VOL 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 3
Maintaining & Reimagining Arts
For the martial arts comprehensivist
Top - Maxime Chouinard Bottom - Keegan Taylor
VOLUME 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 3
Maintaining & Reimagining Arts
218 Steaphen Fick
20
The European Quarterstaff
Maxime Chouinard & Nathan Featherstone
Bataireacht
196
240
Nicole Holzmann
Roger Norling
La Canne de Combat
Joachim Meyer, the 16th-Century Fencing Master
174 Alejandro Rodriguez Buenafuente
Juego de Palo Canario
Rondel Benjamin
92 Keegan Taylor
116
50
A Journey through the Monastery of Kalinda
Mahipal Lunia Speaks with Keegan Taylor
Warriodhood: A Deep Discussion
Kalinda
60 Mahipal Lunia Speaks with Rondel Benjamin
Life and Strife: An Ongoing Conversation
CONTENTS
Maintaining & Reimagining Arts
Vol. 1:3 - Stick Arts
138 Scott Park Phillips
Reclaiming the Magic of the Chinese Staff
150 Damon Honeycutt
Monkey Kung Fu Staff
164 David Giomi
Shaolin Staff in the 21st Century
296 Adam H. C. Myrie
Stick Fighting in North Africa
270 George E. Georgas
The Greek Stick/ Staff Fighting
318 Ethan Minor
The Bando Staff
MAINTAINING REIMAGINING AND TRANSLATING MARTIAL ARTS TURKU IS THE OLDEST CITY in Finland. This means that it also has the country’s oldest cathedral. Like many such large buildings, it was not completed in one generation, but was modified and made grander as the centuries went on. It is a constant reminder of past times, though, as is the city’s medieval castle that was host to royal intrigues of both Swedish and Polish kingdoms. The ruins of a bishop’s castle in the neighboring town tell of how such contests were not always peaceful.
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Like a medieval cathedral or castle, systems of martial arts need maintenance in order for them to be passed down through the centuries. This is particularly so, as technologies of fighting have long since made close-quarter combat less significant for victory in battle. Even the mighty walls of a castle can become obsolete when cannons can fire into its yard from a hill across a river, something unimaginable at the time of its construction. Yet, like a cathedral, some martial art systems are about
Editorial by Juha A. Vuori, Ph. D
more than the building or the technology they used to wield. Ways of fighting can contain philosophical, cosmological, and other forms of belief, and serve other functions beyond prowess in violent engagements. Indeed, forms of combat, even when performed ritualistically, in sport, or in theatrical forms, can work to join a community together. The simile of a cathedral can offer some insights into the longevity and passage through time of mar-
tial art systems, but it also has its limits. Indeed, people who train such systems are not as stationary as grand buildings. For example, the migration of people has meant transportation and translation of martial arts to new social, cultural, and political surroundings, too. A society where weapons like knives are ubiquitous affords different forms of individual civilian conflict from one where weapons are illegal. Concomitantly, not all arts are displayed in public for all to see or participate in. As such, forms
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of martial art have developed to serve certain needs, and these, too, can change with the times and as things around them evolve. Even the religion and its interpretation practiced in the Turku cathedral has not remained the same as the society and its mores around it have transformed. This has also affected who is allowed to use force on whom, and in which kinds of situations. While Europe is currently experiencing war that has caused a refugee and energy crisis and may yet result in famine elsewhere, the long trend has been the reduction of violence in societies around the world. While social, economic, and political disparities are perennial, most states limit the right and means of inflicting bodily harm on citizens. Far gone are the days when some members of society could be beaten, tortured, or even killed with impunity merely based on their social position, creed, or gender. When this happens today, it can gain worldwide attention. Even capital punishment is rare among the countries of today. Such a state of expanding negative peace in most societies has implications for martial arts, too; if the immediate use of a combative skill, especially in armed form, is less and less likely in the everyday, why
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should the art be maintained? Similarly, how can one find enough people that share an interest in carrying the knowledge forward when its practical use is becoming increasingly remote? The articles in this issue of the Immersion Review show how martial arts have been maintained and continually reimagined over the centuries to suit the needs of the holders of their legacy and those who choose to learn from them. Such passage through time and context raise questions about what is essential about an art, and about what gets lost when the art is transplanted to a new setting. Is it possible, or is it even wise to seek to popularize a once semi-restricted dangerous type of knowledge? Is it better perhaps, at times, to keep it, or versions of it, going through pre-modern face-to-face interaction, away from the gaze of the public? Some of the articles approach such questions by suggesting that it is better to maintain older forms of transmission, while others emphasize adaptation to contemporary mores and ways of conduct. This dilemma is not always a question of either/or, as while something is always lost in translation, it still retains something of the original.
[Photo credit: Mika Hanski, 2021]
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Forms of stick fighting that may have been quite popular and widely practiced have later become frowned upon in many societies. As the need for sticks in everyday life and the mores of societies have evolved, the practice of stick fighting has become rare, or disappeared altogether. Maxime Chouinard and Nathan Featherstone open this issue of the Immersion Review by presenting us with such a history in the case of bataireacht, or Irish stick fighting. While this martial art was at one time widely practiced to the extent of characterizing Irishness itself, it eventually became more obscure and has been removed from popular imaginaries. The art has been maintained in the margins, though, and is being adopted for use in mixed styles of stick fighting like the Dog Brothers Gatherings. The article goes through the living lineages of the art and how it is practiced, and lays out its future.
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Kalinda is an example of how stick fighting can be more than just about physical engagements. Rondel Benjamin introduces this way of fighting that encapsulates hybrid forms of African and Indian life that inform Trinidadian culture. Here, fighting with sticks is part of a larger system that incorporates spiritual, educational, cultural, and healing aspects. These also feature in the ongoing discussion on kalinda between Benjamin Rondel and Mahipal Lunia, some of which is provided for us here. For kalinda, maintaining ways of fighting is a way to recover old ways of being, heal the community, and rejoice in the building of a better future today. Indeed, Keegan Taylor tells us about his personal journey through the monastery of kalinda. The recounting and discussion of the deep meanings involved in a free-play with gilpins on a beach in Barbados between Taylor and Mahipal Lunia rounds off the special feature on this tradition in this issue of the Immersion Review.
Mentioning staff-fighting to an average person on the street in many parts of the world would probably evoke images of Shaolin monks. Indeed, China has a long recorded history that is replete with martial strife, and contains many philosophical and cosmological traditions. Accordingly, it is also its own microcosm of martial art systems and styles, as well as traditions of opera and theater that still display martial art elements. Scott Park Phillips makes a connection between popular comic theatrical performances of monks and Chinese literary classics. Together, they have informed the tradition of the staff work of Shaolin monks, but they were present in seasonal festivals that predate the famous temple. The play with staves served a ritualistic practical purpose in educating dragons to keep the weather harmonious in order to provide for good harvests. The sexual connotations of an enlarging and hardening staff have often been edited out of the play and performance, but Phillips makes an argument for reclaiming the magic of this tradition.
Damon Honeycutt presents us with a different take on the Journey to the West by discussing some of the staff work within monkey style kung fu, or the “cudgel of the great sage.” Here, the myth of the king is interweaved and informs the practical application of the various forms the staff can take. In this sense, the staff is about more than just a practical implement— it maintains cultural traditions. To round off the issue’s section on Chinese staff arts, David Giomi gives us a look into the pragmatic generation of chi energy in using the Shaolin staff in the 21st century. The staff works here as an implement for learning how to cultivate and concentrate the kinetic energy of the body.
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Traditions of martial art that have been maintained for centuries do not always agree on what is the correct form or interpretation of certain techniques or other aspects of the art. Such disagreements can also include the terminology used in the art, or even its name. Alejandro Rodriguez Buenafuente gives us a sense of this aspect of martial art maintenance through his documentary analysis of the juego de palo canario, a form of stick fighting practiced on the Canary Islands. People have varying motives for why they train martial arts, and such varying personal viewpoints can evolve into a tradition stranding off into directions that aim to maintain folk traditions while others prefer to treat the art as pure sport. Indeed, many martial arts have been developed for warfare or self-defense to later take on formal modes of sport. This is also the historical trajectory of la canne de combat that we are introduced to by Nicole Holzmann. La canne has its origins in sword fighting that was still part of how the more well-off warded off unwanted encounters on the streets of Paris up until the French revolution, which
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eventually banned sword carry from civilians. During the belle époque, the sword was replaced by an urban walking cane that took on the role of the sword in such encounters. With development in men’s fashion, canes became less common. At the same time, many masters of the art of la canne were lost to the World Wars. The tradition has been carried on to today in the form of a formal sport that Holzmann showcases for us. While some arts have been maintained, and made grander with the passage of time, forms of life around such constructions tend to transform at a quicker pace. Indeed, many forms of fighting have been lost to time. Still, some discontinued arts have left historical traces of their practice either in the form of archeological finds, cargo lists of ships, court records, or even manuscripts and treatises that concern the techniques of fighting. Beyond the maintenance of living martial traditions, such traces have allowed new generations to explore some aspects of these old forms of martial art.
Indeed, people are fascinated with past forms of life. The cathedral and castle of Turku form the backdrop for Turku’s annual medieval market where historians and archeologists from the University work together with blacksmiths, jewelers, other craftspeople, food vendors, and amateur actors to enliven and reenact the medieval history of the city. A part of the old town is cordoned off with wooden fences, and visitors can experience medieval sights and sounds. Luckily, the smells are limited to pigs roasting on a spit, and such savory smells as the sewage system are not reverted to quite so olden times.
[Photo credit: Mika Hanski, 2021]
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View of Turku Cathedral from Vartiovuori Hill. [Photo credit: Otto Jula (Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)]
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As interest in medieval ways of combat has increased in the 2000s, the market these days also hosts a medieval tourney with horse-men jousting with lances and armored individuals engaging in buhurts. In other parts of Finland, there are also Viking markets, where groups of people engage in scripted Vikings-versus-city-guard engagements with appropriate gear. Indeed, interest in recreating old weapons, armor, ships, siege machines, and even entire medieval castles using technologies available at the time has concomitantly led to an interest in reenacting ways of using these new-old artifacts. As the professional historians involved in this type of enlivening and embodiment of cultural history tell us, reconstructing a lived past is not possible. Written history is inevitably a narrative reimagining of past events and ways of being. The same holds for archaeology. The traces of the past cannot render a full account of what actually happened, and particularly what they meant at the time. Indeed, even the international organization involved in the embodied reenactment of mainly European history before 1600 is jestfully named the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Hoplologists interested in past forms of combat that may have since been abandoned face the same issues and hurdles in their research. HEMA has become an established form of martial art, yet even its practitioners realize that embodying weapon techniques from manuals is a reimagining of movements and uses of techniques. While the medieval tourney-enactments in Turku are informed by HEMA practice, there is no such basis for the Viking fighting arts. While there are numerous Viking artifacts that include swords, there is essentially only one tapestry that visually describes the way they fought. Not all cultures have produced drawn or written records of their ways of fighting. Discussion on this aspect of contemporary martial art practice in this issue begins with Steaphen Fick’s historical review of European uses of the quarterstaff. The article gives a summary of European manuscripts on long weapons through several centuries and is a great introductory resource for anyone who wants to conduct their own explorations into these historical records and the forms of fighting in them.
Editorial | 13
Roger Norling follows this general review with a more focused introduction of how Joachim Meyer presented the use of polearms in his weapon manuals from the 16th century. When reimagining such ways of fighting, it is prudent to take into account the weapon technologies of the time, the context of combat, as well as the laws and customs that concerned armed combat. These provide for vital insights for the practical testing out of the techniques and mechanics described in the treatises themselves. George E. Georgas leads us into Greek uses of staves in fighting. Ways of fighting are not only depicted in manuscripts, but myths, legends, and stories also indicate how weapons have been used in earlier times. The article once again points to the importance of historical and political context in discussing how various periods of occupation and changes in ways of war impacted the use of staves for fighting. Still, staves and skill in fencing could come in handy even in the 20th century, when knives were used as the implements of political assassinations and attempts at them, as Georgas recounts one such attempt that took place in Japan.
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Adam H. C. Myrie’s article explores the use of sticks in ancient Egypt and the Maghreb region through the history, basic techniques, and the current place of stick fighting there. This represents North African efforts to preserve the history of fighting arts based on research of oral and other non-written forms of passing on traditions. This work has then been formalized within associations as ways of training, and published in newly written manuscripts. Once again, the training and traditions have taken on different forms that can emphasize sport activities or more cultural forms. Ethan Minor presents the past and current ways of applying the bando staff as it has been used in Myanmar. Staves have not only been ways of self-defense or combat in conflict, but they have also had more civilian uses in maintaining health, procuring food, moving in environments, and providing shelter. Like with so many other forms of combat, the same implements can be used to both hurt and heal when it comes to the staff. Accordingly, there is a close connection between the staff and its user, beginning from the manufacturing and choosing of the staff to its practical application.
Reimagining forms of martial art properly requires the same kind of sensitivity as transcultural ethnography, anthropology, or study of history. Indeed, a hoplologist needs to be wary of the possibility of succumbing to “cultural colonialism” in their investigation. Explorers should not assume or impose universal ideologies or values, even when things can be tested out competitively “in the cage.” Whether one is studying hoplology within maintained systems of martial art or exploring historical forms with discontinuities, there is a need to do so within a shared space of understanding among cultures that requires a perpetual task of translation and reworking of one’s particular position. When this is done properly, a hoplologist may transcend one’s own culture in the evaluation of one’s own and others’ cultures through their ways of fighting. This is so
despite the fact that different cultures have different standards for the admissibility of ideas, whether those concern cosmology, religion, philosophy, or other standards of knowledge. Academics have the luxury of distance and set standards for their practices of research. The practitioners and keepers of an art, though, inescapably face the dilemma of translation through time and culture. How does one maintain arts that were developed and used in wild frontiers when a specific type of expressive honor-bound masculinity was tied to celebrating extremely risky behaviors, such as gambling, excessive drinking, and public acts of violence? The establishment of a modern centralized government has often meant the end of this type of general masculine behavior and the retreating of such activities to the corners of so-
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ciety. Practices of class and other social stations, as well as systems of honor in mainstream or more marginal parts of society, have also had a bearing on forms of martial art. Some forms of art have lost living connections to their roots entirely, yet have been resurrected by later generations, which may allow for more diverse groups of practitioners to partake in the art. Those who pick up the mantle after a long disjuncture see such lost arts as still providing benefits to a practitioner in a contemporary world. Yet, what is lost in these types of moves? Do deadly arts that have survived or that have been resurrected inevitably merely become a folkloric dance bereft of all risk and danger? What would this mean for the future of martial arts? As full-contact combat sport—whether armed or not— has shown, though, these types of activities are not without even the risk of death. Indeed, it is problematic to demonize the sportification of an art. Sportifying an art is not all about loss; it can still maintain
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the memory of past forms of being and allow for risky behaviors and contests among people so inclined. At the same time, sportification, like festivalization, can serve political purposes when connected to nationalistic ideologies and ideas of martial bodies. Indeed, society, culture, and politics all matter for practicing martial arts, and for understanding them academically. Accordingly, many arts have been kept within families, tribes, or other restricted groups while maintaining different moralities from those found in mainstream society. Such arts have been quite effective in particular times and places. The issue remains what happens when such traditional forms of transmission are continued, when they are reinvented, or sportified. What is retained, and what is lost in their translation? Answers here depend on the reasons for why someone trains, teaches, or maintains an art by other means. Is the purpose practical application, intellectual or spiritual enlightenment, sport or other forms of competition, cul-
tural discovery or appreciation, self-expression, or simply physical exercise? All are valid reasons and result in various views on what is the essential part of an art to maintain or transform. Similarly, is the context for the use of an art military, constabulary, or civilian? Is the art used to serve, or has it been appropriated by the state, or is it used to work against forms of oppression, whether sanctioned or not by the state? Is the practitioner committed to work within the law, bend the rules or mores of mainstream society, or even break the law? As the articles in this issue have also shown, a martial art can be deployed to suppress communities, but it may also be a means of resistance against such structures. Indeed, a martial art can be about more than its combative aspects. It can be about recognition, healing, community, and spirituality, about maintaining, reimagining, and translating ways of being.
Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D @ juha.vuori.54
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BATAIREACHT A ONCE-FAMOUS IRISH MARTIAL ART COMING BACK TO LIFE Maxime Chouinard & Nathan Featherstone
IF YOU GO TO IRELAND today, it is unlikely that most of the people you will meet will be aware that a martial art was once extremely popular in their homeland. Mention that it was called bataireacht, and you will undoubtedly raise eyebrows. Explain that this was the art of using the shillelagh, and you will get many varied reactions.
BATAIREACHT
· Maxime Chouinard & Nathan Featherstone | 21
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KALINDA AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TRINIDADIAN STICKFIGHTING ART Rondel Benjamin
THE ART OF KALINDA IS AN ancient art form traditionally played in Trinidad and Tobago during the carnival period from January to February. It is uniquely indigenous to the island but interestingly blended with various elements of visiting fighting arts from other diasporas and cultures, such as gatka from the Sikh Indian traditions and some Venezuelan garrote.
KALINDA INTRO
· Rondel Benjamin | 51
The conversation below is part of a larger project of The Immersion Foundtion, for putting two long-term practitioners of martial art traditions in dialogue with each other in order to: 1) push them to explain aspects of their art in greater depth; 2) to push each other to bring out other equally interesting aspects of their art they both find interesting; 3) and finally to find a common ground where these arts or their concepts come together.
Benji: I would like to lay out the structure of what we are doing in the Bois Academy. I think this will allow us to see some of the key concepts and core areas of study that we use. The Bois Academy is a collection of practitioners of the three central kalinda arts. As practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, kalinda comprises stick fighting, also known as the bois, the gilpin or machete or
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LIFE & STRIFE AN ONGOING CONVERSATION Mahipal Lunia Speaks with Rondel Benjamin
[Photo courtesy of Maria Nunes, 2015]
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MONASTERY OF
KALINDA Keegan Taylor
[Photo courtesy of Maria Nunes, 2015]
KALINDA, ALSO KNOWN AS “stickfighting” in Trinidad, is a martial tradition involving two batonierres, or bois men, competing for warrior supremacy by exchanging licks and blows with skill and strategy in an attempt to subdue or draw first blood from their opponent. I have played the game for more than a decade. I consider myself a diligent student of the game, its methodology, history, and the unique and varied elements making up the tradition.
MONASTERY OF KALINDA
· Keegan Taylor | 93
WARRIORHOOD A DEEP DISCUSSION
Mahipal Lunia Speaks with Keegan Taylor During their interview with Michael J. Ryan, Keegan Taylor and Mahipal Lunia discuss the dangers of digital forms of teaching martial arts and their play with live cutlasses during the Barbados expedition.
RECLAIMING THE MAGIC OF THE
CHINESE STAFF Scott Park Phillips
THE FIGHTING STICK IS the magical weapon of Sun Wukong, the wild-enchanted monkey of China’s religious theater tradition, worshipped and adored by people of all ages. Sun Wukong is an Indian yoga master much like Hanuman and a Buddhist initiate, who achieves enlightenment, and whose name implies opposites—a
dumb-vain personality and a sage emptiness. He is the model of an Iron Body Master, a form of training that makes the body impenetrable and indestructible. Sun Wukong’s staff is the weapon of the fighting Chan Buddhist monks of Shaolin Monastery. Shaolin was an austere religious institution with a large orphanage and
MONKEY STAFF & THEATER
· Scott Park Phillips | 139
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
MONKEY KUNG FU STAFF
· Damon Honeycutt | 151
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.
SHAOLIN STAFF
· David Giomi | 165
DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE
JUEGO DE PALO CANARIO Alejandro Rodriguez Buenafuente
Translated by Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D. Generational Transmission: Ángel González Torres (1949), Tomás Deniz Hernández (19001983), Nicolás Morales Martín (1865- 1944), José Morales Martín (1854-1935), Pedro Pestana Gevara (1832-1905)
THE JUEGO DE PALO OR THE juego de garrote is a tradition stretching back centuries. On the Canary Islands, when two people demonstrate their skills of the juego de palo in private, or more often in front of an appreciative public, the intensity of these matches can vary. Matches can range from a performance-oriented exhibition during celebrations to a match with a more severe intent that might occur during a more private duel. In the Canary Islands, beginning around the middle of the 1970s, there have been several ongoing disagreements over the terminology and techniques of the juego de palo canario. These disagreements have, thanks to the internet, even turned into transnational debates. As a result, there is a broad range of opinions about the art ranging from the introduction of “invent-
JUEGO DE PALO CANARIO
· Alejandro Rodriguez Buenafuente | 175
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-
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-
THE USE OF POLEARMS:
JOACHIM MEYER, THE 16TH-CENTURY FENCING MASTER Roger Norling
JOACHIM MEYER WAS BORN in 1537 in Basel of today’s Switzerland. His father, Jakob, was likely a papermaker and a cutler and may have moved to nearby Straßburg sometime before 1560. Joachim Meyer was noted as a burger and cutler in Straßburg in 1560 when he married a widow named Appolonia Ruhlman. In his short, 34-year life, he became a renowned fencing master, teaching burgers, dukes, and princes and authoring five or six extensive fencing treatises, three
Portrait of Joachim Meyer, from Gründtliche Beschreibung der . . . Kunst des Fechtens (1570), public domain. [Courtesy of Wiktenauer by HEMA Alliance]
MEYER & POLEARMS
· Roger Norling | 241
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.
GREEK STAFF
· George E. Georgas | 271
STICK FIGHTING IN NORTH AFRICA THE FUNDAMENTALS OF COMBAT
Adam H. C. Myrie
IT WOULD BE AN UNDERstatement to say that there are a plethora of martial arts the world over that almost every culture possesses a fighting system. Through dance, dueling, self-defense, or warfare, swords, knives, spears, axes, cudgels, and even bare hands and feet are tools for inflicting or simulating violence. The stick is one tool in the vast array of options available to the aspiring and practiced martial artist that is almost universal across all systems. A simple, usually straight piece of wood in varying dimensions acts as a weapon or a safer analog for other weapon systems. The stick is among the most versatile training tools for weapon-based martial arts, as the limits of what it can represent are bound only by the practitioner’s imagination. The stick is ubiquitous in North Africa, where over 5,000 years’ worth of traditions involve using the stick to train for other weapons of war, settle personal grievances, and carry into battle. Two of the most well-known and ancient forms of stick fighting in North Africa are tahtib and el matreg. As mentioned above, from Egypt and through the Maghreb, these two ancient arts have served in all three ca-
pacities. Among the tombs dating back to the days of the pharaohs are wall paintings representing different forms of Egyptian stick fighting. Tahtib, or Egyptian stick fighting, served as one of the three core disciplines in ancient military training. Here in this article, we will cover the use of Egyptian and Maghrebi stick fighting as training tools for other weapon systems through exploring their history, basic techniques, and current place in the modern world. A Point about Sources Before delving further into the topic at hand, there is an elephant in the room to be addressed: sources. While Africa’s continent’s history and martial traditions are ancient, these communities did not rely on the written word to transmit knowledge to future generations. While North Africa has an admirable record of keeping written accounts through scrolls, manuscripts, and stone tablets, this was not the principal method to transmit this type of knowledge. Oral history is still an essential aspect of culture throughout the continent through direct lineages of training, poetry, historical epics, song, and dance. Written accounts
NORTH AFRICAN STICK
· Adam H. C. Myrie | 297
Ethan Minor
THE BANDO STAFF HISTORY AND APPLICATIONS:
PAST & PRESENT SURVIVAL! SURVIVAL IS THE mother of necessity. The internal drive to survive has been an instinctual imperative for both humans and animals throughout history. Through the gift of instinct, humans have discovered myriad ways to ensure their survival and that of their clan. This quest for survival led humans to utilize the natural resources available to
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them to their advantage. The staff, which is just a very nice stick, has been an essential tool for survival since early Homo descended from the trees to the savannas. The ubiquitous stick can dig up roots, finish off wounded animals, and threaten those seeking to harm them. The stick underwent a re-purposing and discovery of new purposes as early Homo evolved into
VOL 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 4
The Ring of Fire Part 1
For the martial arts comprehensivist
Top Left - Te Waitere Jason Paahi Top Right - Riichi Kitano Bottom - Michelle Manu
VOLUME 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 4
The Ring of Fire Part 1
56 Michael Belzer
My Path to Menkyo
146 Dr. Michel Farivar
Geijin Ryu Staff Arts
238 Riichi Kitano
Katori Shinto Ryu
210 Mukatder Gül, Ph.D
The Wing Chun Long Pole
38
Daniel Schultz
Drunken Boxing: The Staff
228
Scott Meredith
Yiquan Staff Energy
CONTENTS
Vol. 1:4 - Stick Arts
The Ring of Fire, Part 1
14 Michelle Manu
Secrets of the Lua
102 Andrea Rollo
Various Types of Fighting in Filipino Martial Arts: Modernity and Tradition
262 Michael Mulconery
The One and the Many: Hawaiian Tobosa System
Michael Mulconery
136
Romeo Macapagal
Tatang Ilustrisimo's Combat Efficiency through Measure
222
Roedy Wiranatakusumah & Gending Raspuzi
History and Development of Ulin Limbuhan
166 Te Waitere Jason Paahi
Traditional Māori Martial Arts
334
The “Barabara” and Basic Long-Weapon Approach
MARTIAL ARTS IN THE
RING OF FIRE THIS ISSUE OF THE Immersion Review steps into the Ring of Fire. Even today, the notion of martial arts tends to bring to mind mainly East Asian forms of armed or unarmed fighting. Those versed deeper in the field may include Southeast Asian forms in their denotations. Still, despite these persistent imaginaries, martial arts can be found all around the world and, indeed, all around the Pacific. In the present issue of the Review, we trace the seams of the Pacific tectonic plates, the literal Ring
4 | The Immersion Review
of Fire, and cover arts all the way from Hawai’i, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China, to Japan. This journey through the fiery seams of the Pacific presents us with some of the panoply of fascinating indigenous forms of fighting that can be found within the ring. This issue includes many firsts. Although widely practiced outside Japan, Katori Shinto ryu has remained secretive about the advanced understanding of their tactics and techniques. In this issue,
From the Editors
though, we get some sense of ways of using long weapons in this art with a century-long unbroken lineage of teachers and teachings. We will also get to read about two lesser-known indigenous arts, namely Ku’ialua, the ancient combat art of the people of Hawai’i, and Mau Rakau, the traditional Māori fighting art from New Zealand. Martial art systems in the Ring of Fire are not only about physical confrontations and prowess in them. Indeed, maintaining the legacy of a martial art system can
also be about maintaining forms of life, and maintaining communities. Kumu Manu opens this issue of the Immersion Review by presenting us with the history and weaponry of Ku’ialua, the ancient combat art of the indigenous people of Hawai’i. Even though its public display was for a time forced underground, it remained a means to maintain forms of commitment, honor, integrity, respect, and perseverance as forms of life. The article provides us with a view on various combat tactics and the implements used in Lua.
Editorial | 5
Our next stop is in China, where Daniel Schultz shows us how the staff is used in the style of Drunken boxing. Shultz goes through the three common ways of using the staff in Chinese arts, namely the dragon pole or single-ended staff, the box or double-ended staff, and the old man staff. These ways of holding the staff accord with the progression of a practitioner from an “infant” to a “cocky teen,” and finally to an “old man.” Like with many other forms of Chinese staff arts, its applications in Drunken boxing concern profound principles and philosophical ideas. Our exploration of Japanese arts begins with how Michael Belzer, who has had an important role in preserving Donn F. Draeger’s hoplological archive, describes his path to the rank of menkyo in Shindo Muso ryu jojutsu. The beginnings of this journey go back all the way to the 1970s, and show a glimpse to a past era of martial training and pioneering international exploration of Japanese martial arts. Belzer’s path also showcases the multiple aspects of Japanese martial
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culture that go beyond the use of weapons and unarmed techniques, like the value of learning calligraphy. Indeed, training martial arts can be as much about culture and philosophy as fighting skills. Andrea Rollo begins the presentation of Southeast Asian arts with a discussion of different formats of stick dueling in the Philippines. Indeed, agreed-upon engagements with sticks have abided by a great number of different rules or conventions. Some sports associations have detailed rules for giving points in matches, yet the times of old had shared understanding of what was appropriate in different types of stick fights, and what the criteria of winning were. Fights could consist of merely “marking” a place where there would have been a hit to “full play” where nothing was out of bounds. Rollo suggests that this is the origin of the notion of the legendary “death matches” retold outside the Philippines. As such, death did occur as a result of such duels, but it was not always a necessity. Indeed, stick duels could range from friendly
[Photo credit: The Ring Of Fire by GaryMachen]
plays between masters to serious challenges where the health and life of the players was at stake. Full duels were not always limited to the use of sticks. Indeed, one legendary figure of such contests was Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo. Accordingly, the Southeast Asian leg of our journey in the ring continues with Romeo Macapagal’s discussion of measure in Ilustrisimo’s fighting system. While there are multiple categories of measure,
the most famous one is to have the opponent miss you by “one inch” while you are able to reach them with deadly effect. The mastery of simple movements taken at the right time and at the right place requires a thorough investigation of geometry and efficiency. Moving away from an attack, while doing a riposte without a parry, is one of the most important—and impressive—means of gaining such efficiency in combative engagements.
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The secret to such mastery can be found in the deployment of correct footwork like the elastico-retirada and the doble carrera. Simplicity and effectiveness is emphasized in Illustrisimo’s system. Physiological functionality is also essential in the principles at play in Geijin ryu staff arts that are introduced to us by Michel Farivar. The art emphasizes the seamless transition between armed and unarmed techniques. At the same time, blocking is avoided as it hinders the flow of energy in the bodily movement. This is particularly important as Genjin ryu explores how parts and elements of the human body align in movement and deployment of techniques. Unlike in many Okinawan and Chinese martial arts, Genjin ryu does not have any solo forms, or kata, but uses partnered exercises as a form of bodily discussion. The art also does not work through categorization, but through sensory experience in applied scenarios that aim at realism.
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Allowing us a rare glimpse into Māori forms of fighting, Te Waitere Jason Paahi starts his discussion with Mau Rakau, the traditional Māori art of wielding the taiaha, a two-handed flat “bladed” hardwood weapon. This, however, is only the beginning as he situates Mau Rakau in the much wider context of the Māori warrior culture. This, in turn, contains a comprehensive set of weapons and a holistic worldview, constituting a form of life comparable—and rivaling— that of the classical Japanese weapon arts. As such, these arts are also seen as a cultural revival of “the old ways” resulting in healthier and more resilient communities. Mukatder Gül gives us insight on Wing Chun kung fu’s use of the sixand-a-half-point long pole form from the Ip Man – Ip Ching lineage. He argues that the roots of the long pole form date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s and the famous Red Boat Opera Company. When using the pole as a weapon (or, indeed, the system as a whole), key factors in play are simplicity, effectiveness, and explosiveness.
Furthermore, Gül discusses the ways in which the long pole training connects to and improves all the understanding contained in the first four forms of the system. He also argues that, unfortunately, the true form has been lost in some Wing Chun lineages. Roedy Wiranatakusumah and Gending Raspuzi shed light on the history and development of Ulin Limbuhan, a style of pencak silat specializing—perhaps surprisingly in the context of Indonesian arts— in the use of sticks. The roots of the art, however, are deeply in traditional West Javanese forms of silat. The founder of the system, Gending Raspuzi, came to realize the interconnectedness between, firstly, armed and unarmed training and, secondly, different training forms, or jurus. He also gives us a brief outline of the structure of the Ulin Limbuhan system. Scott Meredith describes the physical and energetic dynamics of Yiquan long staff training for internal energy. Although the art is historically derived from Xingy-
iquan, the training methodologies of these two arts are quite different. At first glance, Yiquan seems to begin from a rather abstract and pared-down form of solo training. At a closer look, though, the three seemingly simple exercises described by Meredith contain a wealth of concepts and ideas to start one on the path to understanding this unique art. Our journey also includes rare insights into Katori Shinto ryu’s use of long weapons from Riichi Kitano. The weapons discussed here include the yari and naginata. Indeed, while Katori Shinto ryu is perhaps most well-known for its use of the katana sword, the art consists of training with multiple weapons. When engaged in battle, a samurai had to be prepared to handle situations where their spear tips were broken and the yari essentially turned into a bo staff. Such flexibility on a battlefield requires training that supports encounters with asymmetric weapons and the use of various different types of weapons. While the weapons of the samurai are no longer in
Editorial | 9
everyday use, training with them— and thus following the principles of Katori Shinto ryu—can still instill a practitioner with confidence that translates into other aspects of life beyond combat.
set required to speak the language of Casag fluently. Mulconery finishes the exploration of Casag with a brief introduction to ways of using the barabara (staff) on its own, or as part of Casag.
Michael Mulconery provides us with a long article on Casag and the Tobosa School of Arnis-Kali-Escrima from Hawai’i. His is a rare and detailed insight into the formative years, multiple influences, and comprehensive martial arts background of the Tobosas, leading, first to the KAJI Kumi system and finally to Estilo Casag. The strategy of Casag is quite simply to use all of the eight directions to drive an opponent to angles that disadvantage them. Still, simple does not mean easy. This strategy requires one to be able to immediately translate one’s responses according to the relative distances and positions—“to speak with meaning in all situations,” to paraphrase the writer. What follows is an analysis of the different strategies, tactics, and training methodologies, not to mention the mind-
All in all, our brief tour of martial arts in the Pacific has veered open the door of some secretive martial traditions, shed light on different ways of fighting with sticks, and shared insights from personal martial art journeys. Despite the persistence of the Asian martial art imaginary, the richness of other martial traditions, too, is beginning to come to light. Like the tectonic plates of the Ring of Fire, hoplology shifts to produce new heights in comprehending the pluralities of human combatives and martial arts.
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Mahipal Lunia Executive Editor
Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Managing Editor
Mika Harju-Seppänen Managing Editor
Editorial | 11
“BY THE 18TH CENTURY, each major island chiefdom had a Hālau Ku’ialua where was taught the martial arts science blending harmony of the loina wahine a me loina kāne (duality in nature) with mauliola (harmony of life’s principle) and with evenly balanced intellect, spirit, and emotion. As a physical art, the purest form of Ku'ialua comprises the arts of lima hāmama (open-handed techniques), including defensive and offensive strategy, stealth, invisibility, ritual participation, and ceremonial dance. Knowledge surrounding the ‘oihana lapa’au (medicinal profession), ‘oihana limalima (physiotherapy), hahā (diagnostics), ha’iha’i (acupressure and osteopathy), and mea ai (diet) completed the picture. At the onset of the seventeenth century, maximized armed tactics were introduced, augmenting the function of all major weapons, altering the warrior’s fighting style from that time onward.”1
SECRETS OF THE
LUA
Michelle Manu
DRUNKEN BOXING THE STAFF Daniel Schultz
THE STAFF IS ONE OF THE most common and fundamental weapons found in many Asian martial arts. It has evolved from a simple walking stick into an improvised weapon like other weapons have. Throughout history, we see that evolution, from simple weapons like tying a stick to a rock together to make a mace, and later to the development of spears, swords, and other polearms. Yet the staff remains unchanged—it is essentially a big stick. You would not
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DRUNKEN BOXING
· Daniel Schultz | 39
MY PATH TO
JODO MENKYO Michael Belzer
WHY SHINDO MUSO RYU? Over the past decade, I have dedicated myself to walking the path of jojutsu—the art of Japanese stick fighting. I could not have had a better introduction to the art than when I was 18 years old and training at the Rembukan dojo in 1974 under the 25th Headmaster, Shimizu Takaji, and later in 1979 under Donn F. Draeger Sensei in Malaysia. Although I was occasionally able to pick up a jo and practice with some folks between 1979 and 2007 (a break of 28 years), I really thought that my experience in Shindo
Muso ryu was limited to an excellent introduction and that was the end of that chapter in my martial career. As fate would have it, in 2007 I took my wife, Meredith, on a trip to Kyoto. While I was in Japan, I took the opportunity to visit Otake Sensei of the Katori Shinto ryu and also Ono Sensei of the Takenouchi ryu. The experiences I had at both of these dojo reignited my interest in the koryu of Japan. When I returned to Los Angeles, I decided to Google around to see if, after 30 years, there were finally any qualified teachers of the art that I started a lifetime ago—Shindo Muso ryu.
The Rembukan dojo, 1975. Back row: Mike Belzer (far right), Larry Bieri (3rd from left). Front row: Nishioka (2nd from left), Shimizu (center), Kuroda (3rd from right), Kaminoda (far right).
Shimizu Takaji (25th Headmaster) & Kuroda Ichitaro (Shihanke).
JODO MENKYO
· Michael Belzer | 57
VARIOUS TYPES OF FIGHTING IN FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS MODERNITY & TRADITION
Andrea Rollo
Sports Competitions FEDERATIONS, ASSOCIATIONS, schools, and masters in the Philippines have in recent decades been engaged in the promotion of Filipino martial arts by organizing tournaments and sports competitions at both national and international levels. A large number of different styles, and the technical variety, typical of the fighting arts in the Philippines, have resulted in the existence of several different sporting specializations. The most common are generally: •
single-stick (or single olisi)
•
double-stick (or sinawali)
•
knife
But there are also competitions of: •
espada y daga (or baston y daga)
•
Filipino boxing (suntukan – also known in the US as panantukan)
•
Filipino wrestling (or dumog/ buno)
The baston, or stick, being the basic weapon in most Filipino martial arts systems, the pre-eminent specialty is undoubtedly the single-stick.
FMA STYLES
· Andrea Rollo | 103
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.
COMBAT EFFICIENCY THROUGH MEASURE
· Romeo Macapagal | 137
GEIJIN RYU STAFF ARTS
Dr. 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
GEIJIN RYU
· Dr. Michel Farivar | 147
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TRADITIONAL
MĀORI MARTIAL ARTS Te Waitere Jason Paahi Taura Pouwhakarae UmuTawhearangi
MAU RĀKAU IS WELL-KNOWN as a Māori stick fighting art. However, its scope is much wider than just fighting with a stick. Mau Rākau means “to wield a weapon” and is a general term referring to the skilled use of weapons. Mau Rākau covers a whole range of close-combat weapons and contains within it holistically much more than “just” fighting. Tra-
TRADITIONAL MAORI ARTS
· Te Waitere Jason Paahi | 167
THE
WING CHUN LONG POLE LOOK DIM BOON QUAN / SIX-AND-A-HALF-POINT LONG POLE FORM
Mukatder Gül, Ph.D
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.
WING CHUN
· Mukatder Gül, Ph.D | 211
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF
ULIN LIMBUHAN Roedy Wiranatakusumah & Gending Raspuzi
ULIN LIMBUHAN IS AN ARMED martial art system that originates from traditional West Javanese martial arts, especially the Cimande style of martial arts. I began to know the meaning of the term, limbuhan, first around 1977 when I learned pencak silat from (the late)
Mr. Moch. Saleh, and he taught me three series of forms (jurus) known as Jalan Limbuhan. Mr. Saleh got these forms from Abah Aleh, founder of HPS (Himpunan Pencak Silat) Panglipur Pusat. Abah Aleh, on the other hand, got these from Mr. Ujang, a teacher from the Cimande school.
When I learned the Jalan Limbuhan style, Mr. Saleh said that it is the basis of all armed games. If you have mastered the Limbuhan Kick, you will be able to use other weapons such as machetes, tridents (trisula, cabang), and so on. In addition, it will also be possible to perform armed moves by taking empty-handed moves from any style as the source of movement. Around 1989, I studied the cimande style of pencak silat at Babakan Tarikkolot, Bogor, from Abah Haji Darwis. I received 33 Buang Kelid Cimande forms (empty-hand forms) and 17 Pepedangan forms (weapon forms). It was only when I learned swordsmanship that I realized that the “Limbuhan Way” received from Mr. Saleh came from the swordsmanship technique. Jalan Limbuhan 1 comes from Kick Pepedangan 1, Jalan Limbuhan 2 comes from Kick Pepedangan 17, and Jalan Limbuhan 3 comes from Kick Pepedangan 4. The pattern of Jalan Limbuhan is exactly the same with Pepedangan Kick, but in the use of weapons, Jalan Limbuhan looks more varied.
ULIN LIMBUHAN
The guidance of another Cimande teacher, namely the late Mr. Beni Azhar (Abah Haji Ishak’s student, Babakan Tarikkolot Cimande), has opened my horizons even more. The 33 Cimande Throwing Kicks, which I previously understood were just empty-handed moves, turned out to be the source of armed technique. According to him, it is said that cimande’s moves were originally a sword-fighting stance, Wallohu A’lam. Since then, I have started to explore the three ways of the Limbuhan Way, the 33 Ways of Throwing Kelids, and the 17 Ways of the Swordsmanship, so that finally a systematic exercise called Ulin Limbuhan was arranged. Ulin means “game” or “science,” and limbuhan means “bat.” So Ulin Limbuhan can be interpreted as “martial arts using a stick.” It is a fact that the first known martial art using sticks in the world is arnis/kali/eskrima originating from the Philippines, an art which is now developing in America and Europe. Meanwhile, pencak silat
· Roedy Wiranatakusumah & Gending Raspuzi | 223
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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KATORI SHINTO RYU
· Riichi Kitano | 239
THE ONE AND THE MANY:
HAWAIIAN TOBOSA SYSTEM Michael Mulconery
“As one thinks, so does one become. You can do anything if you follow through. You should always have confidence in your abilities. No matter how strong you may be, you cannot break barriers with strength alone. Strength alone is not Kali.” -Grandmaster Raymond Tobosa
Danlan sa Kasag—The Way of the Crab
THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT ONE thing and many things. The many-things are the history, foundation, and substance of the onething. For no one-thing stands alone, and every-thing comes from something else. The “one-thing,” which is two-things, because they are inseparable, is the journey of the Tobosa brothers and their founding of the Tobosa School of Arnis-Kali-Escrima. Raymond Tobosa, whom we called Batikan and Teofisto (Toby) Tobosa, whom we called Manoy, founded their discipline after many years of study and
selection of systems of combat, which seemed to them to work together well. The Tobosa School of Filipino Fencing, as it was called early on, can also be known as Estilo Casag, Estilong ang Kasag, or Danlan sa Kasag. These terms—Crab Style, Swimming Crab Style, and Way of the Crab—are simply shortened into Casag. It is a Filipino/Hawaiian system that was developed, or we could say, “knit together,” by Raymond and Toby Tobosa in Hawaii, over a number of years.
HAWAIIAN TOBOSA SYSTEM
· Michael Mulconery | 263
THE "BARABARA" AND BASIC LONG-WEAPON APPROACH
Michael Mulconery
THE CEBUANO TERM, barabara, primarily means “staff ” but interestingly, it is also translated as “backing up—blocking, or clogging up,” as in “something that stops the flow of something else.” Barabara primarily uses a 42-inch stick or staff, but a 36-inch cane is also used at times. It has qualities applicable to the use of a spear and many of the principles can be applied to longer impact weapons such as a 60-inch or 72-inch staff or spear. To whatever degree it may have been, Batikan learned the Barabara system from the kali grandmaster, Feliciano Magsanide (19001983). Magsanide worked in the sugarcane fields and had lived in Lahaina Maui, Kauai, and finally on Oahu at Waipahu (Batikan’s hometown). It appears that he later moved to the Kalihi-Palama area of Honolulu, which is about a 19-minute drive from where Batikan then lived in Pearl City. Batikan related that Grandmaster Magsanide trained many of the full contact escrima fighters for the Honolulu civic auditorium fights
that took place in the 1930s and 1940s. He said that Great-Grandmaster Floro Villabrille was well acquainted with Magsanide’s approach and, in fact, that they were good friends. Casag (to the best of my estimation) has only bits and pieces of the Barabara system—really only some tactical approaches and practical applications. The reason for this is probably that Batikan did not want the unique qualities of the long-stick methods to become a distractor for the core principles of Casag. Additionally, it may simply be that Batikan died before he was able to demonstrate and articulate much of this system to us. At any rate, I do not interject these methods into training until students are advanced enough to sufficiently understand the application of Casag principles and methods as they apply to multiple types of weapons. As was his way, much of what Batikan related about people and their approach to training or their particular systems was mostly done during times of “story talk” but
BARABARA & LONG WEAPONS
· Michael Mulconery | 335
VOL 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 5
The Ring of Fire Part 2
For the martial arts comprehensivist
Top - Maija Soderholm Bottom - Mark Stewart
VOLUME 1
Stick Arts ISSUE 5
The Ring of Fire Part 2
106 Mark Davies
138
The Stick: Man’s Oldest Tool and Weapon, and Its Use by the UK Special Forces
Martin Wheeler
Systema Stick Fighting
156
142
Jeffrey Finder
Luis Preto
Training Weapons In the Modern Era
Prevention Of Injuries And Power Output In Stick-Fighting
122 Banjamin Judkins, Ph.D & Jared Miracle, Ph.D
86
The Weapon of a Jedi Knight
Miguel Quijano & Miguel Machado
216
A Brief History of the Afro-Caribbean Dances
Nick Merchant
WEKAF and Dog Brothers: Together at Last!
278
324
Darren Patrick Friesen
Arturo Bonafont
Stick Grappling in Central America
Bonafont Cane Fighting System
CONTENTS
The Ring of Fire, Part 2
Vol. 1:5 - Stick Arts
18 Maija Soderholm
Tell Me About Yourself: A Conversation in Random Flow
38 Darrin Cook
Essential Kabaroan
192 Mark Stewart
Kali Abtik Largo
236 Harjit Singh Sagoo
Punjabi Wooden Weapon Fighting Arts: History, Philosophy, Conspiracy, and Technique
166 Geoff Willcher, Ph.D
Bando Staff
MARTIAL ARTS IN THE
RING OF FIRE PART II This issue of The Immersion Review wraps up our tour of the Ring of Fire, and continues on to examine the fallout of these and other martial traditions that have sparked renewed interest in martial arts around the world. The issue also touches on the theme of creating or inventing martial arts. Martial traditions have informed many fictional authors in how they have constructed their—at times— fantastical worlds. Some have been very thorough in establishing such
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new worlds, like J.R.R. Tolkien who went as far as inventing languages for the fictional peoples in his stories. Even the worlds of cinema and television have seen the invention of languages like Klingon in Star Trek. It is therefore not surprising that forms of martial art are either developed for or based on such fictional worlds. There is, for example, Teräs Käsi, a fictional martial art based on pentjak silat that exists only in the Star Wars universe and canon. This kind of world-making has been per-
From the Editors
haps most popular and thorough in the case of lightsaber fighting based on Star Wars, as discussed in this issue by Benjamin Judkins and Jared Miracle. Stunt coordinators, too, draw on martial arts, and practitioners can delight in spotting individual techniques or even styles that are used to choreograph fights in film. Inventing a martial art does not only happen in or inspired by fictional stories. The kung fu and ninja crazes in the 1970s and 1980s
were accompanied by self-styled martial arts masters who either invented their own styles or pretended to be masters in an existing one. Today, YouTube is replete with both invented arts and channels that aim at debunking the most outrageous charlatans in the guise of martial arts. Still, all martial arts are based on some form of invention. Many of the most widely spread styles can point to the originator of their style, who usually drew on previ-
Editorial | 5
ous ways of doing and training another form of martial art or arts. Innovations in pedagogies, transformation of society, and change in technology can also impact ways of fighting to the degree that a new style is formed. Sometimes, wholly new ways of fighting are proposed. We have an example of this in this issue in the form of Artura Bonafont’s style of cane fighting. Indeed, in his manual that is translated in this issue, Bonafont states that the techniques he presents are based on his own thinking, and go against the—at the time—given way of cane fighting based on fencing. Individual masters or maestros of an established art can also be innovators. Maija Soderholm shares some of her experiences from working with Maestro Sonny Umpad, and how he tasked her with passing the method of “random flow” on as his legacy. Sonny kept on innovating new ways and implements for training, and he had arrived at this method after already having taught a few of generations of students. Rather than
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a collection of techniques or set patterns, random flow is a means to connect the nervous system and the conscious mind through dance-like play with blades. It also allows one to internalize new ideas and get past “freezing points” that fear, among other things, produces in practitioners. Skill in this type of development is measured through the ability to first “see” and “read” the opponent in order to eventually “write” what they will do. Random play is a way to experience “when” and “how” something becomes effective in the sense of getting a hit while not getting hit, which in turn develops a sense of strategy and tactics. While this was the final teaching method Maestro Umpad developed, Soderholm has found that it can be deployed to hone tactical skills in many other martial art traditions even beyond those of the Philippines. Traditions can be continued by trying to preserve or archive them as they have been received. Another approach to keeping a tradition going is to alter it innovatively together with the times. In accor-
dance with the second approach, Kabaroan, meaning “the newest,” represents—according to Darren Cook—a radical break with the traditional forms of Filipino martial arts. Firstly, the art in question utilizes a heavier and longer (36-inch) hardwood stick compared with the rattan sticks commonly used in other forms of Filipino fighting. Secondly, whereas the traditional arts, with their lighter and shorter weapons, rely on blocking the incoming attack, a Kabaroan artist emphasizes merging with the attack rather than blocking it. Kabaroan methods, however, are closely guarded, and this has led to a host of misunderstandings regarding its composition. Cook discloses that, although Grandmaster Estalilla did publicly teach, for example, sinawali (double stick) or staff and stick methods, these are not Kabaroan. He then proceeds to share with the reader the essence of the art as taught to him by GM Estalilla by describing, in detail, a form called the “abriged 15” containing different strikes, their counters, and core tactical principles of the system.
Codified martial art traditions are present in most cultures, and yet it comes as a surprise even to most aficionados that—aside from more well-known arts like Brazilian capoeira and Trinidadian kalinda—there exists rich traditions of Afro-diasporic arts of maní and kokoye in Cuba and calinda, cocobalé, and cocolembe in Puerto Rico. Miguel Quijano and Miguel Machado trace the present forms of these arts, firstly, to the slave owners’ policies of appeasement which, quite unintentionally, led to solidifying of African culture on the islands and, secondly, to interactions (or rather, fighting) with other ethnic groups’ martial arts, such as Portuguese jogo do pau and Canarian juego del palo. Maní, meaning “war,” was kept alive and practiced in dances. The combative “game” of maní is, however, played in a circle with the goal of knocking down one’s opponent with kicks, punches, sweeps, and so on—it is a true full-contact form of fighting in contrast to the more commonly known folkloric and performative form of the
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game. Cocobalé and calinda, on the other hand, are played with sticks of varying lengths—or, in the case of cocobalé, even with machetes or knives— with the goal of making the opponent bleed or become unconscious. Further, cocolembe is a hand-to-hand art played by the community elders when a master of the aforementioned art has
[Photo credit: Clive Kim]
8 | The Immersion Review
passed away. Indeed, all of these arts are steeped in tradition and ritual, preserving the unique Afro-Cuban heritage into the present day. Creativity and innovation is part of the evolution of warfare. Here, close-quarter battling has been deployed in contemporary mili-
tary contexts on the basis of “usewhat-works.” For example, British Special Forces were created during the Second World War to conduct deep strikes behind the enemy lines and to recruit, train, and organize local resistance fighters. These units—Commandos, Special Air Service (SAS), Special Operations Executive (SOE)—were taught “last ditch” combatives by William Fairbairn for situations where the soldier’s normal weaponry was unavailable or not preferred. Fairbairn’s stick method relied on a 18 to 24-inch weapon used predominantly in a two-handed grip. The system was very simple and basic, as it needed to be taught quickly. The operations in Iraq and Afghanistan renewed the military’s interest in combatives as Special Forces soldiers found themselves fighting in very close quarters, and even with improvised weapons. As a result, the stick training in British Special Forces can nowadays be grouped into three categories: short stick, baton, and staff/spear. The short stick method is based on reverse-grip knife technique
taught by James A. Keating, whereas the baton methodology relies on both Filipino martial arts and the old Fairbairn method. Staff/spear, on other hand, is based heavily on bayonet training as well as sibat and jo staff methods. The training itself proceeds progressively towards “fog of war,” aiming at operating reliably in less-than-ideal conditions. Not all traditions are ancient or, indeed, connected to earthly human reality. Take, for example, Lightsaber Combat; a competitive sport and martial art based on ideas around the Star Wars universe and franchise. In this context Benjamin Judkins and Jared Miracle remind us that even established martial arts are wrought with invented histories and imagined traditions with tenuous connections to reality, although, like Lightsaber Combat, they are practiced as if they were true. Lightsaber Combat has its true beginnings in the early 2000s when the current generation of LED-equipped replica lightsabers became available. This coincided with the in-
Editorial | 9
vention/exploration of the “seven classic forms” of Lightsaber Combat furthering the lore and mythology surrounding the art. After a while, this attracted actual martial artists to try and figure out how one, in “reality,” would fight with a lightsaber. This resulted in hobbyist groups, different rulesets, and differing self-identifications springing up around the globe. The ahistorical and mythological nature of Lightsaber Combat enables creative play—mixing and borrowing from a variety of sources allowing for genuine martial exchange uninhibited by organizational politics. This also elevates the practice to hyper-reality, enabling one to connect with mythic structures and surpassing one’s mundane existence. It must be noted, however, that this element of hyper-reality is also present in traditional arts, although the line delineating it from the mundane is much clearer in Lightsaber Combat. The Star Wars narrative and, by extension, Lightsaber Combat conveys the values and qualities of modern heroic archetypes—not unlike tra-
10 | The Immersion Review
ditional arts carrying ideas about correct morality and behavior. The varying uses of sticks display the creative range of humans in various environments and contexts. Sticks are also used in contemporary constabulary professions in many parts of the world. Their use has also been part of more military forms of close-quarter combat. Martin Wheeler shares some of the insights on stick-use that has been parted onto him by his teachers in the combat system developed for spies and special force members in the Soviet Union, called systema, or “the system.” Here, the expression is not so much tied to specific techniques regarding how to use a stick, but about how the system comes out when using a stick. Fighting with sticks is, by definition, an activity conducive to physical trauma. There is, obviously, an opponent trying to hit you but also, according to Luis Preto, types of injuries caused by your own actions, wholly independent of your opponent. The key to preventing these kinds of injuries is
implementing a strength training program designed to strengthen the relevant musculature. This should be accompanied with technique-oriented training designed to develop greater body awareness, postural control, and technique. While discussing power output, Preto starts by making a distinction between reaction and movement speeds. Improving the reaction speed can be accomplished by improving one’s ability to identify the stimulus and lessening the time that it takes to select a proper response to it. Movement speed, on the other hand, can be developed by improving one’s ability to execute the relevant motor patterns (techniques) and building up one’s ability to generate relevant muscle tension (force). Preto then offers the reader different strategies for both injury prevention and power generation, depending on the level of the martial artist. Specific training weapons have likely been around for as long as there have been fighting skills worth passing on. The implements of training are another vein that
shows how innovation and creativity are part of martial arts and their evolution. Indeed, as Jeff Finder notes, nowadays we have a wealth of different materials to construct training weapons from, all suited for different purposes. For example, traditional arts may prefer their trusted wooden or metal trainers whereas more sport-oriented arts might like lighter and flashier aluminum weapons. Wood and rattan are cheap and easy to replace materials to construct trainers from, but one might prefer aluminum swords and knives due to their more realistic look and feel. A less common option is to construct training blades from high-impact plastics, which offer more durability than either wood or aluminum and, with correct specifications, also mimic well their “live” counterparts. Like with synthetic composite materials, combining things overall is one way of creating something new. According to Geoff Willcher, the bando staff forms that are taught today are synthesized from several older forms by eliminat-
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ing repetitions and stringing parts from different forms together. He goes on to explain the mindset and naturalistic worldview of the Burmese people reflected in the forms. For example, the system consists of several different drills and nine forms, reflecting the Burmese fascination in the multiples of three. Willcher further explains the many purposes of the forms as well as the organization, principles, training, and tactics of bando itself, offering us a comprehensive overview of the bando staff system as a whole. Different martial arts prefer different ranges in accordance with their preferred weapons, strategies, and tactics as well as their understanding of combative engagements. While it is necessary to learn how to fight at all the ranges, for Mark Stewart, the optimal range for a given weapon is its longest reach, reflecting the viewpoint of Kali Abtik Largo. The aim is to utilize distance, evasion, and deception to deliver surgical strikes while avoiding weapon-to-weapon contact. The key to all this is proper footwork: without good footwork you
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cannot position yourself correctly either for attack or defense. Stewart continues by giving us an overview of Kali Abtik Largo concepts, including, for example, angles of attack, targeting, and timing, as well as a few tactical pointers to try and use in one’s next sparring session. How can you ascertain that your martial art actually works against an uncooperative opponent? You spar and fight. This is a true and tested way of evolving fighting styles that brings in the role of rules in how arts evolve and how creativity comes in. Nick Merchant notes that in the Filipino martial arts community there are two major rule sets to govern fighting: World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) and Dog Brothers, both with their particular pros and cons, which Merchant covers extensively. Succinctly put, WEKAF fighting tends to develop speed, accuracy, combinations, and endurance whereas Dog-Brothersstyle of fighting stresses versatility, power, movement, and strategy. They can thus be seen as comple-
mentary, rather than exclusionary, ways of testing and developing one’s skill and ability. Martial arts evolve, develop, and cross-pollinate each other over time—they are even manipulated by the ruling elite and foreign overlords. Take for instance the Indian arts of shastar vidya and gatka, the martial arts of the Sikh peoples of Punjabi. As Harjit Singh Sagoo demonstrates, shastar vidya is an ancient battlefield art that traces its roots all the way to the 15th century. Gatka, a weapons-based sport, on the other hand, is a product of the late 1800s and early 1900s and utilizes a meter-long stick. The practice of gatka was actually encouraged by the British as it took the people away from the original battlefield arts of the Sikh and would thus pave way to the continuing British rule. Singh Sagoo speculates that the later inclusion of additional weapons in gatka may have been brought about by the desire to revive the largely lost martial art of shastar vidya, thus leading to the misunderstanding that gatka actually is
the ancient art of the Sikh. He then continues by outlining the basic curriculum of gatka, including soti (meter-long stick), lathi (staff), and fari and soti (representing buckler and sword) sparring, revealing to us the simple but practical methods of the art. Preparing for the possibility of facing actual real-life violence on a day-to-day basis brings with it a host of considerations rarely encountered in most martial artists’ training. In his article, Darren Patrick Friesen shares his insights about these factors—and the experience of teaching conflict management tactics as a foreigner— based on his work training security guards in Costa Rica. He starts by exploring some of the emotional and behavioral background necessary for security-related work as well as the necessary restraint on using violent means in one’s job as a security guard. Furthermore, the dynamics of a violent encounter necessitates on-the-spot decision-making and prior thought on and training in the ergonomics of weapon availability and deploy-
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ment, as well as retention tactics. Friesen thus outlines his no-nonsense approach and methodology of using a baton in security work starting from the first contact all the way until handcuffing and patdown. Sticks and canes have been used for self-defense since time immemorial. Especially during the belle époque in Europe, the cane became both a fashion element and the last legal weapon for defending oneself. Darren Cook presents us with a translation of Arturo Bonafont’s New Ways of Self-Defense on the Street with a Cane from Buenos Aires written in the 1920s and published in 1930. It has been difficult to get a hold of Bonafont’s manual of this one-of-a-kind system. What makes it stand out from other cane styles is that it mainly uses the stick in a “reverse” grip that tends to be a special way of holding a stick in most styles of fighting. For Bonafont, though, this is the most efficient way of striking with a cane in the number of self-defense scenarios that he goes through in his manual.
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As the articles in this issue show, creativity and invention are integral parts of martial arts whether one looks at old styles, their contemporary interpretation, the means and methods of training, or the development of new systems or entirely new arts. Hopefully the hoplological endeavors of The Immersion Review will spark new creative thinking in its readership, too.
Mahipal Lunia Executive Editor
Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Managing Editor
Mika Harju-Seppänen Managing Editor
Editorial | 15
STAFF / TEAM 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 1 Anonymous Reviewer
PRODUCTION Hana Shin Editor & Production Director
Jeff William Palaganas Production Assistant
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
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF A CONVERSATION IN RANDOM FLOW
[photo credit : Eric Nomberg]
Maija Soderholm
IN EARLY 2006, MAESTRO Sonny Umpad, my teacher and founder of Visayan Style Corto Kadena and Larga Mano Eskrima, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Soon after the diagnosis, he was taken to the hospital having lost motor function in one arm. Once there, he had surgery to remove tumors in his brain. He was told there were inoperable tumors they left untouched, and that he only had about six months to live.
SONNY UMPAD / RANDOM FLOW
· Maija Soderholm | 19
ESSENCIAL KABAROAN Darrin Cook
WHAT IS KABAROAN? Kabaroan, pronounced “kah-bar-wahn,” is an Ilocano term meaning “the newest.” The northern Philippine provinces of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte are the ancestral home of the late Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos. Their language, Ilocano, serves as a trade language throughout much of northern Luzon, the main island where the capital of Manila is located, and is either the second or third most
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commonly spoken language in the Philippines. So, even though the late Grandmaster Leo Giron of the Philippine province of Pangasinan was not from the Ilocos provinces, he and Grandmaster Estalilla communicated in the Ilocano language. The Filipino martial arts are generally weapon-based methods that train with sticks and blades, and Kabaroan is the distinctively Ilocano style.
ESSENTIAL KABAROAN
· Darrin Cook | 39
EL JUEGO DE MANÍ & COCOBALÉ A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AFRO-CARIBBEAN DANCES OF WAR Miguel Quijano & Miguel Machado
FIGHTING. BATTLE. COMBAT. Warfare. Regardless of the name we use to describe it, conflict is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. As such, it is only logical that codified systems for settling conflicts—martial arts— would arise on every continent, in every culture. And yet, people are
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always surprised when I mention that Puerto Rico and Cuba have their own respective martial arts— ones birthed under the ugly banner of slavery. Nowadays, most people are well aware of other Afro-diasporic arts such as Brazilian capoeira or Trinidadian kalinda. They might have
even heard about esgrima y bordon and juego de garrote, from Colombia and Venezuela, respectively. However, most are unaware that similar arts exist in Puerto Rico and Cuba. While there are resources out there that briefly touch upon the martial arts from these regions, they have always concluded that, with no current practitioners of the martial component, the arts must be extinct. This conclusion is the result of one of two things: either their sources were only folkloric
EL JUEGO DE MANÍ & COCOBALÉ
practitioners (those not trained in the traditional methods of combat), or they did not do their research. The following article is a direct rejection of the extinction line of thinking and will offer an in-depth analysis of the Afro-diasporic arts of Cuba, known as el Juego de maní and kokoye, and their Puerto Rican sister traditions, calinda, cocobalé, and cocolembe. For over 50 years, I have dedicated my life to these arts—not just to the mastery of their combat
· Miguel Quijano & Miguel Machado | 87
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THE STICK: MAN'S OLDEST TOOL AND WEAPON, AND ITS USE BY THE UK SPECIAL FORCES Mark Davies
IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT THE stick was man’s first weapon. In today’s era of high-tech weaponry, many people may be surprised to learn that the humble stick still plays a role today. As a trainer within an element of the UK Special Forces (UKSF), I look in this article at the stick from the viewpoints of: a bush-craft tool, a hunting tool, an improvised weapon, and an actual baton, such as the ASP.
UK SPECIAL FORCES
· Mark Davies | 107
THE WEAPON OF A JEDI KNIGHT: LIGHTSABER COMBAT AS A HYPER-REAL MARTIAL ART Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D & Jared Miracle, Ph.D
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.
LIGHTSABERS
· Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D & Jared Miracle, Ph.D | 123
SYSTEMA STICK FIGHTING Martin Wheeler
I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON Soviet secret-agent stick-fighting techniques. I am not Russian. I have never been to Russia. I do not speak any Slavic languages. I have never been a member of the Spetznaz, or any Russian secret service. The irony that I am a former English bouncer writing an article about a secret Soviet stick fighting technique among these genuine masters of stick fighting is not lost on me. I have, however, for the last twenty years trained under such men as I have described above—Vladimir Vasiliev and his teacher, Colonel Mikhail Ryabko— studying the Russian martial art of systema, or simply translated, “the system.” The reason I am struggling to explain the stick fighting method of systema is not because it is overly complex, but because it is purely an expression of systema. Furthermore, systema is not really a martial art at all, but a way of looking
at the world. It can be expressed in many ways, but it is also good for stick fighting, or, as I prefer to think of it, fighting with a stick. If you are a stick fighter, then your identity is most likely tied with the stick in some way. You might identify yourself as a stick fighter, and, if you should lose your stick in a fight, then the psychological damage of no longer being a stick fighter may be more defeating to you than your enemy’s potential to beat you. Maybe? Even if it is not the case, why take the chance that it could be? Why not just be a fighter who now has a stick, instead of being a stick fighter? Right or wrong, this is the approach of systema. If you have been a serious stick fighting student, like many of the men I have been lucky enough to have trained with, then you are most likely a formidable fighter irrespective of whether you are with or without a weapon. Even
SYSTEMA
· Martin Wheeler | 139
PREVENTION OF INJURIES AND POWER OUTPUT IN STICK-FIGHTING Luis Preto
GIVEN THE NATURE OF stick-fighting, in the sense that landing powerful strikes on the body of the opponent is the central success criterion, traumatic injuries resulting from such events can only be prevented by expertly avoiding being hit altogether. Nevertheless, one’s body may also succumb to other injuries, such as soft-tissue injuries, because of the specific accelerative and decelerative forces that the motions of this activity place on the body of its performers.
Injuries in Stick-Fighting Depending on the ruleset followed when competing in stick-fighting, striking only or a combination of striking and grappling is permitted. Considering that the essence of weapon combat is to maximize striking effectiveness so that physically smaller or weaker individuals can avoid grappling altogether, the injury profile about to be presented will focus on striking-related soft-tissue injuries. Those competing in a mixed striking and grappling setting should look to complement this analysis of striking-related soft-tissue injuries with the research available on injury prevention strategies within grappling settings.
INJURY PREVENTION / POWER OUTPUT
· Luis Preto | 143
TRAINING WEAPONS IN THE MODERN ERA Jeffrey "Stickman" 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
BANDO STAFF Geoff Willcher, Ph.D
“BANDO IS A SYSTEM OF systems.” I did not realize what Dr. Gyi was saying, but later I came to understand what he meant. In this article, I infer bando staff forms and fighting from my conversations with Dr. Gyi and from my own staff practice of over 50 years of experience. I could have some details wrong, but I am presenting what I believe to be correct. Dr. Gyi has taught a number of staff forms, but relatively little staff fighting as such. He departed from Burmese/Myanmar tradition in that he did not repeat each set four
times, or once for each of the four directions. Rather, he said, “If you want to repeat a set, do the form again.” This let him include parts of several forms in one. Essentially, he synthesized one form from several others. I watched him do a particular form: the Four Winds staff system. We were at his farm—he has had several—where he attempted to build a pond, but the ground was too oily. Robert Shultz (with whom the author corresponded around 1970) was learning several versions of the Four Winds which Dr. Gyi taught him until he settled.
History There are over 130+ separate tribes in Burma, according to the U.S.A. Diplomatic Handbook. According to Dr. Gyi, there are nine basic groupings of tribes. Dr. Gyi has grouped everything into nine categories. This is not necessarily correct, but he has been fairly consistent about this. He said that each major grouping tended to have organized staff fighting forms differently. This means that some groups put certain sets together and other sets in a different order. We discovered this when he taught the Hidden Draw short stick form to a group. He taught three versions of each set and had us choose the one which would be standard. The Burmese tend to be extremely superstitious, religious, and mystical. For example, they have a coconut in the back of their taxi cabs to make up three “people” in case an extra person is needed. Many things are grouped in multiples of three. Accordingly, many Burmese forms repeat the same moves in four or six directions. Supposedly, this pays respect to the four directions. Bando was systematized by U Ba Than (Gyi), Dr. Gyi’s father. He brought together hundreds of bando masters and asked them to explain their systems, what
they could do, and then he asked them to demonstrate it. He had them come to Aung San stadium to demonstrate their abilities. For instance, one master said he could defend against a number of men with sticks who would try to hit him. They hit him repeatedly. So, in this way, the bando that Gyi taught was tested and proven. U Ba Than was simplifying bando for use against the Japanese in World War II. The time was about preWWII. If U Ba Than liked what he was shown, he had Gyi learn the system so that he could synthesize from it. He prepared fighters for the war against the Japanese.
BANDO STAFF
· Geoff Willcher, Ph.D | 167
KALI ABTIK LARGO Mark Stewart
Largo WHILE IT IS NECESSARY TO learn all ranges of combat with and without weaponry, it is taught by some that the ideal strategy and optimal function of a weapon is its longest reach or range, and that the rest are logical, and needed backup. This long-range distance is referred to as largo or larga in many Filipino martial arts systems, including kali abtik from the Guro Ted Lucaylucay kali lineage. Largo, like the “Latter Stage” developments of Bruce Lee’s jeet kune do, is the idea of maintaining the distance and position to strike or cut with the least chance of being struck or cut back, which is the pinnacle of the training pyramid and subsequently outlines an “engagement continuum” in training and usage. The largo range is defined as requiring the use of a step and fully extended weapon to reach the opponent, which includes both major and minor targets. Before his passing, Guro Ted Lucaylucay was integrating fencing principles into his art, as inspired from JKD, fencing, and Serfino arnis as taught by Master Federico Serfino Jr., as well as the previous largo training from Villabrille-Largusa kali, Giron largo mano, and his own research and development.
KALI ABTIK LARGO
· Mark Stewart | 193
WEKAF AND DOG BROTHERS: TOGETHER AT LAST! Nick Merchant
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Putting Your Skills to the Test… IN MARTIAL ARTS, THERE IS an everlasting conflict between theory and reality regarding the effectiveness of fighting techniques. How does one know that a strike or defense will actually work? More times than not, in class or practice, there is a partner who “allows” the technique to happen. It looks effective, especially when years of practice allow the technique to flow with speed
and grace. But what happens when a combatant refuses to let you hit their hand five times in a row without disruption or counter? This is where sparring and fighting come into play. It allows a practitioner to pressure-test their skills against a non-compliant opponent. And when it comes down to fighting, there are two major groups that allow FMA enthusiasts to put their skills to the test: WEKAF and the Dog Brothers.
PUNJABI WOODEN WEAPONS FIGHTING ARTS HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, CONSPIRACY, AND TECHNIQUE
Harjit Singh Sagoo
THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES wooden weapon combat in Punjab, the ancient Indian land of five rivers as well as saints, poets, and warriors, from the past to the present, particularly among the Sikhs. Weapon Typology The traditional wooden weapons of Punjab include the following four major types: •
soti (meter-long stick)
•
sota or danda (short wooden club)
•
lathi or daang (staff)
•
salotar (pestle)
For actual combat, the ends of the first three would be steel or ironcapped in order to maximize damage to the target whilst protecting the weapon from impact damage. It would be erroneous to assume that the utilization of wooden weapons in Punjab is now redundant. In present-day Punjab, sticks and clubs can still be found in the hands of the Nihang Singhs (members of a martial Sikh sect), players of the combat sport of gatka, Punjab police officers, as well as thugs and rioters.
Figure 1 - Vintage photograph of Nihang Singhs armed with various clubs, two of them steelcapped.
PUNJABI WOODEN WEAPONS
· Harjit Singh Sagoo | 237
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 IN CENTRAL AMERICA
· Darren Patrick Friesen | 279
BONAFONT CANE FIGHTING SYSTEM NEW WAYS OF SELF-DEFENSE ON THE STREET WITH A CANE Arturo Bonafont (Translated by Darrin Cook)
*Originally: Nuevos Modos de Defenderse en la Calle con un Bastón (illustrated edition with seventy-two photographs)
To the Prestigious Institution, The Fencing and Physical Education Club of Buenos Aires, on the 11th of November, 1930 (the 50th anniersary of its founding) the Author dedicates this modest work. ~
BONAFONT CANE
· Arturo Bonafont | 325