Arnis
Arnis, also known as kali or eskrima/'escrima', is the national martial art of the Philippines. These three terms are, sometimes, interchangeable in referring to traditional martial arts of the Philippines, which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives, bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons, as well as "open hand" techniques without weapons.
There were campaigns for arnis along with other Philippine martial arts to be nominated in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists; and as of 2018, UNESCO has inscribed nine martial-arts-related intangible heritages.
Name
Arnis comes from arnés, the Old Spanish for "armour". It is said to derive from the armour costumes used in traditional Moro-moro stage plays, where actors fought mock battles with wooden swords. Arnes is also an archaic Spanish term for weapon, used as early as 1712.Eskrima is derived from the Spanish word for fencing, esgrima. Their cognate in French is escrime and is related to the English term 'skirmish'.
The name kali is most likely derived from the pre-Hispanic Filipino term for blades and fencing, kalis, documented by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition chronicler Antonio Pigafetta during their journey through the Visayas and in old Spanish to Filipino Mother Tongue dictionaries and vocabulary books dating from 1612 to the late 1800s, such as in Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala by Fr. Pedro de San Buenaventura. The term calis in various forms was present in these old Spanish documents in Ilocano, Ibanag, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Waray, Hiligaynon, Cebuano, and Moro-Maguindanao in Mindanao. In some of these dictionaries, the term calis refers to a sword or knife kris or keris, while in others it refers to both swords and knives and their usage as well as a form of esgrima stick fighting. The first to use this term in reference to Filipino martial arts was Buenaventura Mirafuente in 1948. While Mirafuente posits that the original term was kali and that the letter "S" was added later, the late Grandmaster Remy Presas suggests that the "S" was dropped in modern times and became presently more known as kali in FMA circles.
There exist numerous similar terms of reference for martial arts such as kalirongan, kaliradman, and pagkalikali. These may be the origin of the term kali or they may have evolved from it.
In their book Cebuano Eskrima: Beyond the Myth however, Dr. Ned Nepangue and Celestino Macachor contend that the term kali in reference to Filipino martial arts did not exist until the Buenaventura Mirafuente wrote in the preface of the first known published book on arnis, Mga Karunungan sa Larong Arnis by Placido Yambao, the term kali as the native mother fighting art of the Philippine islands.
Practitioners of the arts are called arnisador and arnisadora for those who call theirs arnis, eskrimador or eskrimadora for those who call their art eskrima, and kalista or mangangali for those who practise kali.
It is also known as estoque, estocada and garrote. In Luzon it may go by the name of arnis de mano or arnes de mano.
The indigenous martial art that the Spanish encountered in 1610 was not yet called "eskrima" at that time. During those times, this martial art was known as paccalicali-t to the Ibanags, did ya to the Ilokanos, sitbatan or kalirongan to Pangasinenses, sinawali to the Kapampangans, calis or pananandata to the Tagalogs, pagaradman to the Ilonggos and kaliradman to the Cebuanos. Kuntaw and Silat are separate martial arts that are also practiced in the Philippine archipelago.
Historical accounts
Origins
Legend
According to legend, It was introduced by Bodhidharma, a Buddhist Monk born in India, who came to Southeast Asia via the Srivijayan capital of Palembang and then reached the island of Luzon. Upon his travel, he saw dried Ratan canes on the ground and introduced this rare, martial art to the locals.History
As arnis was an art usually practiced by the poor or commoner class, most practitioners lacked the scholarly education to create any kind of written record. While the same can be said of many martial arts, this is especially true for arnis because almost all of its history is anecdotal, oral or promotional. Another origin of arnis can be traced back to native "Pintados" or then "Tintadus" fighting techniques during conflicts among the various pre-hispanic Filipino settlements, though the current form has Spanish influence from old fencing which originated in Spain in the 15th century. It has other influences as well, as settlers and traders travelling through the Malay Archipelago brought the influence of silat as well as Chinese and Indian martial arts. Some of the population still practise localized Chinese fighting methods known as kuntaw.It has also been theorized that the Filipino art of arnis may have roots in India and came to the Philippines via people who traveled through Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippine islands. Silambam, a stick/staff-based ancient martial art of India influenced many martial arts in Asia like silat. As such, arnis may share ancestry with these systems– some arnis moves are similar to the short stick and other weapon based fighting styles of Silambam.
When the Spaniards first arrived in the Philippines, they already observed weapons-based martial arts practiced by the natives, which may or may not be related to present-day Arnis. The earliest written records of Filipino culture and life, including martial arts, come from the first Spanish explorers. Some early expeditions fought native tribesmen armed with sticks and knives. In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was killed in Cebu at the Battle of Mactan by the forces of Datu Lapulapu, the chief of Mactan. Some Arnisadors hold that Lapulapu's men killed Magellan in a sword-fight, though historical evidence proves otherwise. The only eyewitness account of the battle by chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, tells that Magellan was stabbed in the face and the arm with spears and overwhelmed by multiple warriors who hacked and stabbed at him:
The natives continued to pursue us, and picking up the same spear four or six times, hurled it at us again and again. Recognizing the captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice, but he always stood firmly like a good knight, together with some others. Thus did we fight for more than one hour, refusing to retire farther. An Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the captain's face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian's body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him, he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already pulling off.
Due to the conflict-ridden nature of the Philippine archipelago, where settlements were often at war with one another or raiding each other, warriors were forged in the many wars in the islands, thus during the precolonial era, the geographical area acquired a reputation for its capable mercenaries, which were soon employed all across South, Southeast and East Asia. Lucoes aided the Burmese king in his invasion of Siam in 1547 AD. At the same time, Lusung warriors fought alongside the Siamese king and faced the same elephant army of the Burmese king in the defense of the Siamese capital at Ayuthaya.
The former sultan of Malacca decided to retake his city from the Portuguese with a fleet of ships from Lusung in 1525 AD. Lucoes influence even manifested in East Asia at Japan where Lucoes sailors initially guided Portuguese ships to the Shogunate and even South Asia in Sri Lanka where Lungshanoid pottery from Luzon were found in burials there.
Pinto noted that there were a number of them in the Islamic fleets that went to battle with the Portuguese in the Philippines during the 16th century. The Sultan of Aceh as well as Suleiman, the Ottoman Commander who was brother of the Viceroy of Cairo, gave one of them the task of ruling and holding Aru in 1540. Pinto also says one was named leader of the Malays remaining in the Moluccas Islands after the Portuguese conquest in 1511. Pigafetta notes that one of them was in command of the Brunei fleet in 1521. One famous Lucoes is Regimo de Raja, who was appointed by the Portuguese at Malacca as Temenggung or Supreme Governor and Chief General. The Luzones were so commercially and militarily influential that the Portuguese soldier Joao de Barros considered them, "the most warlike and valiant of these parts."
Opinions differ on the degree to which Spanish rule in the Philippines affected Arnis. The fact that a large number of techniques and the names of the arts themselves have Spanish names suggest an influence. Some argue though that Spanish names in the martial art simply reflect the fact that Spanish was the lingua franca of the Philippines until the early 20th century, and that actual Spanish martial influence was limited.
What is certain is that the Spaniards brought with them and used their bladed weapon arts when they started colonizing the archipelago in the 16th century. What is also known is that the Spaniards recruited soldiers from Mexico and Peru and sent them to fortify the Philippines and they had also trained mercenaries and warriors from local people like the Pangasinenses, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Ilonggos, Cebuanos and Warays to pacify regions and put down revolts, thereby positing the possible cross-training between Arnis de Mano and the Venezuelan Martial Art of Juego del garrote. Of the Kapampangans, Fray Casimiro Díaz relates in 1718:
Los primeros que se decidieron á experimentar fortuna fueron los pampangos, nación la más belicosa y noble de estas Islas, y cercana á Manila. Y era lo peor hallarse ejercitada en el arte militar en nuestras escuelas en los presidios de Ternate, Zamboanga, Joló, Caraga y otras partes, donde se conoció bien su valor; pero este necesita del abrigo del nuestro, y así decían que un español y tres pampangos, valían por cuatro españoles.
The first who decided to experiment with their fortune were the Pampangos, the most warlike and prominent people of these islands, and close to Manila. And it was all the worse because these people had been trained in the military art in our own schools in the presidios of Ternate, Zamboanga, Jolo, Caraga and other places where their valor was well known; but this needs the help of ours, and so they say that a Spaniard plus three Pampangos equal four Spaniards.
It is likely then that these native warriors and foreign soldiers would have passed on to very close friends and family members these newly learned skills to augment already existing and effective local ones. They would have also shared tactics and techniques with each other when placed in the same military group and fighting on the same side in foreign regions such as Formosa, Mindanao, the Moluccas and the Marianas.
One of the more prominent features of Arnis that point to possible Spanish influence is the Espada y Daga method, a term also used in Spanish fencing. Filipino espada y daga differs somewhat from European rapier and dagger techniques; the stances are different as weapons used in Arnis are typically shorter than European swords. According to Grandmaster Federico Lazo†, unlike in European historical fencing, there is no lunging in the Northern Ilocano Kabaroan style of Arnis – it is more of an evasive art. On the other hand, it is present in some Visayan styles documented by FMA researchers Celestino Macachor and Ned Nepangue such as Yasay Sable Estocada from Bago. Having done comparative studies, Kalis Ilustrisimo archivist Romeo Macapagal also estimates that 40% of the blade-oriented style of Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo† descends from European styles, brought by the Spanish. Some authors state that these Filipino Martial Arts were also cross-trained with martial arts brought over by Spanish soldiers and Jesuit priests.
After the Spanish colonized the Philippines, a decree was set that prohibited civilians from carrying full-sized swords. Despite this, the practitioners found ways to maintain and keep the arts alive, using sticks made out of rattan rather than swords, as well as small knives wielded like swords. Some of the arts were passed down from one generation to the other. Sometimes the art took the form choreographed dances such as the Sakuting stick dance or during mock battles at Moro-moro stage plays. Also as a result, a unique and complex stick-based technique evolved in the Visayas and Luzon regions. The southern Mindanao retains almost exclusively blade-oriented techniques, as the Spaniards and Americans never fully conquered the southern parts of this island.
Although Arnis combines native fighting techniques with old Spanish fencing and other influences, a degree of systematization was achieved over time, resulting in a distinguishable Philippine martial art. With time, a system for the teaching of the basics also evolved. However, with the exception of a few older and more established systems, it was previously common to pass the art from generation to generation in an informal approach. This has made attempts to trace the lineage of a practitioner difficult. For example, aside from learning from their family members like his uncle Regino Ilustrisimo, Antonio Ilustrisimo seemed to have learned to fight while sailing around the Philippines, while his cousin and student Floro Villabrille claimed to have been also taught by a blind Moro princess in the mountains; a claim later refuted by the older Ilustrisimo. Both have since died.