockton has turned into another case of greed, ego, and human hate. If only Leo Giron, Angel Cabales, Narri Babao, Mike Inay, Den Revillar, Max Sarmiento, Dan Inosanto, and others could have established a strong basic declaration of structure, things might be different today.

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Cross-Training In my advanced training with Leo through mid-80s and early 90s, we were able to develop a very successful demonstration and tournament team. Leo always told me to gather up the boys and get them ready to go to whatever tournament was upcoming as if General MacArthur was commanding orders before coming to land in Leyte (WWII). Maybe in a sense, he was reliving those proud moments of the war. Commemorating his unit's old war cry “Bahala Na” as a slogan for his school, Leo said it was the battle cry in the fight against the charging enemy, letting them know come what may. As the school was starting to gather a momentum of presence in Stockton, other local schools like Serrada and Decuerdas were also growing in popularity as a source for escrima classes. We became well-respected, and more importantly, we began to meet others in escrima from all different schools from many places around and out of California. To me, this was a good thing to meet

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others that appreciated the art.

The enrichment we contributed in the demonstrations and tournaments in escrima catapulted Stockton into the mainstream of martial arts, and most of the practitioners now from Leo’s school were graduates or advanced students and freely contributing their time to these community events. It was our expression of repaying Leo for his sharing of knowledge, heritage, and culture.

By the mid-1990s, I became proficient in the SLD system and got awarded a teaching certificate by Maestro Den Revillar, and as I continued to support both Leo and Dentoy, I began to see the difference, but also at the same time, I saw the similarities within the Filipino Martial Arts. Through this time I was also able to attend workshops or seminars from other teachers like Dan Inosanto, Max Pallen, Ramiro Estillilia, and—privately—Juan Iliab and Gilbert Tenio. I have come to discover that the Filipino Martial Arts are an eclectic form of discipline, and no matter

what fundamental back-ground you started with in the FIlipino Martial Arts, if you train with an open mind, you will discover that all disciplines are worthy and have a place in the moment of combat.

To sum up the differences in general, what I learned over the decades is that every martial arts system has a preferred method of teaching and a specific range of comfort that makes their teaching discipline effective. In my opinion, the animosity between the schools in Stockton arose out of a lack of understanding of one another’s concept and philosophy behind each other’s style or discipline.

I honestly would say that my experience with Leo and my time with Dentoy can be compared to the progress of a child passing through elementary school to high school, and then to the SLD Dentoy school as a finishing school; but if it wasn’t for the efforts of Juan Iliab and Den Revillar to seek understanding from the other core disciplines surfacing in Stockton,

the reality of their concepts and philosophy would not be understood today. There are escrima practitioners that remain in silos of a single discipline of martial art today; and it may satisfy their needs for self-defense and it is their prerogative to do so, because one must also remember that the Philippine region or islands where these escrima disciplines came from suited their environment or purpose. To understand this, one must truly immerse themselves with an open mind, for in today’s world one must agree that a multistyle would be the best approach in any combat encounter, because indeed no matter what form of martial art you practice there will always be the long, medium and close range of combat.

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THE RANGES OF DISCIPLINE Estillo Matador ("Killing Style") and Largo Mano ("Long-Range Style") The Largo Mano style is tough to beat in my opinion, and while everyone has an opinion, over the years from practicing full-contact and various disciplines, this is one statement I hold firmly. The test is when, in combat or simulation combat, the focus is on the weapon and the simplified zones of attack called cinco tero or “five strikes.” Coming from the Leo Giron School of Arnis Escrima, it was so simple that it could be learned in just a few days down to a few hours, depending on the individual’s current level of experience and weapon control. The choice of weapon can be bolo or stick but preferably the 32-inch length and with some weight that can easily cause tissue and bone damage with minimal force.

After participating in many fullcontact escrima tournaments, I have seen fighters from schools

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that train mainly in close to medium range that by default start in a long-range position. This is because of human nature for selfpreservation or safety; the default is to stay out of or away from harm’s way. If the individual could not close the gap to reach their preferred range of effectiveness, the Largo Mano practitioner would always be first to make direct contact. The best analogy I can give to this Largo Mano style is the Mohamed Ali boxing style, where he maintained just enough distance to stay out of the opponent’s reach and then stepped in to sting like a bee, always floating on the outer edge of his opponent's reach. In my opinion, this was Leo’s true core style he lived during the war.

He often talked about moves that would get you killed in a battle that was being practiced publicly for flashy demonstration purposes, and so during in-depth discussions on theory and combat strategy, he would often clarify the difference of the stage style and killing style.

Decuerdas ("Winding, Tightening, Constricting Style") This style is the gap-closer to counter Largo Mano when practiced thoroughly. If not properly timed, the Largo Mano man will always get the better of you, and you will have to reset your next move. It is like slipping between the gaps of opportunity and redirecting the attacking strike and then closing in to constrict the attacker’s ability to strike again— closing in with strong vertical or shielding-type positions and then blocking against or with the attack, redirecting the opponent's weapon to harness or tie your opponent’s movements while slicing or cutting and then monitoring to continue to take advantage of every move presented in the Decuerdas range.

Gibert Tenio was the man who exposed this Escrima concept, and Juan Iliab was the one who taught me the insight into the philosophy behind it, but Dentoy taught me how to put it all into perspective. (medium-close).

Serrada ("Close Range") In the Serrada system, the closequarter superiority is the espada y daga aspect I learned from the SLD system. The time spent in this phase of discipline opened so many windows to the possibilities of close-quarter encounters—by replacing the empty hand with a dagger and in the strong hand a bolo (though when we practiced, we used stick and dagger employing the same routines as you do in Serrada basics but now with the dagger created a new dimension of awareness and the emphasis with being touched is the same as being cut). This training made the empty hand much more dangerous now with the dagger because, once in the medium-close range, the dagger is much more deadly and can deliver a thrust or slice quickly. The teaching method that Dentoy used to accelerate the learning was called de cadena, the meaning "chain" or like the links of a chain that connect each link to the next, understood as neverending set movements to address

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any angles of attack, typically starting from a single strike up to an average set of three random strikes and up to five or six strikes.

This was a progressive sequence of learning for one that has reached a skill to see what was coming next.

Dentoy was able to break down the movements in Serrada and gave each step in a sequence of counter movement a meaning and not just a flurry of follow-up sequences, because to choose a technique to defend against whatever angle of attack at close quarter should be a technique that can respond in

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mid-flow to a change of attacking angle without disrupting the flow of movement first chosen by the defender. This level of training will also induce an intuitive mindset of being able to read your opponent's body language in close quarters, in that watching every muscle twitch or the body position of the person will place you in a pre-state of reaction to be able to choose the most straightforward technique in order to deal with the possibilities of multiple angles of attack.

The When-It Happens, Not the What-If In retrospect, it is nearly impossible to be able to learn multiple systems or styles in short durations; you should have a solid foundation in some style or system to communicate effectively, like the numbering system. Individuals that attend seminars and workshops will gain more informed knowledge of escrima but, without a foundation, will end up with uncertainty in choosing the appropriate self-defense technique to respond to an attack—but I guess something is better than nothing. More often, the curiosity of the constant “What if ” questions arise, but in reality, it is more of the “When something happens” question. When I heard this statement from Dentoy, he fundamentally changed my perspective on how to look upon such a question.

It is challenging to understand when first hearing this; it takes many hours of work to understand the profundity of this observation and become able to recognize what can happen next. One analogy to help understand this is the "angle number 1" attack: there are many techniques to choose so which one will you choose? In a millisecond your mind will have to assess, de-

cide, and act. Muscle reflex might initially help get your weapon in place to block or counter, but at that moment of touch what comes next is what you should be concerned about, because if you have not trained properly it will be difficult for you to recognize the window of opportunity to respond to prevent that next thing. And this is one reason there are so many defense techniques against the obvious heavy striker, the snap-hit striker, the light feinting striker, and so on. But if you recognize the type of attack, you will be better prepared.

To know how to employ a style is much harder than to use a technique. At first read, this may seem to contradict to what I had just written, but if you are only able to employ a style as a defense and fail to recognize its weakness in the moment of engagement, what choice will you have except to receive the blow as intended and whimper those last sounds of air?

Keeping an open mind to all martial arts and its core of unique deadliness, to even cross-train in one art you may not agree with, may gain you some insight into the concept and understanding of why such a style of martial art even exists.

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What's Next?

As the sun approaches the horizon, in the span of 30-plus years I have enjoyed learning the complexities of my Filipino Martial Arts heritage, it is a very deep and profound discovery of how much it has impacted the history of the Philippines and what the early Filipino migrant workers brought with them to America just to escape

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poverty and how they contributed to the liberation of the Philippines during WWII. They must have been so brave or desperate to travel such long distances to a new world, or this new world could not be as dangerous coming from a place where carrying a bolo on your hip was common in the Philippines.

A disclaimer of preferred terms and usage of the first-name basis in this

article is because my journey and those that have shared my path in this know it was a time when all of our teachers all preferred to be called by their first name, and after many years we called them Uncles. So please do not judge me for that—unless you have grown up in this place and you are Filipino you will not understand this level of cultural heritage. We can save that story for another time.

As for now, it is sad to see that greed and ego of this generation who have learned the Filipino Martial Art from Stockton are now manipulating the freedom and heritage of the Filipino American culture that made Stockton great at one time, claims of ownership and rights and no others. Apparently, for-profit and greed have metastasized like cancer, and these individuals take advantage of the misinformed and practice movements that are far from the original bolo generation ,only to have created a fragmented community of Filipino Martial Artists in Stockton.

Many experts of that generation have grown from the tiny mustard seed into a strong oak tree and practice in private places away from spying eyes as it once was like during the Spanish occupation in the Philippines. It is only natural that evil will eventually turn inward and devour itself, but for now, only those with the honor of heritage and culture and those who respect that foundation will endure.

Honor and respect to the memories of GM Leo Giron, GM Angel Cabales, GM Gilbert Tenio, Master Juan Iliab, and huge thank you to Maestro Den Revillar, who still resides in Stockton, CA. Come what may! Let God sort them out!

- Dexter Labonog

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Mahipal Lunia @theimmersionfoundation

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HERMIT TRAINING Mahipal Lunia

"... it is about developing consistency in your training and using various methods to combat boredom and familiarity in training. The more methods you layer into your stick, or for that matter, any weapon training, the better will be your chances of learning a new skill and amplifying the results."

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IT WAS A LONG DRIVE FROM the High Sierras back home where we had spent a long week training.

During the drive home during a long bout of silence, somewhere in the back seat came an overly exaggerated sigh: “Sensei, these drives can be hard and take a toll. Also, the connectivity is so bad in the mountains.”

“Forget the phone. Forget the world. Leave it all behind. These trips are a pilgrimage, a Haj, a Teerth Yatra,” I said as we drove through a forest of burnt and blackened skeletal trees—all that remained of an Oregon forest after a fire a couple of months previously.

“Even Emerson and his disciple Thoreau spoke about the hiking in the mountains as a pilgrimage.

The pilgrim culture is a spiritual embrace that is core to an American experience. And think about it, this is what a Shugendo is . . . the mountains is the way. One must disconnect from this known world, to go deep into the recess of one’s inner world. True "Magick" dwells in that House of Belonging.”

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They have heard me ramble many times about the mountains, connecting with nature, and leaving the known world behind. Fearful of hearing another rant about the benefits of nature, one of the students quipped, “Sensei, how do we train to retain all the material we learn?”

“Sun, moon or rain,” I said, and they completed my favorite simile with, “We train, train, and train.”

“But Sensei, we can’t be in the dojo all the time, how do we continue to grow?” he asked somewhat exasperated.

“Hermit Training,” I answered.

There is a reason the great swordsmen of Japan were called Kensei.

“I was introduced to the term Hermit Training by the reclusive Master JC Cabiero. He captured the essence of training alone with that term. It means you get to work on yourself, diligently, and consistently. "Like a hermit in the mountains, working on his magnum opus—himself—you got to work on your way into yourself through your art, and from these first steps emerges the beginning of liberation.”

“If you want to pursue mastery, you got to follow the 10000-hour rule, meaning do more repetitions than most will even dream. You got to do it until you can’t get the methods wrong, even if you tried.

For this, you need to create opportunities to train everywhere possible—and, most importantly, to train by yourself.”

“But how?” he pleaded.

Let me answer this by saying most of my teachers have taught me various methods of training alone. Let me share some that have worked wonders for me.

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1. Kata

2. Whole-Form Training

While studying Japanese arts, there was a significant emphasis on kata. Solo training of this type requires a specific way of learning to break things into smaller components and delivering them with precision.

I used to complain to my two Senseis about not having training partners close by. Especially in an art such as jojutsu and kenjutsu, most if not all forms are two-person and as such, presenting a unique challenge.

There are many ways to work the kata, including:

Both Sastri and Vilarie Senseis instructed me to work both sides of the two-man katas that form the backbone of our system. They told me of stories from back in the day when a few high-level tests had the tester showing both the tori and uke’s form for each technique.

The reasons ranged from "everyone else had died in recent wars and only one person was left alive who knew the entire system," to "the secrets of the system had been passed down to only one person."

Nevertheless, when done correctly in context, doing the tori/attacker part followed by the uke/defender part brings an entire form of understanding of the system. It will help create a symbiotic circuitry and expand your awareness.

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Varying speeds

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With dynamic tension/isometrics (look below)

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Changing directions with each set

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Blindfolded

When trained right, kata becomes an enacted ritual, opening one up to true initiation into the secrets of the system. And done right, they always lead you beyond the system.

The kata is the boat that can be used to cross the stream. Learn how to ride across and afar at will, and it can even take you to places you never imagined. While it is fashionable these days to laugh at kata, you will do so at the cost of your growth. Beware.

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I utilize this extensively, not just the aiki arts but my other pursuits as well, with significant effect.

3. Component Training In this method of solo training, break down very complex techniques into segments/components.

Drill them until you have smoothness in the technique and transitions. Now move to the next section.

Once you have the components worked, tie them up together and go into complete-form training.

4. Vary Your Speed Beginning students often try to do things very fast, and this is to their peril. If you cannot do something slow well, it is highly unlikely you will be able to do it well at all.

This lesson is often highlighted in the shooting world. If you have seen Mark Wahlberg’s movie, The Shooter, you hear the sniper’s creed, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” There is a lot of truth to it.

There have been so many occasions that Maestro James Keating has instructed me to “slow down some more, smoothen it out. Change the beat, the rhythm, the pace. Now do it some more.”

With this in mind, take your techniques and run them through:

a. various speeds (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%, and then a few reps of shooting for 110%—yes, you heard that right, aim for 110%); b. changing the rhythm of the training, using the beats of one technique to work the other.

In this way, you will develop a whole new way of learning the technique and learning YOU. The beginning of true liberation can begin here.

5.Carenza/Shadowboxing/Aerobic All arts have some form of shadowboxing. During shadowboxing is when you get to express yourself fully, perhaps even transcend your mother system.

Carenza, the Filipino term for “shadowboxing,” is only limited by your imagination. Some ideas include but are not limited to: a. hand skills b. legs only c. weapons (let your imagination soar) d. weapon in non-dominant hand e. working patterns in different levels of balance and resistance

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6. Resistance Training in Technique Not a very big fan of this, as many times it is performed incorrectly.

For example, adding weights on wrists and ankles changes the motion, feel, and timing of the techniques.

However, there are some delightful resistance methods one could employ. One drill I learned from martial brother Chris Charnos (an original Ed Hart and Jesse Glover student) is using cycle tubes to work on stricking practice. One advantage of this type of training is that it offers resistance throughout the motion and allows one to "feel pressure" and be able to apply "educated pressure."

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The trick, in my opinion, is to have a type of resistance that does not isolate any particular muscle but employs the whole body in every motion.

If you are "old-school," use bicycle inner tubes. If you consider yourself a "new-school" kind of practitioner, take a look at the Stoops and Python striker aid tools.

Remember, these tools will only do what YOU intend to do; in other words, you are still responsible.

Choose the drills and corresponding resistance systems carefully.

The most important rule for me is "whole body, not parts."

7. Aerobic and Anaerobic/Tabata Training/Insanity No gas and all your fighting goes down the drain. One does not rise to our aspirations; one sinks to the level of our training.

Consequently, this means working on all forms of aerobic and anaerobic training. Aerobic training entails working in the presence of oxygen to metabolize fuel. Anaerobic exercise involves working in the absence of oxygen, where muscle cells must rely on another process to fuel contractions.

Aerobic training provides the body the fuel to power your rocket ship.

Best to work this with sustained effort over time like running, doing multiple sets of kata, and maintaining a constant heartbeat.

Most fights will get into high-intensity scenarios. The high adrenalin rush that occurs during these situations will result in the body resorting to anaerobic forms of quickly metabolizing energy over short periods. During these scenarios, it is also crucial that one executes techniques in a controlled and deliberate manner.

The best way to cultivate this attribute is through a regime of sprints and techniques done to a Tabata methodology: 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). Now pick your favorite technique combinations and run them through the cycle.

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8. Methods

9. Stretching the Movements

Beginning with the advertisements in the back pages of a comic book where Charles Atlas promised he could turn a 98-pound weakling into a new man with his proven method, two other men’s programs shaped my thinking of physical conditioning. As a teenager, I came across Harry Wong’s book, Dynamic Strength.1 Both systems provided a solid base. Yet, it wasn’t until I began learning the "Morris" method of conditioning. Even at 70, his punches pack a solid wallop. He is truly a pioneer who is super hard to describe. Don’t take my word for it; look him up.

If isometrics forms one side of the spectrum, the other side would be what I call "feeling the stretch." In this method of solo training, I focus on the stretching/relaxation part of the drill. For example, when training punches, I focus on the full stretch of the biceps rather than the contraction of the triceps.

Rather than reiterate what I have learned from Mr. Morris, I will post the link to his excellent article here: https://www. facebook.com/morris.method/ posts/886476784715396.

1 Harry Wong, Dynamic Strength (Unique Publications, 1990).

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Run all your drills on this spectrum a few times if you want to introduce a new way of moving into your training. I learned this from Manong Ron Saturno. The full effect of this type of training is especially evident when working with weapons.

10. Inhabit the Opposite In the most basic sense, this entails cross-training in the exact opposite contexts of your favorite methods.

If you primarily train in a soft aiki or Chinese internal art, then sign up for lessons in Muay Thai or boxing.

If you are an empty-hands person, go work for a while only with weapons.

If you are a graceful art person, go workout in the functional effectiveness spectrum.

AND VICE VERSA. Not only will this enhance your understanding of your movement and perception theory, but it will also cause the body to develop new mechanosensory neurons in your muscles, expanding the range and variety of the potentiality of movement.

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11. Train with the Mind Srini Sastri Sensei hammered into me the habit of working the techniques in my mind every night as I was about to fall asleep.

Neuroscience research has long confirmed that this kind of training triggers the same portion of the brain that you would during actual movement and is proven to be a quick way to double your workout time by only using any time you have to "run with the mind."

To get a fuller understanding of these methods, look at the work coming from the former eastern bloc. An excellent place to start is the book Superlearning by Sheila Ostrandler2.

In many ways, autogenic training is similar to someone undergoing self-hypnosis: 1. Lie down and don’t move a muscle.

2. Start from your legs tense the whole body and then relax, move with this from legs to the top of your head, progressively relaxing each muscle.

3. Once fully relaxed, bring your consciousness to the front of 2 Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Superlearning (Delta/The Confucian Press, 1980).

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your head (where your third eye is) and start to project movies of what you want to learn.

4. Watch these movies from three perspectives. Perspective one: watch a film where you are the star and experiencing it firsthand. Perspective two: you are viewing the movie of you performing correctly. Perspective three: you are watching you watching the movie of you doing the methods. These tend to code into the body-mind in exciting ways.

This particular method is what worked best for me to move from a predominantly Japanese movement metaphor to a SE Asian metaphor. Try it, and you might amaze yourself with what is possible. (For a detailed understanding of these perspectives, look up "perceptual positions" and how to use them.)

12. Environmental Training

13. Learning Control

Work your forms in all weather and environments. If you cannot make it work everywhere, there are some serious reconsiderations you will be forced to make.

In my early training with Manong Saturno on "lock & block," I would make frequent contact and leave marks. Every time I hit him, I was both embarrassed at my lack of control and a little worried about his patience as my feeder. Manong maintained his composure and continued to feed me attacks in a kind manner.

As a starting point, take your favorite techniques and work them in: a. water b. slippery ground/grass c. mountains d. informal work clothing (not your gi) with formal shoes e. snow f. the dark You get the idea. See where you are least capable and figure out how to overcome the inadequacy.

One day he said, “maybe we get you to skip lunch every time you hit me,” and we both laughed.

That evening based on a conversation with him, I hit upon the idea of striking my lunch literally.

String my lunch fruit by a string and practice fast strikes to it, with one catch: do not touch the food.

Trust me; if you hit that apple or banana with a strike, you are not eating it.

Very quickly, this taught me good control with a weapon. And guess what, you can do this anytime with any number of techniques.

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14. Training for Distance and Timing The pendulum rocks it for this.

One of the critical innovations of Maestro Sonny Umpad was shared with me by one of his students, Maija Soderholm.

Hang a small weight by a string such that it swings with ease.

Now swing it as you execute your strikes/cuts against it while being in motion. Maintain your distance and manage your timing.

Exceptionally cheap to build. Fabulous return on investment.

Here is a clip of Maija flowing with the pendulum: https://youtu. be/P1ZFYdSFlxE.

15. Tennis Balls or Coconuts M-San was a hardened kenpo teacher who grew up in the "grey world" of post-war Taiwan. As such, his survival on the streets depended on solid skills. One of the ways he would teach evasion was to have us stand against a wall and throw full-size coconuts and tennis balls at us.

Our task was to avoid the ball and punch the coconut. Now I am not sure I would whole-heartedly recommend this strategy, but it makes you one hell of a "headhunter."

Every member of the training group got thrown out of more tournaments than I can remember—the reason being that everyone became skilled at evasion and good "headhunters."

You can use a modified method to attach handballs and coconuts to a double string (like a speedball) and then work on evading and striking with your stick/knife. If you are seeking the headhunting game, this will amplify your game manyfold.

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16. Ready-State Triggering

17. Handicap Training

Ready-state is what I call "being in the zone," ready to fight—n other words, a state of mind where your senses open up fully and the body is super relaxed, prepared to respond in the best possible way.

Handicap training revolves around getting one, two, or three limbs out of the game, and then performing with what is left. It is surprisingly tricky, and if you don’t train it, you will not be able to perform.

It is also about learning to control the fear/fight/flight state and being able to direct the body’s ability to perform under tension.

This drill where we would tie up limbs and then fight, came from Sastri Sensei. He taught us that “a samurai could lose a limb or two, but still has to perform. In his mind, he is already dead, but he still must perform, to protect and serve those who he loves.”

Although this state will not be attained magically after a lot of work, one will finally come to understand the syntax or how the body comes to arrive in this relaxed state.

Syntax—hat is the secret.

Pay close attention to how you get to this state: which muscles relax in what order, and what thinking/ language brings you to it.

Remember, you don’t rise to the occasion, you drop to the level of your training. And for this reason, don’t ignore it.

Create a chain that can be brought out on command.

Want to learn more? Study State Control from a top-rated NLP teacher.

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18. Sense Deprivation Training Take one of the senses out of the game as you train. For example, if you are working with your stick, some options are: •

work blindfolded;

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block out your breathing to 2030% (various pieces of equipment help with this);

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shut out your hearing completely;

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go into extreme weather and clothing to remove any "felt sense" of the world.

These methods will get you to move and use your proprioception in interesting ways, and improve your overall body-weapon connections and maps.

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“If you want to pursue mastery, you got to follow the 10000hour rule, meaning do more repetitions than most will even dream. You got to do it until you can’t get the methods wrong, even if you tried. For this, you need to create opportunities to train everywhere possible—and, most importantly, to train by yourself.”

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19. Big, Strong, Fast and Light In working with Mushtaq Ali Ansari, he shared a method of training from the Indonesian systems.

He often said, for you to learn how to wield the walking cane or the blades, follow the four-fold rule of learning: 1. Make your movements with the new principle/form big and slow to code the movements in.

2. Once you have the movement down, add power to the movement with coordinated breathing.

3. Next, layer in speed to your form.

4. Finally, make the whole movement light.

This particular syntax worked well for me as I worked with the walking cane and kampilan training.

Steal it, make it yours, and see the beauty of this old Cimande method to all your training.

20. Autosuggestion, Subliminal Training, and Clear Intentionality When working on a new skillset, clearly state in writing what you seek to achieve. Once you have done this, make it a point to mark out clear times in the day when you make this intention explicit via autosuggestions to self and moving the body into a state of all possibility. When you have reached this open state is where learning happens generatively. We all have this state where a glyph-like unfolding is possible, and thoughts cease.

Those who have trod these paths before us practiced moving meditation as part of their training.

And like those who came before us, we have to discover our unique syntax to this state.

Lastly, create your subliminal track with binaural beats to hammer these suggestions into your subconscious mind. These are methods used by the super-elite athletes around the world, so don’t deny yourself.

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At this point, my students asked, “Where do we start?”

“Whatever is most accessible to you, and calls you forth. For, it is about developing consistency in your training and using various methods to combat boredom and familiarity in training. The more methods you layer into your stick, or for that matter, any weapon training, the better will be your chances of learning a new skill and amplifying the results.”

Conclusion They all nodded as they kept taking notes, and it would be another few hours before we got home. This article was meant to shed light on some methods of personal solo training with your sticks, knives, or anything else. Use this as a starting point. Experiment and research what works best to unlock your unfolding in a glyph-like fashion. From this unfolding will your trust and expression emerge. May you offer the most beautiful of emotions into the world. Swing away.

- Mahipal Lunia

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Romeo Macapagal @romeo.macapagal.3

TATANG ILUSTRISIMO'S COMBAT EFFICIENCY THROUGH MEASURE Romeo Macapagal

ANTONIO “TATANG” Ilustrisimo’s system is based on an accurate management of measure which enables the precise placement of strikes directly onto the opponent, very rarely needing to parry their attack. This precision of measure is predicated on a principle of evading the attack by an inch,

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or un pulgada, thus enabling a simultaneous strike on the attacker without getting hit. There are body-to-body, weapon-to-body, weapon-to-weapon, and emptyhand-on-weapon-hand categories of measure.

The movements of such precise attacks are based on a Spanish fenc-

ing technique referred to as parada por romper de la distancia—literally, “parrying by destroying the opponent’s measure.” This allows the simultaneous strike on the opponent without wasting a beat to parry. This is combat efficiency.

Precise geometry is used in the analysis and study of the various distances, measures, and angles of

the combatants. The varying radius of a strike as it is delivered forehand, backhand, side-to-side, left or right, downwards or upwards, and at an angle, are closely studied so that one can be in a position from which to strike at the closest reach to the opponent while they lose their measure in their attack on you.

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Moving away from the strike while still remaining in a position to hit the opponent, the defender forgoes the need to parry the attack.

Foiling the opponent’s estimate of the distance sufficient to hit you by moving away while retaining your reach on him, requires only one strike from you, which reduces the number of beats needed to fulfill your technique. Movement that is needed to parry rather than to strike directly is wasted movement. Parrying requires one movement, striking after the par-

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ry requires another movement. By simply avoiding the strike, moving the targeted part of the body away from the strike, and hitting at the same time, efficiency is achieved.

The foundation of this efficiency is footwork. The footwork of Ilustrisimo is based on a geometric study of distance and angle, and on the changing reach of the arc of the opponent’s weapon as it is swung at you. As the opponent strikes forehand, his arc and reach reduces; as he strikes backhand, the reach

of his strike increases. Simultaneous striking when your opponent’s reach is the farthest from you and your reach is the closest to him is done by shifting your body position relative to the opponent with footwork. This is studied first in slow motion and then practiced at increasingly higher speeds in competitive drills with the use of proper protective equipment.

By moving to where the strike is exhausted, Tatang was able to get into a position where he could

reach his opponent and deliver a strike at the same time or just a split second after as the opponent struck. This requires perfect timing, which is always dictated by measure and personal reaction time in which to take advantage of an opponent’s opening or gap, either in his guard or in his attack.

The basic footwork of Ilustrisimo is called the elastico-retirada and the doble carrera. The elastico is a backward movement to the left to avoid a backhand strike by the op-

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opponent. This moves your body away from the strike. By raising the heel in the backward motion of the right foot, one is able to gain reach on the opponent while his strike falls short.

Against a direct overhead strike, there is also a retirada movement directly backwards, again to avoid the maximum reach of the arc of the strike while being able to deliver a mortal strike to the opponent at the same time. This backward movement can also be accomplished with an elastico directly backwards to exhaust the reach of the opponent’s strike while still being able to hit the opponent.

ponent. This means sitting down on the left leg and stretching out the right, so that one is able to avoid the arc of the opponent’s strike while still being able to reach out to him. The backward, leftward jump with the left leg stretches the body away from the strike.

The retirada is a backward movement to the right along the trajectory of a forehand strike by the

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The doble carrera are small, mincing footsteps either to the left or to the right, backwards and forwards, to adjust one’s measure precisely to the angle of the strike or thrust of the opponent so that, instead of parrying the weapon at close range, one is still able to simply strike the opponent (either in the head or in other lethal parts of the body), or at least disable the weapon hand or arm. In the meantime, with the doble carrera, the left hand is able to come into play to parry or control the weapon hand so that one can strike directly into the opponent, whether in the arm, the head, or other vital parts of the body.

There is a main concept of footwork, which is called the retirada de reloj (watch), so called because its eight lines that radiate from the center follow the directions of north-south, east-west, and the half angles in-between. One moves along these eight lines to get away from the strike of the attacker while attacking the hand or arm that is brought close to you in the course of the attack.

A horizontal forehand swinging cut is avoided by moving the right foot to 3 o’clock and swinging the left foot to the right, behind the right foot, thus exhausting the swinging forehand cut while cutting at the same time at the head, neck, or other targets. For a backhand horizontal cut, step to 9 o’clock with the left foot, swing the right foot behind the left, and as the strike is used up, strike available targets.

Standing in the center of these eight directions, one moves away from the direction of the cut by stepping along the line that continues the direction of the cut, keeping the supporting foot in place, and dragging that foot to keep body displacement still in line with the angle of the strike.

While direct backward retirada footwork is useful in avoiding forehand, vertical, and backhand strikes, horizontal strikes have more reach due to the pivot of the body on the spine that adds a half body-width to the reach of the attack. Thus, a movement along the line of the attack is needed to buy time and gain measure.

In general, the bottom half of the reloj is used when avoiding strikes.

A strike from overhead is avoided by going directly backward. A forehand cut is acted upon by stepping backwards and to the right with the angle of the cut and 15 degrees to the inside of the attack. A backhand strike at a 45-degree angle is avoided by stepping with the left leg/foot backwards and to the left, stretching the right knee while bending the left knee, sitting on that left leg.

By the same logic of the skeletal system, 45-degree upward cuts have one to three inches more reach, exhausting the strike beyond the 3 or 9 o’clock points. Thus, an upward 45-degree cut must be avoided by jumping forward 45 degrees to avoid getting hit while striking downwards at the attacking arm, either right or left. Again, the back foot is swung behind the forward foot enough to pivot the body to face the cut and bring one’s right hand close to the opponent’s right hand.

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Of the eight lines of the retirada de reloj, only seven lines to the side and back are used in reaction to an attack. The forward line at 12 o’clock is mostly used in attack.

The lines used repeatedly are right backwards, left backwards, and directly backwards, which become the most prevalent at medium measure. These are the elastico-retirada. The horizontal and forward movements are called bisagra or “hinge,” denoting the swinging motion of the supporting legs.

Strikes When the body is properly positioned by the retirada de reloj footwork, the corresponding strike must follow a narrow 15-degree angle to either inside (if forehand) or outside (if backhand), giving a clear, unimpeded line either to the arm, head, or body of the opponent.

At this largo range, one endeavors not to encounter the opponent’s weapon, opting instead for clear lines of strike to the opponent’s anatomy as much as possible. The closest targets would be the point of the shoulder, the bicep, elbow, forearm, wrist, and the strong of the opponent’s weapon (i.e. about the third of its length closest to the hand).

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Practicing Measure The feeder in an attack or lunge position places his weapon with pressure on the student. The weapon is placed on the top or to the side of the head or on the base of the neck of the student. Furthermore, the weapon can be placed either horizontally or at an angle.

The student moves away in a direct line opposite from the pressure, while, at the same time, endeavoring to place his weapon on the feeder. The student then is able to determine the proper measure, footwork, and angles of both the body and weapon(s) as the feeder’s weapon misses while the student’s weapon is able to have a sufficient disabling reach. These final adjustments are based on each player’s morphology, and are always an approximation of the theoretical lines and angles on the ground.

To begin with, the exercise is characterized by low pressure in terms of the speed used and reach or un-reach of measure. When the student is competent at low intensity pressure, protective gear is donned, and the exercise becomes a competitive drill.

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The Doble Carrera

Striking

These are small, mincing footsteps, about the person’s foot’s length. They are intended to adjust measure once contact is made at largo range to the hand or arm of the opponent. With the weak of one’s weapon (i.e. about the third of its length from the tip) at this measure, the hand and torso can be reached interchangeably. The left hand can also touch the wrist or elbow of the opponent. This is a period for rapid strikes at close range (medium range is simply a transition).

The “punch cut” is the best way to describe the Ilustrisimo tagang eskwalado, which means “a right angle cut (i.e. 90 degrees),” but it is really 120 degrees measured between forearm and weapon. The cut is not delivered in a circular trajectory; rather, the weapon is delivered in a straight line, with the weapon protecting the hand and arm. In contrast, in circular strikes, the hand arrives ahead of the weapon.

Both weapon and empty-hand movements coincide with every foot movement. At high speed, the feet stomp heavily on the ground, and then this footwork is called darag. This is done in order to startle and confuse the opponent, with sensory feedback from four limbs—sound with the feet, strike, and pressure from the arms. In Spanish fencing, this same action is called llamar.

The intention is to move to the opponent’s outside and onto his back. Your empty hand continuously pushes on the opponent’s arm, shoulder, and back all the while the weapon blows are rained on him.

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In a punch cut, the point and the length of the weapon are forward of the hand, protecting it. In a swing strike, the hand is ahead of the weapon, exposing it to parries and strikes.

The Guard The principle of having the weapon protect the hand and arm all the way to the shoulder dictates the vertical positioning of the high, middle, and low guards of Ilustrisimo.

The middle guard points what would be the striking edge of your weapon towards the hand of the opponent. A flat plane is imagined with the line of the weapon where the forearm and the shoulder are on one line. In this guard, one is constantly looking for an opening

into the opponent’s arm so that it can be struck unopposed while keeping one’s own arm protected at all times. This is achieved by footwork that is angled at either side of the opponent’s arm.

In the low guard, the point of your weapon is constantly pointed at the hand or face of the opponent.

In high guard, the weapon is pointed at the sky, with a straight arm, so that a strike at your body is easier, but foiled by a retirada or elastico.

Parries Except in a few instances, parries in Kalis Ilustrisimo are not meant to stop a strike. The main intention in weapon contact is to deflect the incoming weapon to get it out of play so that an extra beat has to be made to recover it and bring it back into play, thus exposing the opponent. Weapon-to-weapon contacts can be percussive, so that the attack is thrown out of its original trajectory, or, at close measure, guided along the length of either weapon.

- Romeo Macapagal

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