VOLUME 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 1
To thine own self be true
CONTENTS "To thine own self be true"
Vol. 1 - Stick Arts
14 Ron Saturno
Speed
34
52
72
Mark Mikita
Michael Blackgrave
Dexter Labonog
Cuentada: Learning to Prioritize in the Flow
The Long Pole: A Western Perspective
Bridges of Rattan, Bolos and Daggers
88
110
Mahipal Lunia
Burton Richardson
Hermit Training
Traditional Stick Fighting: Common Themes Oceans Apart
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130
150
Guido Caporizzi
Jeevan Gowda
Stick Fencing and Canne Italiana
An Interview with Sensei Sastri: Jo Jutsu Staff Techniques
162 Marc Denny
Dog Brothers Martial Arts’ Seven Ranges and Stick Grappling
180
208
226
Mark Human
Bryan Cannata
William McGrath
Applying stick fighting skills in the modern environment
Sticks and Chivalry
Tapada Staff
Contents | 3
From the Editors
LOOKING U
THE ROBES OF M WELCOME TO THE FIRST issue of the Immersion Review: a journal for the martial comprehensivists. You may wonder why anybody would put out a magazine now when everybody watches videos. And why publish another magazine on martial arts, when everybody knows if you want to know what the best martial art is, just try it out in the octagon and you will get your answer. ‘Hold on!’ others may say, martial arts are more than that; it can instill self-discipline, respect for others, and an honoring of tradition. These are all good points, I would respond, but the fights we know, people got jumped on by crowds, people fought with steel-toed boots, pieces of pipe, baseball bats,
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knives and an occasional revolver. Yes, martial arts can develop one’s character, but so could joining the Boy Scouts. Learning how to tie knots and identify clumps of poison ivy did not turn us into Junior Seal team-6 members, but it gave our parents a few hours free of us. The point is combative sports and raising good citizens has always played a minor role in martial art traditions of a community. The problem is now that these two minor aspects have taken center stage. As a result, people protected by their wealth and status ignore the fact that throughout the world, they rely on their ability to assault and dominate others to gain money or goods. Others successfully fight off assaults to
UP
MARS make it back home safe. Such is life at times. In a world where MMA gyms train competitive athletes, and martial art schools churn out healthy and respectful teenagers, there are still a few who hew to the old ways. They understand the training that is necessary to prepare someone for what is often one of the most frightening situations somebody can encounter; a real fight where you’re outnumbered, or weapons are involved. These types of fights might occur in several variable scenarios that should shape your response. The ways a soldier might clear a house full of enemy soldiers after his weapon jams are different, than
dealing with a group surrounding your wife and children in a mall parking lot. And this should differ from dealing with a drunk and angry friend. In all scenarios, though, one's responses should be quick, efficient, and effective, yet reasonable. However, the ability to dominate a situation is vital. If you can’t dominate a combative encounter, then all the other benefits of training are meaningless. And contrary to what many martial art teachers might say, most combative encounters are armed encounters. While jump spinning heel kicks and upside down reverse berimbolos to a heel hook have their place, an armed fight might not be the best place to try these moves out. From the Editors | 5
Being able to deal with a situation, get home, have a drink, relax, and get ready for work the next day is enough for many. However, for a few, their obsession to strip away all extraneous moves to perfect their combative skills becomes something of a quest. At some point in this journey, a simple set of trained responses to armed combat may become more than a couple of good moves; it transforms itself into art. It becomes a vehicle that can embody and reflect the maj6 | The Immersion Review
esty of a sunrise, the terror of a volcanic explosion, and the tragic beauty of a cheetah taking a down an impala through the effective, efficient and elegant use of combative principals to dominate a combative encounter. Over the centuries, many of those whose dedication to combative arts have risen to the level of an art form have codified their knowledges and passed them down. Many of these arts have died out along the way due
to catastrophic events, lack of interest, or students who just couldn’t ‘get it’. However, in this issue and those to come, the Immersion Foundation brings to you the ideas, the stories, the concepts, and the methods of those who have progressed much further on this journey then we have. Graciously they have come out of the shadows, back from the desert or come down from the mountains to encourage us, inspire us, and give us some advice to take a few more steps down this never-ending road to understand the truth of what lies at the root of all martial arts.
tack and riposte.
Opening this issue is the contribution from Ron Saturno. Blending an intense apprenticeship with Angel Cabales with recent scientific findings on physiology and neurology, Ron Saturno brings out the hidden knowledge buried in the most basic drills of serrada escrima in order to make their art more effective and efficient.
Solo training should be a key part of any martial artists training regime. Mahipal Lunia gives us a variety of solo training methods from various systems he has studied to cultivate specific skills we all need to take our skills to the next level.
Next in line, Mark Mikita’s article on cuentada advises us how to identify the logical progression of possibilities that arise when two weapons cross. From this event, he explains how this understanding can open your mind to the almost endless possibilities of countless applications of attack and counterat-
A common issue that arises among those who hew to the old ways to make it relevant to a new land and a new time. Michael Blackgrave tells us of his journey to showcase the advantages of any martial artist willing to adapt the six-and-a-half-point pole of WC to their training. In a wonderful and informative article recalling a disappearing Stockton, Dexter Labonog tells us how his teacher Leo Giron transformed his escrima to ensure its practicality and survival in the western world.
Burton Richardson takes us on a trek around the world to study the combative traditions of the Philippines and South Africa. Here he explores the commonalities and differences between two arts from these countries. In our opinion, Italy is a storehouse of combative traditions just waiting to be explored. Supporting this belief, Guido Caporizzi gives us a brief history of the
From the Editors | 7
martial arts of Southern Europe, specifically the role of stick fighting in Northern Italy and France. For years a group of dedicated men from this area have sought to preserve the hard-won knowledges of the old fighters yet find a way to ensure its popularity and continued existence in the 21rst century. In an interview with a man steeped in the Japanese battlefield arts of the samurai, Sensei Sastri answers some questions about his Ryu and the way energetics are used to charge and manipulate the jo. From the university of hard knocks on a thick skull known as the Dog Brothers gathering, Marc Denny breaks down and organizes what he sees as the seven ranges of combat. Here he urges us to take heed of all these ranges and have responses to each of them if you get in a fight or face the consequences of being unprepared. Forced to leave their lands and adapt to new ways, some rural Africans did better than others. Some turned to crime, and conversant with the stick and stabbing spear transposed their knowledge to modern weapons to make their way in the world. In this article, Mark Human describes how security officials in
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South Africa continue to adapt their training to deal with these people and their ways of fighting. Again, demonstrating how one expression of fundamental combative principles is often expressed in different ways, Bryan Cannata’s article gives the reader the history of another path to search and cultivate the truth of controlled fighting as a training tool. As the Dog Brothers took off on a journey based on the teachings from the old Filipino escrimadors to discover the truth of fighting, another group of North Americans looked backward to the pre-modern days of chivalric Europe to learn best how to hone one’s combative skills. Finally, one of the first generation of students of Leo Gaje of Pekiti Tirsia, William McGrath, teaches us a short spear form from the island of Cebu that he learned years ago. The roots of our ideas that led to this journal go back to the mid19th century during a time when European nations began expanding their reach around the globe. One problem that arose was that after hundreds of years of the supremacy of musketry, the sword and spear again came to the fore in European combat. The problem was no one remembered how to fight with these weap-
ons. The French turned to the Poles, who had a long experience fighting mounted warriors from Central Asia. England, on the other hand, turned to the Northwest of India, where insanely brave and disciplined warriors armed with swords, lances, and muskets wreaked havoc among English soldiers for many years. So, there was a practical need to learn how to fight with bladed weapons. Second, with the growing expansion of European exploration and colonization of
the world, the colonizers began to run across peoples who lived in varying forms of political and technological societies as if they were lost in time. This coincided with scientists' interest in evolution. And scientists turned to look at these people and rank these societies in an evolutionary ladder to show how the entire world will one day become modern and civilized like the West. Out of these two projects, Sir. R. F. Burton, who began his military service in India with
the 18th Bombay Native Infantry, blended the two interests. How do people arm themselves to fight? And what does the way people arm themselves and fight others tell us about the process of human evolution? He called this discipline Hoplology. Or the science of armed combat. The word derives from the big oval shield or hoplos that ancient Greek hoplite warriors once used to form a phalanx. Since then, the fortunes of this discipline have risen and fallen. Hoplology has taken many forms. But still, the fundamental question remains. How do people choose to arm themselves properly and fight? It is this question that drives 10 | The Immersion Review
The Immersion Foundation. Finally, some of you might wonder about the name. While the name might appear a little strange or cumbersome, however, it reflects a core concept regarding the way The Immersion Foundation approaches the study of combative arts. What we mean by the term Immersion is a complete deep dive into a modality or discipline to the point of being where the complete mind/ body/spirit is involved in the discipline. Moving to the term martial comprehensivists is a nod to Buckminster Fuller. Bucky coined the term comprehensivist to refer to someone who special-
izes in comprehending knowledge within the broadest possible framework. Bucky further added that a comprehensivist might periodically plunge very deeply into a narrow subject or specialized project; however, this is always a part of a much larger plan.” We follow that lead in our goal of becoming martial comprehensivists – developing as broad a framework of combat as possible while diving deep into our fascinations. But don’t let this take intellectualizing deter you from the wealth of wisdom gained through hard work that lies within these pages. Read, think, put down the magazine, and experiment with what the
Mahipal Lunia Executive Editor
authors are saying. Then pick up the magazine and read some more. Then write to tell us and what you found out. With help from the authors and the readers, we hope to bring out better, stronger, and more exciting material with every issue. Once we feel we have lost our mojo, our passion, we will shut the journal down. We are not going out like the Rolling Stones but more like the blues singer Robert Johnson or Little Walter. Struggling and playing with every ounce of passion we possess until the lights go out. Enjoy!
Michael J Ryan Editor-at-Large
From the Editors | 11
SPEED Ron Saturno
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” I say. It’s my mantra. When I practice escrima, I mentally repeat it again and again. It’s hard, damn hard to seamlessly transition from movement to movement during a spar smoothly and efficiently. It’s a very rare breed that can.
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Mark Mikita with Burton Richardson
I REMEMBER THINKING how cool it was going to be to have the skill to do what my teachers said I should be able to do, eventually; that being not only to disarm every incoming angle but also counter every disarm and counter-disarm attempted against me, all in a real fight with a tactically intelligent and actively resisting
opponent, as opposed to a choreographed drill with a cooperative and habitually acquiescent partner. The only problem was, while my teachers would go on and on about this mythical group of enlightened grand masters who could do such things with
Mark Mikita
CUENTADA
LEARNING TO PRIORITIZE
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A:
E IN THE FLOW
THE LONG POLE A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Michael Blackgrave
“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” - Leonardo Da Vinci
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Preface THE ARTICLE YOU are about to read will be on my understanding of the “luk dim boon quan” or “6 1/2-point pole”, “dragon pole,” “long pole” and how I use it. I approach this article as who I am, a westerner. I am not a master of the pole, just a humble practitioner who sees deep value in the long pole work of Wing Chun. I will present my approach to the pole, and more so, how I use it for my daily training and in daily life. The History There have been countless articles on the Wing Chun long pole, along with numerous premises as to where it originated. Many people believe the pole was used as a boat pusher by various individuals in the time of the ‘Red Boat Days.’ This premise holds in many ways. In those bygone days, river transportation was frequent; there had to be a simple way to propel the craft, and seeing how the boats would often use much shallower canals it was practical to use a long pole to propel a vessel. The pole is also believed by many to have doubled as a spear. The spear is an ancient weapon that comes in various lengths and adorned with multiple types of points, some steel, others carved
down, and fire-hardened wooden points. In ancient times, the possession of steel weapons by the common man were forbidden by the Qing dynasty. The Qing Dynasty, who persecuted the commoner of the time made it quite clear that the possession of a weapon was an offense punishable by death. The long pole was an everyday tool used by farmers, fishermen, and boatmen. A simple tool, it could also be utilized as a weapon quite easily. It would not take a considerable amount of skill to wield it in such a fashion, and it was simple enough to blend into daily life. So, which view is correct? In my opinion, they all hold merit as they all make practical sense. The pole as a weapon has been used in many formal systems, and informally by people who just picked it up and smashed someone in defense of oneself or one’s clan. While the history of the long pole and its inception into Wing Chun has always been a mystery, there is no doubt that this tool is both lethal, and in this writer’s opinion, the backbone of Wing Chun.
THE LONG POLE • Michael Blackgrave
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BRIDGES OF RATTAN, BOLOS AND DAGGERS Dexter Labonog
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA, known for its productive agriculture and immigrant population before the turn of the millennium, thrives today as a city trying to survive post-bankruptcy, the homeless population, and the cycle of impoverished families that continue from generation to generation. The notoriety of the nation’s city with the most homicides in a single year, the city with the nation’s most foreclosed homes and still there are signs of optimistic hopes for the city, a new hockey arena and now a basketball team, a new baseball park in downtown, food festivals, community events, and the efforts of local groups trying to preserve the little positive history Stockton is proud to hang on to.
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 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 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 aroun. It was hard to tell where classes were held. I later found out 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.
BRIDGES OF RATTAN, BOLOS AND DAGGERS • Dexter Labonog
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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."
HERMIT TRAINING • Mahipal Lunia | 89
TRADITIONAL STICK FIGHTING: COMMON THEMES OCEANS APART Burton Richardson
SINCE THE DAWN of time when two untrained human beings have picked up sticks and attempted to grievously harm one another, the resulting bludgeon-fest has always been predictable. They put the stick hands behind them, lower their heads, and step in with repeated forehand strikes to the noggin. Not pretty. Have two seasoned stick fighters spar, and you will see unique approaches unfold. Some styles will stay relatively stationary, some will circle on the periphery, and others will cut distinct angles. Certain styles call for a fighter to stand tall, and still others to crouch or kneel — all depending on environmental factors, such as the slope or the slipperiness of the ground beneath them. Methods from areas with a high rate of rainfall often prefer lower stances and simple
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footwork to mitigate slipping and falling, which can prove to be fatal during combat. The characteristics of the weapons used will also influence the style. Weight, length, and balance determine how the sticks are most efficiently wielded. One swings the massive Samoan “nifo’oti” war club with different body mechanics than a short Irish shillelagh. Cultural values also make an impact. In some regions, standing your ground “to battle it out” is the most fearless approach. Another group may esteem simplicity and efficacy, so movement and subterfuge are valued and emphasized. The range of possible factors give us distinct arts from which we can all appreciate and learn. But there are specific aspects common to traditional stick fighting systems, regardless of where in the world they originated.
There are two fundamental aspects of martial expression found worldwide ‘war-dances’ and ‘the fight.’ A war-dance may be choreographed or spontaneous. Sometimes it is both, where practitioners are free to rift off a learned pattern as they swing the sticks impressively or delightfully and sometimes both simultaneously. War-dances are done solo or with a partner in a manner where there is no actual attempt at dominating each other. Many war-dances have an indigenous musical accompaniment creating a rhythmic motion that is pleasing to the eye and beneficial to the body. Dancing brings people together so an entire village can socialize and strengthen familial bonds. The fight is where each partner does their best to dominate the other. The intensity varies between types of fighting. Fights can take place in many ways. They may range from relatively safe sparring, where controlled strikes or protective armor minimizes injuries. On the other end of the scale, they may engage in extreme sparring where the combatants have only their skills to protect themselves from serious injury. Traditionally, both dancing and fighting were emphasized in most stick fighting arts because it produced the chief desired result: an efficient, functional warrior.
TRADITIONAL STICK FIGHTING • Burton Richardson | 111
STICK FENCING AND CANNE ITALIANA Guido Caporizzi
The effectiveness of the cane can only derive from a broadly developed movement that launches it with vigor. Tightening the moulinet would mean depriving the sport of the cane of its substance. - Bernard Plasait, French savate champion and politician
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Stick Fencing and Canne Italiana Known in France as “la canne” and in England as a cane, the walking stick was a self-defense discipline practiced in Europe from the time of the Romans. Throughout history, the walking sized stick contests enjoyed a popularity between the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Particularly widespread in Italy and later in France, only from the second half of the nineteenth century was it practiced as a real regulated discipline. At first, it was restricted to military training in the Italian sale d’armes, as preparatory to the study of the saber, later spreading to the military barracks of France, Belgium, and Hungary. The diffusion of the French “la canne” in Italy was made by Maestro Zerboni who introduced it at the Andrea Doria Gymnastics Society in Genoa and by Maestro Manusardi in Lombardy. It should be noted, however, that the French canne was nothing more than the Italian stick fencing imported into France by the Italians during the Renaissance period and later revised by the French, though solely in terms
STICK FENCING AND CANNE ITALIANA • Guido Caporizzi | 131
AN INTERVIEW WITH
SENSEI SASTRI:
JO JUTSU STAFF TECHNIQUES Jeevan Gowda
RECENTLY I HAD the honor to sit down with my oldest martial arts teacher, Sensei Srinivasan Sastri. 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.
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Jeevan Gowda: So, what is the advantage of staff training? Sensei Sastri: 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!
AN INTERVIEW WITH SENSEI SASTRI • Jeevan Gowda | 151
DOG BROTHERS MARTIAL ARTS’ SEVEN RANGES AND STICK GRAPPLING Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny
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Does Grappling Happen in Stick Fights When our instructional series came out in 1993, one of the most controversial aspects was our use of BJJ influenced grappling. We heard things like, “You didn’t see that in the death matches in the Philippines!” or “Your grappling only happens because of your head and hand gear!” The first assertion is in error. Grappling did happen in stick fights in the Philippines. For example, I remember when GM Atillo of Balintawak Eskrima came to teach an evening seminar at the Inosanto Academy. One of the things GM Atillo was famous for was a fight in Cebu, which he lost to GM Cacoy Canete of Doce Pares.
DBMA SEVEN RANGES & STICK GRAPPLING • Marc Denny | 163
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 knobkerrie’s (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 have begun in a spirit of fun devolved into frayed tempers, 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.
APPLYING STICK FIGHTING SKILLS • Mark Human
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STICKS AND CHIVALRY Bryan Cannata
MOST MARTIAL ARTISTS are familiar with the work of the Dog Brothers and their dedication to full contact stick fighting or the various Filipino martial arts and their use of sticks in combat. Another lesser-known form of full-contact stick fighting has and is continuing to evolve across the world, this one with a medieval flavor. In Berkeley, California, on the first of May, 1966 a themed party was thrown, and a medieval tournament held. From that tournament, an entire martial art and culture grew. It is likely that right now, as you read this, on a field in a camp-
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ground or perhaps a public park or even someone’s backyard down the street, two people circle and stare at each other through the ocular openings of heavy iron or stainless steel helmets. Their breath even and controlled. Narrowed eyes measure the slightest movement or shift in weight. A gauntleted hand tightens against the grip of a 36-inch long rattan baton with markings to represent the edge of a sword. Wooden shields adjust fractions of an inch to cover a leg better. A foot shifts and sinews tighten. The tension in the air is palpable.
Photography: Tim Tyson
In a fraction of a second, one of the combatants explodes forward with speed surprising for a 200-pound man in 30 pounds of armor. Shields and bodies clash with a sound reminiscent of two cars in a head-on collision. One of the combatants nimbly sidesteps to gain position on the unprotected flank of his opponent. A baton lashes out. Its tip moving faster than the strike of a rattlesnake. The blow finds its target. The crack from the impact,
as loud as a gunshot, explodes through the air. The struck opponent shouts in a loud voice, ‘Good!” He then bows his head, takes a knee, and offers his baton, handle first to his opponent as an acknowledgment of defeat. The winner salutes the loser as the next contestants make ready. Or perhaps the two combatants reset for another pass.
STICKS AND CHIVALRY • Bryan Cannata | 209
TAPADA STAFF William McGrath
IT WAS DURING the summer around 1979 or 1980 that my Pekiti-Tirsia teacher, Leo T. Gaje, came back from one of his frequent trips to the Philippines with an interesting staff style he learned during his visit. He called the art “Tapada” and said he had learned it from an old man in a rural part of his home island of Negros. (Sorry, I don’t recall more than this. As a kid living in NYC, I wasn’t much interested in the staff at the time, and these techniques were from a different art than the main one I was training in).
Note: Tapada is a different art than the better known Tapado” from Romeo ‘Nono’ Mamar of Negros. Tapada uses a flexible rattan staff the same overall height as the user, while tapado uses a stiff hardwood staff that comes up around the height of the user’s elbow. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any information on Tapada through a Google search; but here are the techniques I learned.
The Staff Rattan is a vine and, therefore, tapers over its length. The most pronounced taper is near the base, where the vine exists the ground. You will need a rattan pole, a bit thicker at the base than the one you would use for one-hand use in Pekiti-Tirsia (for my XL size hands, this equals approximately 1/ 1/2 inches at the thickest end for a Tapada staff).
The staff should measure the same height as you and have some flex in it when you swing it quickly up and down-maybe not quite as much as a fishing pole-but pretty close to it. It’s the spring of a bending rattan staff that adds extra velocity and, therefore, the power to the uppercut portion of your strikes; and these uppercuts are the focus of this system.
Spacing - end
TAPADA STAFF • William McGrath
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