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Dumog

Dumog is based on the concept of “control points” or “choke points” on the human body, which are manipulated – for example: by grabbing, pushing, pulling - in order to disrupt the opponent’s balance and to keep him off balance. This also creates opportunities for close quarter striking using head butts, knees, forearms and elbows. Dumog also contains methods of joint-locking and choking, as well as take downs, throws and submission holds. ​ Filipino Dumog Training Concepts Dumog is a general term used to describe the Filipino art of wrestling and grappling. There are two main forms of dumog. Agaw patid Buno, is the more commonly known form of dumog. It consists of standup grappling and wrestling, utilising off-balancing techniques, throws, and neck turning to force an opponent to the ground. Traditionally opponents would engage by holding a belt or encircling each other's waist and attempt to throw and unbalance each other. Victory was declared when the opponent's shoulders squarely touched the ground. Musang Dumog is a ground fighting art, utilising locks, chokes and strikes to submit opponents on the ground. Both systems can be combined or learnt independently. The origins of both these styles is rather sketchy, however they are still relatively abundant in the northernmost islands of the Phillippines. The Filipino art of grappling includes a wide range of locks, known as trankadas, chokes, throws, trips, sweeps and pins which blend and flow naturally from the empty handed boxing and kicking methods, applied with or without a weapon. Dumog is primarily concerned with felling an opponent in such a way as to cause maximum damage to joints, ligaments and tendons followed by a ferocious flurry of ground striking techniques designed to distract and disable an opponent prior to applying a pin, lock or choke. Technique, in this case, is an understanding of controlling points, or choke points. A choke point is a military term meaning "controlling area". For example, if five water tributaries feed into one major river, it follows that whoever controls the river, controls the tributaries. That makes the river the controlling point When you choke the river, you choke the tributaries. These points, which are grabbed, pushed or pulled, are used to put the opponent off balance, causing the body to go out of control into a swirling, whirlwind effect.  The student who has developed the skill to know where the choke points are can easily fling a 275-pound opponent around, despite a handicap that could approach 150 pounds.  We have borrowed this terminology to illustrate the importance of control. Now, let's look at a few examples with which you can experiment. The Bicep Push With both hands, one opponent grabs the other by the biceps, twisting in toward the front of the body. Push the biceps directly into the ear and then walk or run forward.  Because of the twisting of the body, the opponent receiving the push must walk diagonally, thus causing him to become extremely off balance.  The bicep push is used to either move an opponent or, as in this instance, to pin him against an environmental obstacle ( wall/fence).The adversary is now set up for a knee spike to the right thigh.  Remember, as with the use of any technique, nothing is foolproof. Soon, the opponent will regain balance, and at that point the biceps pull can be implemented. The Bicep Pull The grip of the pull is identical to that of the push. The key to this technique is in the timing and sensitivity. You must sense, or anticipate, the moment when your opponent will plant his foot to regain the balance that was lost during the biceps push. At this point, the opponent's energy will shift and come toward you. You must respond-not by fighting his energy, but by pulling it. In effect, you are using your opponent's energy to your advantage The biceps pull and biceps push are best used in cooperation with each other. Either one may start or finish a sequence, depending on the energy presented by the opponent. The Head Twist Another very simple technique used in Dumog is the head twist. Here, the opponent places both hands over the other opponent,  ears (similar to the method used in grabbing the steering wheel of a car). Grabbing the opponent's hair instead of his ears is a technique that can also be used, With a quick jerk, twist the  head sideways, step back and then tip the head upside-down,  pulling it backwards. As the opponent regains balance, simply twist the head in the opposite direction and repeat the process.   The head twist can be a very effective technique because, with this motion, you are contorting the spinal cord and causing a disturbance to your opponent's equilibrium.  In the sport of Dumog, proper technique and process calculation are critical to victory. When these same techniques are used in a realistic street fight, other elements must be incorporated to produce maximum devastation.   In most cases, "plain and simple" sophistication and precision in a down-and-dirty street fight is, to say the least, a joke. Street fighting is deceptive. It takes on many shapes, characteristics and conditions. For example, a street fight may take place in rain or snow; it may happen on a flat or hilly surface, or even on a stairway. Such a fight may easily involve multiple attackers or weapons. Dumog Tactics of Defense 1. The first principle is not to waste strength wrestling with an opponent. If he already has you at a disadvantage. Instead look for a way to strike that will cause pain and shock first and then find away to get out of his grip. Using your hands, forearms, knees/head and even your feet.  In Kali practitioners seek to avoid getting caught in their opponent's locks by hitting (destructions) first to the extremities and continuing, to strike vital parts of the body.  Working towards the head for control. The principle here is to defeat the grappler by damaging him so much he can't grapple. The hitting is used to soften and tranquilize him for escape and counter control.   2. The second principle is to get your balance and maintain it. If you can maneuver the attacker off balance, his advantage will be neutralized. In Panantukan/Dumog  the principle of body manipulation is one of the basic requirements to develop. Using arm levels, pushing, pulling, and control of the head. Using Kali's triangle footwork to off balance and maneuver the attacker into throws, sweeps, and takedowns. 3. The third principle is to use your entire body weight in any movement or technique that you may attempt. Don't just use your arm strength alone. Put your hips, legs and upper body behind each movement fully. Finally remember that the attacker is always vulnerable somewhere. Even if he is behind you, or on top of you. If he is physically taller to bigger. He is still vulnerable, to the right attack to the right target be calm and assess the situation and you will find a solution being caught in a headlock or a choke can cause some panic. Particularly if you have practiced a couple of techniques that will work to free yourself from the attacker, it is also important to strike effectively before the pressure from the lock or hold causes extreme pain or unconsciousness.

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Wong Jack Man vs Bruce Lee

"BRUCE LEE’S TOUGHEST FIGHT" by Michael Dorgan (from Official Karate, July 1980)

Considering the skill of the opponents and the complete absence of referees, rules, and safety equipment, it was one hell of a fight that took place that day in December. It may have been the most savagely elegant exhibition of unarmed combat of the century. Yet, at a time when top fighters tend to display their skills only in huge closed-circuited arenas, this battle was fought in virtual secrecy behind locked doors. And at a time when millions of dollars can ride on the outcome of a championship fight, these champions of another sort competed not for money, but for more personal and passionate reasons. The time was late winter, 1964; the setting was a small kung fu school in Oakland, California. Poised at the center of the room, with approximately 140 pounds packed tightly on his 5’7" frame, was the operator of the school, a 24-year old martial artist of Chinese ancestry but American birth who, within a few years, would skyrocket to international attention as a combination fighter/film star. A few years after that, at age 32, he would die under mysterious circumstances. His name, of course, was Bruce Lee. Also poised in the center of the room was another martial artist. Taller but lighter, with his 135 pounds stretched thinly over 5’10", this fighter was also 24 and also of Chinese descent. Born in Hong Kong and reared in the south of mainland China, he had only recently arrived in San Francisco’s teeming Chinatown, just across the bay from Oakland. Though over the next 15 years he would become widely known in martial arts circles and would train some of America’s top martial artists, he would retain a near disdain for publicity and the commercialization of his art, and consequently would remain unknown to the general public. His name: Wong Jack Man.What happened after the fighters approached the center of the room has become a chapter of Chinatown’s "wild history," that branch of Chinese history usually anchored in fact but always richly embellished by fantasy, a history that tells much about a time and place with little that’s reliable about any particular incident. Exactly how the fight proceeded and just who won are still matters of controversy, and will likely remain so. But from the few available firsthand accounts and other evidence, it is possible to piece together a reasonably reliable picture that reveals two overriding truths. First, considering the skill of the opponents and the complete absence of referees, rules, and safety equipment, it was one hell of a fight that took place that day in December. And second, Bruce Lee, who was soon to rival Mao Tse Tung as the world’s most famous Chinese personality, was dramatically affected by the fight, perhaps fatally so.Due to the human desire to be known as an eye witness to a famous event, it is easier to obtain firsthand accounts of the fight from persons who were not there than from those who were. As to how many persons actually viewed the contest, even that is a point of dispute. Bruce Lee’s wife Linda recalls a total of 13 persons, including herself. But the only person that she identifies other than her husband and his associate James Lee, who died of cancer shortly before her husband died, is Wong Jack Man. Wong, meanwhile, remembers only seven persons being present, including the three Lees. Of the three persons other than the Lees and himself, only one, a tai chi teacher named William Chen (not to be confused with the William Chi Cheng Chen who teaches the art in New York), could be located. Chen recalls about 15 persons being present but can identify none other than Wong and the Lees. So except for a skimpy reference to the fight by Bruce Lee himself in a magazine interview, we are left with only three firsthand accounts of the battle. They are accounts which vary widely.Linda Lee, in her book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, initially dismisses the fight as follows: "The two came out, bowed formally and then began to fight. Wong adopted a classic stance whereas Bruce, who at the time was still using his Wing Chun style, produced a series of straight punches. "Within a minute, Wong’s men were trying to stop the fight as Bruce began to warm to his task. James Lee warned them to let the fight continue. A minute later, with Bruce continuing the attack in earnest, Wong began to backpedal as fast as he could. For an instant, indeed, the scrap threatened to degenerate into a farce as Wong actually turned and ran. But Bruce pounced on him like a springing leopard and brought him to the floor where he began pounding him into a state of demoralization."Is that enough?" shouted Bruce. "That’s enough!" pleaded Wong in desperation. So the entire matter was just another quick triumph for the man who frequently boasted he could whip any man in the world. Or was it? Later in her book, Linda Lee hints that the fight may have amounted to more than the brief moment of violent diversion she had earlier described. "Bruce’s whole life was an evolving process - and this was never seen to greater effect than in his work with the martial arts," she begins. "The clash with Wong Jack Man metamorphosed his own personal expression of kung fu. Until this battle, he had largely been content to improvise and expand on his original Wing Chun style, but then he suddenly realized that although he had won comparatively easily, his performance had been neither crisp of efficient. The fight, he realized, ought to have ended within a few seconds of him striking the first blows - instead of which it had dragged on for three minutes. In addition, at the end, Bruce had felt unusually winded which proved to him he was far from perfect condition. So he began to dissect the fight, analyzing where he had gone wrong and seeking to find ways where he could have improved his performance. It did not take him long to realize that the basis of his fighting art, the Wing Chun style, was insufficient. It laid too much stress on hand techniques, had very few kicking techniques and was, essentially, partial."Still later in the book, Linda Lee adds: "The Wong Jack Man fight also caused Bruce to intensify his training methods. From that date, he began to seek out more and more sophisticated and exhaustive training methods. I shall try to explain these in greater detail later, but in general the new forms of training meant that Bruce was always doing something, always training some part of his body or keeping it in condition."Whether Bruce Lee’s intensified training was to his benefit or to his destruction is a matter to be discussed later. For now, merely let it be observed that the allegedly insignificant "scrap" described early by Linda Lee has now been identified by her as cause for her husband to intensify his training and serves as the pivotal reason for his abandoning the fighting style he had practiced religiously for more than 10 years.That the fight with Wong was the reason Lee quit, and then later repudiated the Wing Chun style, was confirmed by Lee himself in an interview with Black Belt. "I’d gotten into a fight in San Francisco (a reference, no doubt, to the Bay Area rather than the city) with a Kung-Fu cat, and after a brief encounter the son-of-a-bitch started to run. I chased him and, like a fool, kept punching him behind his head and back. Soon my fists began to swell from hitting his hard head. Right then I realized Wing Chun was not too practical and began to alter my way of fighting."For those who have difficulty believing that a quick if clumsy victory over a worthy opponent was sufficient reason for Lee to abandon a fighting style that had seen him through dozens of vicious street fights as a youth in Hong Kong, where his family had moved shortly after his birth in San Francisco, a more substantial reason for Lee to change styles can be found in the account of the fight given by Wong Jack Man.According to Wong, the battle began with him bowing and offering his hand to Lee in the traditional manner of opening a match. Lee, he say, responded by pretending to extend a friendly hand only to suddenly transform the hand into a four-pronged spear aimed at Wong’s eyes."That opening move," says Wong, "set the tone for Lee’s fight." Wing Chun has but three sets, the solo exercises which contain the full body of technique of any style, and one of those sets is devoted to deadly jabbing and gouging attacks directed primarily at the eyes and throat. "It was those techniques," say Wong, "which Lee used most."There were flurries of straight punches and repeated kicks at his groin, adds Wong, but mostly, relentlessly, there were those darting deadly finger tips trying to poke out his eyes or puncture his throat. And what he say he anticipated as serious but sportsmanly comparison of skill suddenly became an exercise in defending his life.Wong says that before the fight began Lee remarked, in reference to a mutual acquaintance who had helped instigate the match, "You’ve been killed by your friend." Shortly after the bout commenced, he adds, he realized Lee’s words had been said in earnest."He really wanted to kill me," says Wong. In contrast to Lee’s three Wing Chun sets, Wong, as the grand master of the Northern Shaolin style, knew dozens. But most of what he used against Lee, says Wong, was defensive. Wong says he parried Lee’s kicks with his legs while using his hand and arms to protect his head and torso, only occasionally delivering a stinging blow to Lee’s head or body. He fought defensively, explains Wong, in part because of Lee’s relentless aggressive strategy, and in part because he feared the consequences of responding in kind to Lee’s attempt to kill him. In pre-Revolutionary China, fights to the finish were often allowed by law, but Wong knew that in modern-day America, a crippling or killing blow, while winning a victory, might also win him a jail sentence.That, says Wong, is why he failed to deliver a devastating right-hand blow on any of the three occasions he had Lee’s head locked under his left arm. Instead, he says, he released his opponent each time, only to have an even more enraged Bruce Lee press on with his furious attack. "He would never say he lost until you killed him," says Wong. And despite his concern with the legal consequences, Wong says that killing Lee is something he began to consider. "I remember thinking, ‘If he injures me, if he really hurts me, I’ll have to kill him."But according to Wong, before that need arose, the fight had ended, due more to what Linda Lee described as Lee’s "unusually winded" condition than to a decisive blow by either opponent. "It had lasted," says Wong, "at least 20 minutes, maybe 25."Though William Chen’s recollections of the fight are more vague than the other two accounts, they are more in alignment with Wong’s than Lee’s. On the question of duration, for example, Chen, like Wong, remembers the fight continuing for "20 or 25 minutes." Also, he cannot recall either man being knocked down. "Certainly," he says, "Wong was not brought to the floor and pounded into a ‘state of demoralization.’"Regarding Wong’s claim that three times he had Lee’s head locked under his arm, Chen says he can neither confirm or deny it. He remembers the fighters joining on several occasions, but he could not see very clearly what was happening at those moments.Chen describes the outcome of the battle as "a tie." He adds, however, that whereas an enraged Bruce Lee had charged Wong "like a mad bull," obviously intent upon doing him serious injury. Wong had displayed extraordinary restraint by never employing what were perhaps his most dangerous weapons - his devastating kicks.A principal difference between northern and southern Chinese fighting styles is that the northern styles give much more emphasis to kicking, and Northern Shaolin had armed Wong with kicks of blinding speeds and crushing power. But before the fight, recalls Chen, "Sifu Wong said he would not use his kicks; he thought they were too dangerous." And despite the dangerous developments that followed that pledge, Chen adds that Wong "kept his word." Though Chen’s recollections exhaust the firsthand accounts, there are further fragments of evidence to indicate how the fight ended.Ming Lum, who was then a San Francisco martial arts promoter, says he did not attend the fight because he was a friend of both Lee and Wong, and feared that a battle between them would end in serious injury, maybe even death. "Who," he asks, "would have stopped them?" But Lum did see Wong the very next day at the Jackson Cafe, where the young grand master earned his living as a waiter (he had, in fact, worked a full shift at the busy Chinatown restaurant the previous day before fighting Lee). And Lum says the only evidence he saw of the fight was a scratch above one eye, a scratch Wong says was inflicted when Lee went for his eyes as he extended his arm for the opening handshake."Some people say Bruce Lee beat up Jack Man bad," note Lum. "But if he had, the man would not have been to work the next day." By Lum’s assessment, the fact that neither man suffered serious injury in a no-holds-barred battle indicates that both were "very, very good." Both men were no doubt, very, very, good. But Wong, after the fight, felt compelled to assert, boldly and publicly, that he was the better of the two. He did so, he says, only because Lee violated their agreement to not discuss the fight.According to Wong, immediately following the match Lee had asked that neither man discuss it. Discussion would lead to more argument over who had won, a matter which could never be resolved as there had been no judges. Wong said he agreed.But within a couple of weeks, he says, Lee violated the agreement by claiming in an interview that he had defeated an unnamed challenger. Though Lee had not identified Wong as the loser, Wong says it was obvious to all of Chinatown that Lee was speaking of Wong. It had already become common knowledge within the Chinese community that the two had fought. In response to Lee’s interview, Wong wrote a detailed description of the fight which concluded with an open invitation to Lee to meet him for a public bout if Lee was not satisfied with Wong’s account. Wong’s version of the fight, along with the challenge, was run as the top story on the front page of San Francisco’s Chinese language Chinese Pacific Weekly. But Bruce Lee, despite his reputation for responding with fists of fury to the slightest provocation, remained silent.Now death has rendered the man forever silent. And the question of whether Wong presented Lee, who is considered by many to have been the world’s top martial artist, with the only defeat of his adult life will remain, among those concerned about such matters, forever a controversial one. Even those Bruce Lee fans who accepts the evidence as supportive of Wong’s account of the fight may argue that the outcome would have been different had the two battled a few years after Lee had developed his own style, Jeet Kune Do. But while it is true that Jeet Kune Du provided lee with a wider range of weapons, particularly kicks, it is also true that Wong continued to grow as a martial artist after the fight. Only after that battle, says Wong, did he develop tremendous chi powers from the practice of Tai Chi, Hsing I, and Pakua.Martial art styles can be divided roughly into two categories: external and internal. External styles, which are also called "hard" styles and which include such American favorites as Japanese karate and Korean taekwondo, rely primarily upon muscular strength, while internal or "soft" styles, such as Japanese Aikido and the three above-mentioned Chinese styles, cultivate a more mysterious energy called chi.Although everybody has chi, few people have much of it, and fewer still know how to express it. But according to the Chinese, this precious elixir can be cultivated and controlled through the exercises of the internal martial arts styles.Specifically, they say chi can be brewed in the tan tien, a spot about an inch below the navel. Once the tan tien is filled, the chi supposedly spills out into other parts of the body, where it is stored in the marrow of the bones. It is said that as a martial artist develops chi energy, his bones become hard, his sinews tough, is muscles supple and relaxed, which allow the chi to circulate freely through the body.Chi usually takes much longer to develop than muscular strength, but it is considered a much more formidable energy. In normal times it is said to serve as a source of extraordinary vitality and as a guardian against my diseases. And in battle, it is said to provide a person with awesome power and near invulnerability.Though Wong had been trained in the internal styles while still in China, up until the time he fought Lee he had concentrated mainly on the refinement of his elegantly athletic Northern Shaolin, which, like Lee’s Wing Chun, is an external style. Following the battle with Lee, Wong would train in the internal styles until he had developed such chi power that he can, according to Peter Ralston, a former student of Wong and the first non-Asian to win the Chinese Martial Arts World Championships in Taiwan, take a punch to any part of his body without injury or even discomfort. As for Wong’s offensive capabilities, they have apparently never been tested.Regarding the question of how much Lee grew as a martial artist after the fight, Wong is convinced that the benefits to Lee from his homemade style were more than offset by the damage it did him. Wong even goes so far as to speculate that Jeet Kune Do may have caused Lee’s death.Most martial arts masters agree that just as serious training in a proper method can greatly improve one’s health, strenuous and prolonged training in an improper method can destroy health. Of the health damage is attributed to improper breathing practices, and often the damage is to the brain. Special use of the breath is acknowledged by every martial arts style as a key element to developing power, though different styles have different breathing methods. Proper methods can be simply categorized as those which develop power while building health, and improper methods as those which either fail to build power or build it but at the expense of one’s health. Though many of the ways in which breathing methods affect health remain mysterious, the methods themselves - at least the proper methods - have been empirically refined over many generations. Wong’s Northern Shaolin, for example, can be traced back to the great Shaolin Temple of more than a thousand years ago, which is considered the source of Chinese martial arts. While the Wing Chun practiced by Lee until his fight with Wong also had a long period of development and refinement, the style he put together after the fight was a chop suey of many and varied ingredients.That Jeet Kune Do lacked the cohesion and harmony of a style in the traditional sense was something acknowledged by Lee himself, who preferred to call it a "sophisticated form of street fighting" rather than a style. After abandoning Wing Chin, Lee developed a disdain for all traditional styles, which he considered restrictive and ineffective. He even went so far as to place outside his school a mock tombstone that read: "In memory of a once fluid man crammed and distorted by the classical mess." It is grimly ironic that it would be Lee would be in need of a tombstone long before the man, trained by and loyal to the "classical mess," who was almost certainly his most formidable opponent.It cannot be proven, of course, that Lee’s fatal edema of the brain was caused by Jeet Kune Do, just as it could not be proven his death was brought on by any of the other rumored causes ranging from illicit drugs to excessive sex to blows on the head. Wong thinks, to serve as a caution to those who believe they can, by themselves, develop the knowledge it has taken others many generations of cumulative effort to acquire.Perhaps it is because he gives so much credit to those who came before him that Wong’s voice is absent of boast when he says his art was superior to Lee’s. But while to him that is a matter of simple fact, Wong, aware that legends are larger than men, is not optimistic about ever being accepted as the winner of the fight. He says, however, that what people think regarding the outcome of the fight is less important to him than what they think provoked the battle in the first place.In Linda Lee’s account, which has been repeated in a number of Bruce Lee biographies, Wong is portrayed not only as a loser but also as a villian. According to Ms. Lee, Wong provoked the fight in an attempt to force her husband to stop teaching Kung Fu to Caucasians.After sketching a brief history of Chinese martial arts up to the Boxer Rebellion, she writes: "Since then - and the attitude is understandable - Chinese, particularly in America, have been reluctant to disclose these secrets to Caucasians. It became an unwritten law that the art should be taught only to Chinese. Bruce considered such thinking completely outmoded and when it was argued that white men, if taught the secrets, would use the art to injure the Chinese, he pointed out that if a white man really wanted to injure a Chinese, there were plenty of other ways he could do it. "However, Bruce soon found that at first his views were not shared by members of the Chinese community in San Francisco, particularly those in martial arts’ circles. Several months after he and James Lee had begun teaching, a kung fu expert called Wong Jack Man turned up at Bruce’s kwoon (school) on Broadway. Wong had just recently arrived in San Francisco’s Chinatown from Hong Kong and was seeking to establish himself at the time, all his pupils being strictly pure Chinese. Three other Chinese accompanied Wong Jack Man who handed Bruce an ornate scroll which appears to have been an ultimatum from the San Francisco martial arts community. Presumably, if Bruce lost the challenge, he was either to close down his Institute or stop teaching Caucasians."So by Linda Lee’s account, her husband had suddenly found himself in a position no less heroic than of having to defend, possibly to the death, the right to teach Caucasians the ancient Chinese fighting secrets. It is a notion that Wong finds ridiculous.The reason he showed up at Lee’s school that day, says Wong, is because a mutual acquaintance had hand-delivered a note from Lee inviting him to fight. The note was sent, say Wong, after he had requested a public bout with Lee after Lee had boasted during a demonstration at a Chinatown theater that he could beat any martial artist in San Francisco and had issued an open challenge to fight anyone who thought he could prove him wrong. As for those in attendance at the fight, Wong says he only knew of few of them, and those barely. Certainly, he says, no group had come as formal representative of the San Francisco martial arts community. Wong attributes both Lee’s initial challenge and his response to the same emotion, to arrogance. "If I had it to do over," he says, " I wouldn’t." But while admitting to youthful arrogance, Wong strongly contests Linda Lee’s allegation that he was guilty of trying to stop Bruce Lee from teaching Caucasians.It is true, say Wong, that most - but not all - of his students during his first years were teaching were Chinese. But that was true, he adds, only because few Americans outside of Chinese communities had even heard of kung fu. Americans who then knew anything at all of the martial arts most likely knew of Japanese judo or karate. They would not hear of kung fu until several years later, when it would be made famous by the dazzling choreography's of Bruce Lee.Far from attempting to keep kung fu secret and exclusive, Wong observes that his was the first school in San Francisco’s Chinatown to operate with open doors. That the other kung fu schools then in existence conducted classes behind locked doors was due more to the instructor’s fears of being challenged, say Wong, than to a refusal to teach Caucasians. Once Caucasians became interested in kung fu, it would be Wong who would train some of the best of them, including Ralston and several other leading West Coast instructors. And all of these students of Wong who currently teaches at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center would be taught for a monthly fee amounting to a fraction of the hourly rate (in some cases $500) charged by the man who allegedly fought for the right to teach them.

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Silat

Silat is a loose term used to refer to Indonesian, Malaysian, and some Filipino martial arts. Silat loosely translated may mean "one that moves like lightning". It may also mean "skillful movement" but the exact etimology of the term is hard to trace due to the infusion of so many cultures. Based on where the style originated it may be called Main Po, Betawi, Penjak Silat, Poekolon, etc. Jave, Sumatra, Bali, and other regions all have their own blend of this approach. Most Silat systems are blade oriented and therefore the knife is a big part of it. The wavy blade known as the Kris is a trademark of Silat and is regarded by the most steeped in Silat to possess magical properties. The teacher of Silat is called "Guru" or "Guro in tagalog". The master "Maha Guru". The spiritual master as "Pendekar". These terms may be interchangable depending on who you get your knowledge. Popular systems are Mande Muda, Cimande, Bukti Negara, Maphilindo, Harimau, Mustika Kwitang, Tapak Suci, Tjimande, Poekoelan Tjiminde, the list goes on…Indonesian culture has three main categories of martial art form: 1. Pentjak Silat (self-defense) ; 2. Penjang Gulat (wrestling ); and 3. Ujungan (stick & blade application). These variations of fighting methods have been in existence since 400 AD. Today, Pentjak Silat is the most popular of the three systems with wide spread organized associations and through acknowledged practitioners. Penjang Gulatis practiced mostly by the farmers of Indonesia, and is rarely seen today, except at annual festival events. Ujungan is occasionally incorporated into various Pentjak Silat styles or other systems that are closely related to Indonesian culture like the Filipino martial arts. These three major styles may be seen individually as a self-defense form or combined to make up one particular system. This depends on the experience of the practitioner.  Pentjak Silat is performed with a high degree of rhythmic and artistic motions that give it a dance like appearance with a deadly array of combative techniques. The combinations of soft and hard explosive movements, changing directions at any point in time, forms a defensive system that uses hard strikes with flexible postures. Pentjak Silat practitioners occasionally hide their techniques from the attacker with unusual postures, stances and hypnotic movements that are meant to confuse and deceive the attacker. Once this is achieved, Pentjak Silat practitioners will defend or attack from a variation of angles and positions that surprise the opponent, giving the advantage to the Pentjak Silat practitioner. Other forms of deception that Indonesian warriors have used against their opponents are colorful garments and wooden facial masks that represented frightened and colorful gods.  These tactics were also used to heighten the warriors adrenaline to endure the pains and victory of  battle. It is also noted that these tactics of self hypnotizes were used to transcends one's spirit and physical appearance into a form of a god, making him invincible and untouchable. But Hindu master that perform such court dances of display represent not only the invincible warrior but princes, guardians, heroes and legends that all tell stories of their great nobility. Such acts as these have been the core of Indonesian beliefs for thousands of years. There are approximately 800 different systems of Pentjak Silat throughout Indonesia. Each share some similar characteristics to the other, but all Pentjak Silat styles are different in their fighting method. Distinctive styles developed to address the differences in the terrain and environment of the villages as well as the physical characteristics of the tribesmen that displayed them. Some techniques are characterized by upright postures and sweeping motions that trip the opponent off balance, while other styles are characterized by low stances and involve pulling the opponent to the ground.  Pentjak Silat practitioners are trained to constantly deliver elbows, knees, empty hand blows, locks and take downs as their primary empty hand defense, and yet maintaining to keep the symbolic art form that is native to the Indonesian culture. Variations in the use of daggers and blades are incorporated into Pentjak Silat empty hand defense without changing the basis of the system. Blending the use of weaponry, with ones movements and combative applications, forges a type of martial art that is mysterious, sophisticated and deadly with weaponry applications.                                                                                                                           Migration from different cultures such as Persia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Europe have occurred in the Indonesian islands for centuries. The Dutch being one of the most successful in controlling the spice trade and valuable resources that are native to the Indonesian islands ruled parts of Indonesia until the year 1948. In that year, the Indonesian revolution occurred, and native Indonesians successfully fought to take back the control of their country from the Dutch. Today we see Pentjak Silat spelled and pronounced in two different manners. 1. Native Indonesian spelling - Pencak Silat  2. English spelling -Pentjak Silat.       Pentjak Silat teaches specifically arranged set forms that are called: Juru's, Buha and Sumbuts. These patterns train the practitioner to constantly move into particular formations of footwork while executing their defensive weaponry. Indonesian native instruments are played to accompany the practitioner's movements and to influence rhythm into the practitioner's motions. Once this is mastered the practitioner then will incorporate several of the forms that have been practiced, and deliver them without any particular order or structure. This high level of performance is called "Kembangan" which translates to "ones own expression" while performing Pentjak Silat.

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Sparring – 12 Tips For Everyone

This article is by Steven @ http://muaythaipros.com/  and is about muay thai sparring but applies to all sparring.

The first time you start sparring can be extremely intimidating if you don’t know what to expect. Most beginners think of sparring as one step away from being in an actual fight. The better you are at sparring, the more success you will have in preparing for a fight. If you are only training muay thai to burn calories and get a cardio workout then sparring is optional and you should continue to have fun and enjoy the sport of muay thai. However, if you actually want to get better at muay thai, sparring should be added to your training regimen. Sparring is designed to practice new techniques and reinforce the basics. It is used to help develop timing and recognition, both of which help you use your weapons in a fight. When an opponent recognizes how to win, those win’s will keep on coming. In order to get the most out of your sparring and training, be sure to follow these tips. Tip # 1 Don’t Go 100% – I do not think it is a good idea for beginners to spar very hard. If you have a fight coming up, hard sparring can be advantageous; however, as a beginner start slow. Usually it takes one person to kick or punch really hard, then both parties start elevating the pace. The easiest way to tell if someone is new is usually when the person is going 100% trying to KO their sparring partner. Remembering that you are sparring to improve your technique, not to KO your partner. Sparring is teamwork and neither should be going 100%. Tip # 2 Lose the Ego – You will hit and get hit. Accept it and be ready for it. Get over your ego. People who feel that they are too good to get kicked or punched are not in touch with reality. You are training in a full contact sport and if you are new to sparring and worried about looking bad then you are in the wrong sport. The only way to get better at muay thai is to get your hands dirty. The only way you will learn to block and punch and kick is if you get kicked and punched. Eventually you will learn to block those kicks and protect yourself from those punches. Having an ego will only get in the way of becoming a better fighter. You don’t want to be “that guy” in the gym that everyone is talking about after training and at the end of the day no one even wants to spar and train with you. You can only get better with the help of others. Be sure to respect everyone at the gym and be humble. Tip #3 Look for Openings/Timing is everything – Don’t kick for the sake of kicking! Look for an opening in your opponents guard and try to exploit it. Throw a right kick and see how your opponent responds. You need to test the waters to see if you can find any weaknesses. After all, everyone has a weakness and it is up to the opponent to identify it and maximize this to his/her advantage. The more you spar, the easier it becomes to identify weaknesses and different styles. Tip #4 Use Combinations – Once you get used to sparring you should start to try and put together combinations. Instead of throwing a low kick, why not throw a jab-jab-low kick? Remember that putting combinations together is much more effective at landing shots than throwing single attacks. Use as many combinations as you can in order to be more effective. Focusing on using your hands and feet together in the combinations. For example, you might try a jab-jab-left hook-low kick. It is always good to try and end a combination with a kick as it scores more points. Tip #5 Create a Game Plan – Before every sparing session you should have specific things that you want to improve on. “My goal this session is to…” Try and select a few key things that you will focus on during a sparring session. For example, you might want to enter a sparring session to try and work on setting up your low kicks. During the session, focus on throwing that low kick after every punch. This is a great way to improve your kicks. Realistically, in a fight, you’re not going to throw that low kick after every punch but at least your body is use to certain combinations and there is no hesitation when you want to execute it. Tip #6 Knowledge is Power – Ask for advice! After sparring with someone, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Think of it as a partnership. Your sparring partner is your teammate and you will grow if you work together to improve your game. This goes both ways, so don’t hesitate to offer tips and advice if you see something that the person can improve on. The more knowledge you have during training, the closer you are to becoming a better fighter. Tip #7 Change your Sparring Partners – Don’t be afraid to spar different people. Variety is essential! Everybody has their favourite combinations and their own style. Sparring with different people will enable you to react and respond faster and easier the more you do it. As a beginner you want to go outside your comfort zone. Practice and train your weaknesses. Whatever you feel least comfortable doing…train it, so that it becomes second nature!  Make your weaknesses your strengths. Don’t be afraid to spar someone that is better than you. Often you will learn the most from people who are at a higher level. It’s easier to pin point your weaknesses when your game is elevated. Those old habits your trainer was knit picky about will come out during uncomfortable sparring sessions. A good fighter is able to adapt and respond quickly in a fight to different styles and use it in a way that will win. Tip #8 Look for Trends – When you begin sparring with someone you should try and look for specific patterns you notice about their style. If they are a southpaw you will want to adjust your game plan. If they have heavy hands, you will want to make sure your guard is strong and look for the leg kick opening. Use that first minute of sparring to your advantage and see what combinations they keep on throwing. Knowing their strengths and favourite combos will help you better prepare for it the next time they throw it. Tip #9 Relax – In Thailand you’ll often here the trainers say “Sabai Sabai!” This is a tip useful to anyone and is often the most difficult  when you start sparring. Try to focus on slowing down your pace with calming breaths. The biggest challenge is when people aren’t relaxed the body tenses up. All of a sudden your punches and kicks are slower and it is easier for your opponent to hit you. Before you know it, you feel as if all technique and training is forgotten. You’re not alone! If you’re mindful and conscientious of being relaxed you can practice and train your body to do what you want. Tip #10 Stay Balanced – Hold your ground! Balance is an essential component of muay thai. One thing that you will notice with muay thai compared to other martial arts is that after every punch or kick you are back to your neutral defensive stance. This will ensure that you will always be in a good position to block and counter any attacks that you might receive when you are sparring. It is important to focus on always trying to maintain strong balance to put you in a position to counter or attack. Tip #11 Imagine Sparring is a Game – When you spar, pretend you are playing a game. You want to score as many points as you can without your opponent scoring points on you. You should also remember that in traditional muay thai body kicks score the most points, then knees, low kicks and punches. When you pretend you are playing a game when you spar, it will help you relax and focus on trying to do the right things. Sometimes we need to “trick” our brain or breakdown a task, so that the mountain only looks like a small hill. It’s easy for one to say “relax”, but it is more difficult to understand how to get the mind and body there. Tip #12 Have Fun – Sparring should be fun. There is no winning or losing. Sparring is a great opportunity to learn and improve your muay thai game. Chalk it up to experience! No matter how hard you spar with someone, you should always respect them at the end of the round. Don’t ever forget that you are sparring to get better. Remember that sparring is about improving your timing, technique and footwork to prepare you for a real fight. It is the best way to simulate a fight. The more you can practice these tips, the more success you will have in becoming a better fighter.

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Martial Arts and The Bible

Happy Easter! 2019

As a Christian and a martial arts student, I have often wrestled with the idea of self-defense. Does God expect me to defend my family and myself when physically attacked or am I to "turn the other cheek" and endure it in the name of Jesus? As I considered the many comments I encountered on this topic, I became even more confused. Some advocates for "religion" have gone as far as to say that anyone who practices any form of martial arts is without a doubt bound for hell. It wasn't until I committed myself to a more thorough study of the scriptures that I discovered the truth for myself. The Bible gives more than a few examples of the practice of self-defense and the idea of martial arts. I would like to share some of what I have learned in this study of the Bible - Old Testament and New. The Bible is, in fact, the very word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17).

God and Warfare

The first example of a physical struggle in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 4. It is here that Cain kills his brother Abel. This is an act of violence condemned by God for two reasons. First, the violence was out of anger and jealousy because his brother's actions were better than his own (Genesis 4:4-7). Secondly, the violence was pre-meditated. God confronted Cain before this violence occurred. He told Cain that he would need to figure out how to master the sin of anger and jealousy that was trying to overtake him. What this scripture teaches is that God does not want us to initiate violence but he wants us to train ourselves to master our emotions when tempted with feelings of anger, jealousy and rage. He wants us to prepare our hearts to respond humbly. I believe the study of martial arts can provide this kind of training. I have seen it in my son's martial arts class. His sensei (teacher) may spend up to half of the one-hour class teaching the children humility, manners, concern for others and peace-making. They are taught to avoid violence and stay calm in situations of conflict. This kind of character training is right in line with the example of God's training of Cain.

The next biblical example of a conflict involving a physical struggle is found in Genesis chapter 14. In this chapter, kings are at war and Abram's nephew, Lot, and Lot's family are taken captive. In response to hearing the news about his relatives, Abram sends men to rescue them. In Genesis 14:14-16, Abram sent out "the 318 trained men born in his household". It seems that even though Abram was not at war, he had a training program for his family and household. It was obviously a training program for warfare of some kind - and a good one, at that, since they were victorious in returning Lot, his family and all of their possessions from the hands of warring kings. After Abram's successful rescue, he is honored by God and reminded that God had made him successful against his adversary. God later renames Abram, "Abraham" and he becomes the founding father of faith for the Jewish people (and later Christians as well).

To clarify the meaning of the term "martial arts", Webster's defines the word martial as "warfare" or "warrior", and arts as "a skill acquired by study". In the story of Abram rescuing Lot, the Bible gives us an example of warrior training. Not everyone in Abram's household was a part of the 318 trained men, but the ones that were had excellent martial arts training. And God helped them to be victorious as they executed their warfare skills.

Here are a few other brief examples of warfare, from the Old Testament, that could be studied further:

* Genesis 32 - Jacob avoids war with his brother, Esau. He prepares for battle but orchestrates a peaceful resolution.

* Deuteronomy 20 - God goes with the warriors to fight against their enemies.

* II Samuel 23:8-39 - the Bible describes David and his mighty men of battle.

* Nehemiah 4 - the builders of Jerusalem's city wall carry weapons to defend themselves during the rebuilding.

There are many more examples in the Old Testament, with a wide variety of scenarios and many unique resolutions. The subject of warfare is very complex and each situation needs to be considered carefully. Therefore, when faced with adversity, wisdom needs to be applied.

An Eye For An Eye

Even with the Old Testament of the Bible showing support for martial arts training, some might argue that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament - that God's position on warfare changed when Jesus came on the scene. It might be said that the God of the Old Testament was about war and the God of the New Testament is about peace.

The Bible, however, does not support this. James 1:17 says that God does not change, and Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ [God] is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore, the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. As we continue to study this topic, we will see that the New Testament also discusses self-defense and the idea of martial arts.

Matthew 5:38-42, in which Jesus talks about "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", has been used to condemn martial arts. It reads, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." At first glance this passage seems to be advocating a reversal of the Old Testament laws. I was swayed by this argument myself, and was torn in my own convictions for some time. But when I finally decided to dig deeper into the Bible, I was amazed and encouraged to find some answers.

Many people who want to obey the Bible simply gloss over this scripture, like I did, because they are torn between what they think the Bible says and their consciences telling them to prepare for warfare and to protect.

The truth is that Jesus never intended to abolish the Old Testament laws. He only intended to clarify them, to reinforce them, fulfill them, and reveal God's heart behind them. This is what Jesus says just moments earlier in Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the [Old Testament] Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." When Jesus speaks about "turning the other cheek", in Matthew 5, he is referring to the Old Testament Mosaic laws found in Exodus 21, 22 and 23. These chapters in Exodus contain the laws God gave to his people, which reinforce and further detail the famous "ten commandments". Jesus is specifically referring to Exodus 21:22 where God explains what punishment should be given if men are fighting and an innocent by-stander is harmed (in this instance, a pregnant woman). This is not a scripture about self-defense but about restitution and punishment for a crime. Jesus referred to this scripture because the people, in religious self-righteousness, were using this particular scripture to justify retaliation and vengeance. "An eye for an eye" had become an excuse to be intolerant and merciless toward one another. A closer look at the "act of aggression", that Jesus refers to as a strike on the cheek, will reveal that he is talking about an insult rather than a fighting fist. The word "strike" is translated from the Greek word "rhapizo" which is used interchangeably with the word "slap". In the Jewish culture (as in many other cultures), a slap in the face was a form of humiliation or rebuke. It was not necessarily a physical attack and was not meant to result in physical harm. Even Exodus 21:21 (regarding "an eye for an eye") says that if, as a result of a conflict, a pregnant by-stander is forced to give birth pre-maturely but there is no serious injury to the woman or the baby, "an eye for an eye" should not be applied as a punishment. Jesus is confirming that this Old Testament law regarding punishment is not to be used as an excuse for retaliation when inconvenienced or insulted. Jesus is exposing the heart of man and is further clarifying the Old Testament Law. God's desire is that we don't retaliate but rather that we restrain our emotions in the heat of conflict and maintain righteousness and mercifulness. We are not to pounce on our adversary at the first sign that we have been offended. The ultimate goal of God is to win over the offender, help him to see God's mercy and institute a change of heart in the offender (see 2 Peter 3:9-15 and Luke 9:51-56 for further study).

Guidelines For Martial Arts

The Bible provides some guidelines for practicing self-defense and martial arts as it aims to clarify what is and is not acceptable in the face of conflict. II Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture [the Bible] is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." I Corinthians 13:7 says, "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres". Using the Bible as a guide, a person can become thoroughly equipped to be a protector.

Permanent injury or death can occur as a result of practicing martial arts. This does not make martial arts unacceptable to God but God clarifies what is and is not acceptable in regard to deadly force in various situations. For example, Exodus 21:12-14 says that if a person is killed unintentionally, the killer is not guilty of murder. If it is intentional, the killer is to be sentenced to death. Exodus 21:18-19 says that if men are quarreling and one strikes the other and injures him seriously but not permanently (even with a weapon), he is responsible only to compensate the injured man for loss of time and medical expenses. I point out these scriptures to show that God is concerned with the attacker's and the defender's intentions as well as the outcome of the conflict. We cannot simply say that anyone who harms or kills another man is guilty and has committed a sin. It depends on his intentions. Also, we see that using extreme force, or even a weapon may be acceptable if it is used in a way as to not intentionally inflict permanent damage.

The Bible refers to another situation in which self-defense may be used during a robbery, in Exodus 22:2-3. If a man is being robbed, he is entitled to protect his property, his family and himself. If the attempted robbery takes place at night and the actions of self-defense result in the death of the robber, the defender is not guilty. If the attempted robbery takes place in the daytime and the robber is killed, the defender is guilty of sin. The difference may be that in the daytime, the defender should have more control of his actions and should be able to subdue the robber without killing him. Self-defense is warranted but control must be applied. At night, in the dark, maximum force would be acceptable since it is more difficult to assess the threat that the robber poses. It would be more difficult to tell if the attacker had a weapon, or to assess his physical strength.

God expects us to constantly make decisions about the situations we are in. In regard to martial arts and self-defense, it seems that God is concerned with our intentions. Guilt and innocence, to him, are a matter of the heart. God expects us to be directed by the heart of the scriptures in the Bible. We must be directed in our actions by scriptures such as Deuteronomy 5:17, which says, "You shall not murder" as well as I Corinthians 13:7 which says, "[Love] always protects". As the Bible states in II Timothy 3:16-17, all Bible scripture is relevant and useful. During one of my martial arts classes, one of my fellow students asked our sensei, "What attack should I make now?" He had just finished practicing a series of intense self-defense tactics on his partner, rendering him harmless. Sensei replied, "Run". No final "kill-move"? No, it is time to make another decision about the threat the attacker poses. If the attacker has been successfully rendered harmless then you shouldn't stick around to inflict more damage or further risk your own safety. The Bible gives us specific guidelines for martial arts but God also communicates his heart about how he wants us to treat one another. He wants us to treat one another with love - even in conflict.

Weapons

I have also wrestled with the question of whether or not it was right for weapons to be used as a means of defense. Should I own a fighting knife, a sword or a gun? Isaiah 2:4 says, "...They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." If this scripture were taken out of context with the rest of the Bible, to use a weapon would be a sin. But this scripture has to be balanced with others. In the context, this scripture is describing the contrast between the nations of that time and the type of nation Jesus would establish in the future. The nation that Jesus would establish would have no military and there would be no physical walls to defend. It would be a spiritual nation, not a physical one.

The New Testament clearly confirms the right to bear arms. Romans 13:4 says, "For [the governing authority] is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." Even Jesus directs his disciples to acquire weapons as the time of his crucifixion approached. Luke 22:36 says, "He said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'" And in Luke 22:38, "The disciples said, 'See Lord, here are two swords.' 'That is enough,' he replied." Peter soon after uses the sword to protect Jesus and Jesus rebukes him for it. This was not to say that it is wrong to use a weapon to protect someone. Peter had earlier been rebuked by Jesus for trying to keep him from fulfilling his mission of dying for the sins of the world (see Matthew 16:21-28). Jesus was re-stating that Peter was not to protect Jesus from going to his death. This was not the correct time to use the sword. Jesus had his disciples arm themselves because Jesus was not going to be with them, physically, any longer. They would need to protect themselves and each other and Jesus gave them the right to bear arms in order to do so.

Martial Arts Is Not Religion

It is important to note that martial arts is not religion in that it is not an institute of service and worship of God. It is only a tool to accomplish a necessary training. There will be flaws in all martial arts training and even things taught that are contradictory to the Bible. This will happen even when the martial arts style or system is advocating biblical-based training. Romans 3:4 says, "...Let God be true and every man a liar." My son was recently taught by an instructor during class to avoid talking about politics and religion in order to avoid conflict. Though I appreciate the effort made to train the kids to keep the peace, the concept is biblically flawed. I spent the next week teaching Bible scriptures to my son such as Acts 4, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey [man] rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." It is each person's responsibility as a Christian to know what the Bible teaches. Even in Acts 17:10-11, when the apostle Paul taught the people of Berea, the Bereans were honored by God for having a noble character because, "they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Each of us has the same responsibility to examine the scriptures to see if what we are being taught is true, whether it be a teaching from our martial arts instructor, school teacher, neighbor, or religious leader.

Conclusion

Martial arts training has its place. It can help people learn to deal with the inevitable conflicts in life. There is no escaping battle in life. God wants people to be prepared to handle these battles, whether it is to turn the other cheek to an insult, find a peaceful resolution, or physically defend themselves or others. Martial arts and self-defense are not sinful or inherently wrong, but without the guidance of God and the Bible, martial arts could be misapplied. Without proper biblical training we are left to our own sinful nature, which tends toward retaliation, haste, fear, hatred, pacifism, and intolerance. Martial arts is a biblical concept, but even more attention should be given to biblical training. The Bible should be used in conjunction with martial arts training. In conclusion, I Timothy 4:7-8, which says, "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

by: Tom Katch

A Quote By: Grand Master Danny Inosanto

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Kali - Arnis - Eskrima

Through out the Philippine history, Arnis or Kali has been utilized as defense of self, family, clan and the motherland. Arnis has been exhibited during the Battle of Mactan, Philippine Revolution against the Spaniards, and Philippine Guerilla resistance during Japanese occupation of the Philippines.  Armed with Arnis weaponry like daggers, bolos, and parangs, Filipino bravery and patriotism has been displayed through the effective techniques of Arnis, Kali, and Eskrima. Kali is a martial art of the Philippines with a long and varied history. It originally was developed by the peoples native to those islands over the centuries before the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan and the Spanish in 1521. At that time, it was in part based on a wavy-edged sword typically 30 inches long made of wood called (in at least one dialect) a "kalis" a modern derivative of which is the "kris". Upon their arrival, Magellan's force was engaged in a ferocious battle (or so the legend goes) by the islanders wielding such weapons. Their leader Lapu Lapu killed Magellan and the Spanish were repelled even though the heavily armoured Spanish had superior metal weaponry. Today Lapu Lapu is considered by many to be a national hero of the Philippines (Dr. Jose M. Rizal is the official national hero). Eventually the Spanish did take over the island, kali was banned, and the traditional weapons confiscated. The art was subsequently taken underground. The use of kalis shifted to sticks or "baston" commonly made of rattan. Through the years the name of the art changed to the Spanish derivative "arnis de mano" and "escrima/eskrima". But the martial art and spirit lived on. Today kali, arnis, and eskrima continues to be taught in the Philippines and around the world. By influential proponents like masters Ciriaco "Cacoy" Cañete , Leo Gaje jr.  Richard Bustillo, Dan Inosanto (friends, students, to Bruce Lee) have ensured that kali, (and arnis/escrima) will remain an active and vital martial art.

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"Greet what arrives, escort what leaves and rush upon loss of contact" -- Sijo Yip Man --

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The Intercept

Jeet Kune Do

 As most of us know, translates as 'The Way of the Intercepting Fist'. 

It seemed appropriate to provide an article about interception itself. The interception of an attack can be a very useful tool. It can add power to your attack without additional effort. It may require little preparation, giving the element of surprise. It also, can be extremely frustrating to your rival, helping to win the bout psychologically as well as physically. There are many different types of interception. An interception does not have to be executed only with the fist. You can intercept a punch with a kick, a kick with a punch, or a kick with a kick etc. Some do not even involve a strike from both sides. You can cut off an attack by simply moving into a position that will jam them, leaving no opportunity for them to land the attack. Alternatively, if he were to simply step one way or the other, you could intercept their motion with a blow, causing him to walk into it. There are also different times during the adversaries' attack in which an interception may take place. It can occur before, during, or after their attack or movement. Before, or while the opponent is in preparation, you can read their intentions and strike before they can initiate. During their movement, there may be several opportunities to intercept. You could strike from the materialization of their movement all the way up to their full commitment. After, or upon completion, the interception takes place as they recover and before they can launch another attack. In order to utilize interception as a tactic, it is necessary to train certain attributes. First are your Single Direct Attacks (or S.D.A.'s), for obvious reasons. The faster, more precise, and more powerful your technique, the better chance you will have in pulling it off. Next, and equally important, is mental awareness. Your mind must be sharp in order to pick up on their movement and react accordingly. Additionally, work to control your emotions is needed so that fear, self-doubt, and you ego do not cloud your senses and hinder your performance. Two other attributes that need specific attention are timing and distance. Surely, they are both important anyway, but without them, interception becomes impossible. Proper timing can be responsible for some of the most devastating attacks. You can use the momentum from your movement combined with theirs, timing it so that they collide head on into your strike. While the correct distance enables you to strike the target cleanly allowing for more power and penetration. Here are some examples of interceptions: 1. -The opponent begins to throw a front kick from the rear leg. -You intercept his kick with a sidekick to the attacking leg as it approaches your position. This is commonly called a stop kick or Jeet Tek in JKD. Depending on your distance and timing, you can attack just about any part of their leg, from the thigh down to the top of their foot. 2. -The opponent throws a jab at your head. -Drop and Step forward to the outside of their lead leg letting his jab pass over your shoulder. As it does, strike to their open rib cage. This is also called a slip. 3. - The opponent begins to step to his left. - Throw a hook with your right hand, timing it so that they walk into the punch. Strike them before they complete the step, they will take a much greater impact if their feet have not yet settled on the ground. Intercepting is almost an art in itself. It takes a lot of practice to perfect but is well worth the effort in the end. Once you are able to utilize interceptions effectively, you will gain a new level of control in both, sparring sessions, or on the street. Interception is a tool for the superior fighter.

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Yin Yang - by Yip Man

"Greet what arrives, escort what leaves and rush upon loss of contact"

Yin and yang is an ancient Chinese philosophy of universal balance.  Too much yin (soft) or to much yang (hard) could lead to destruction.  They work together in harmony. ESAELD follows the yin and yang principle in physical theory only.  Because of religious convictions we do not follow any part of the Zen Buddhism. Sticky hands encompasses plenty of yin and yang aspects in its practice.  One force balances the other.  But when one side over powers the other, the balance will break.  So as one side gets hit, the other side will follow the power or redirect the coming force.  Failing to maintain. the balance leads to being hit or trapped.  But yin and yang does not stop here, exercise of yin and yang in exchanging techniques the cycle of such forces.  Force comes, redirect.  Force retreats, follow.  Force detaches, strike. When the opponent tenses, we soften.  When he retreats, we follow.  To maintain the balance in such ranges, we must not rush or interrupt the connection between us.  But rather, follow the flow and never go against it.  We would use his momentum to redirect him even off his balance.  We follow his momentum as he retreats and then strike him.  Like when he opens, we occupy it.  When he occupies, we open a new space for him. ​

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The Basic Theory of Yin and Yang In the Art of Gung Fu

By Bruce Lee - Oakland, California, USA

The basic structure of Gung Fu is based on the theory of Yin/Yang, a pair of mutually complementary forces that act continuously, without cessation, in this universe. This Chinese way of life can be applied to anything, but here we are interested in its relationship to the art of Gung Fu. the black part of the circle is called Yin. Yin can represent anything in the universe as: negativeness, passiveness, gentleness, insubstantiality, femalness, moon, darkness, night, etc. The other complementary part of the circle is Yang, which represent positiveness, activeness, firmness, substantiality, maleness, sun, brightness, day, etc. The common mistake most people make is to identify this Yin/Yang symbol, T'ai-Chi, as dualistic; that is Yang being the opposite of Yin, and vice versa. As long as we separate this "oneness" into two, we won't achieve realization. Actually, all things have their complementary part; it is only in the human mind and his perception that they are being separated into opposites. The sun is not the opposite of the moon, as they complement and are interdependent on each other, and we cannot survive without either of them. In a similar way, a male is but the complement of the female; for without the male, how on earth do we know there is female, or vice versa. The "oneness" of Yin/Yang is necessary in life. If a persona riding a bicycle wishes to go somewhere, he cannot pump on both the pedals at the same time or not pumping on them at all. In order to move forward, he has to pump one pedal and release the other. So the movement of going forward requires this "oneness" of pumping and releasing. Pumping then is the result of releasing, and vice versa; each being the cause of the other. ​ In the Yin/Yang symbol there is a white spot on the black part, and black spot on the white one. This is to illustrate the balance in life, for nothing can survive long by going to either extremes, be it negativeness or positiveness. Therefore, firmness must e concealed in gentleness, and gentleness firmness, and that is why a Gung Fu man must be pliable as spring. Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or will bend with the wind. So in Gung Fu, or any other system, one must be gentle yet not giving away completely; be firm yet not hard, and even if he is strong, he should guard it with softness and tenderness. For if there is no softness in firmness, he is not strong; in a similar way, if one has firmness concealed in softness, no one can break through his defense. This principle of moderation provides a best means of preserving oneself, for since we accept this existence of the oneness (Yin/Yang) in everything, and do not teat it dualistically, we thus secure a state of tranquillity by remaining detached and not inclining to either extreme. Even if we do incline on one extreme, be it negative or positive, we will flow with it in order to control it. This flowing with it without clinging is the true way to get ride of it. When the movements in Yin/Yang flow into extremes, reaction sets in. For when Yang goes to the extreme, it changes to Yin; and when Yin (activated by Yang) goes to the extreme, it returns back to Yang (that is why each one is the result and cause of the other.) For example, when one works to the extreme, he becomes tired and has to rest (from Yang to Yin). This incessant changing of Yin/Yang is always continuous. The application of the theory of Yin/Yang in Gung fu is known as the Law of Harmony, in which one should be in harmony with, and not against the force of the opponent. Suppose A applies strength on B, B shouldn't oppose or gives way completely to it. For these are but the two extreme opposites of B's reaction. Instead, he should complete A's force, with a lesser force, and lead him to the direction of his own movement. As the butcher preserves his knife by cutting along the bone and not against it, a Gung Fun man preserves himself by following the movement of his opponent without opposition or even striving (Wu-Wai, spontaneous, or spirit action). This spontaneous assisting or A's movement as he aims it will result in his own defeat. When a Gung fu man finally understood the theory of Yin/Yang, he no longer "fusses" with so-called "gentleness" or "firmness"; he simply does what the movement requires him to do. In fact, all conventional forms and techniques are all gone, his movements are those of everyday movements. He doesn't have to "justify" himself like so many other masters have, claiming his spirit or his internal power; to him, cultivation of martial art in the long run will return to simplicity, and only people of half-way cultivation justify and brag about themselves.

"Bruce added two arrows around the Tai Chi circle to further emphasize that the JKD fighting techniques must contain the harmonious interplay of Yin (pliable, yielding) and Yang (firm, assertiveness) energies." It is to emphasize the continuous, unceasing interplay between the two forces of the universe: Yin and Yang.　 The Chinese phrases surrounding the symbol are: "Using No Way as Way" and "Having No Limitation as Limitation," pronounced "Yee Mo Faat Way Yao Faat" and "Yee Mo Haan Way Yao Haan" respectively. Regarding the first statement, one is to approach combat without any preconceived notions, and simply respond to "what is." In this way, the martial artist is adaptable and pliable enough to fit in with the opponent and situation instantaneously. He is using no particular or set way that was preconditioned in him. "No-mindedness'' is a term often used to describe this state of unconscious consciousness or conscious unconsciousness. And, indeed, it is an ideal state that is difficult to attain but which one aspires to. In addition, one tries to be like water when using this "no-way" approach. Water automatically assumes the container that it is poured in, thereby constantly fitting in with and adapting to the situation.

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Energy & Sensitivity Drills

In any energy exercise, we attach our hands to the opponent's hands and forget ourselves by following the movements of his hands, leaving our mind free to make its own counter-movement without any interfering deliberation. When the opponent expands, we contract; when he contract, we expand -- to fit our movements harmoniously into his attack without precipitating or hurrying the action, but simply continuing the flow. The defense follows the attack without a moment's interruption, so that there will be no two separate movements to be known as attack and defense.

The important thing, then, is not to resist an attack, whether physically or mentally, but to control it by going with it; thus not asserting oneself against nature. All these are simply based on the harmonious interchanging of the theory of yin and yang. As long as we plan our actions, we are still using strength and will not be able to feel the opponent's movements once we stop to think, we will be immediately struck. Therefore, every action has to be done "unintentionally" without ever "trying" until we can exercise our potential power to the fullest and rediscover the dormant reflexes of an instinctive wisdom which is directly linked with the profound nature of all things and our own being.

THERE ARE THREE BASIC INNER ENERGIES:

The basic technique of the soft clan or style, is to understand strength. There are many kinds of energy (roughly 20). We will deal with the first three types.

Sticking Energy

This is the vital basic energy of the soft clan, for if you cannot attach to you opponent's hand then you cannot listen to his strength and detect where he is going with his hand. Having failed in listening, how can you understand? This sticking energy can be obtained by practicing "sticking hands" of Wing Chun or joint hand of Tai Chi, Kali, Eskrima. The important point in sticking is to follow you opponent's Strength and not precede him.

Dissolving Energy

It is used when you "feel" your opponent is using strength on you and you dissolve it away. After dissolving, the most important point is that your centerline must face his side. Dissolving too fast you will fail to destroy his balance, and too slow you will fail to dissolve his force. In dissolving, firmness is concealed in softness; that is why an attack is always followed after dissolving. However, this is not necessary for everyone. You can dissolve and bounce away the opponent's energy at the same time he was about to attack. Dissolving energy is to change the direction of his force, as the straight attack can be dissolved away by leading him left or right.

Spring Energy

The two hands are situated on the two springs. This implies that there are two springs under the shoulder in the armpits. When force is applied to the it bends with the force whatever the direction of the force may be. When the force is dissolved away, the arm springs back stronger than before toward the opponent. This kind of energy, when not in use, is not shown, but once it attacks it darts like an arrow. As the old saying goes: "In softness it is like and arrow concealed in cotton." This striking energy you cannot dissolve all the time. In other words, you cannot always be on the defense. You must mix up your defense and attack so you opponent will not know what will come next.

Energy Drills

HuBud LuBud - single and 2 hand (ESAELD has over 50+ variations)

The sensitivity and coordination drill called HuBud LuBud.  From the Filipino martial arts. To tie and untie (loosely translated from the Filipino language Tagalog).For building fighting attributes, Hubud is a great expandable drill. In its most basic form, it teaches; threat recognition, sensitivity, timing, flow, and transition. Since it consists of three fairly Gross Motor Movements, once learned, it gives a good base of defensive responses. It is also modular, meaning, it does not teach in a by rote fashion. Each piece of the drill performs a good defensive action to aggressive attacks. You can also work Hubud to practice other techniques. Start Hubud with your training partner, and after a few rounds, start throwing in guntings, limb destructions, insertion shots, or low kicks, etc. Or use Hubud as a moving base to start training techniques from a moving base.

The best attributes this drill imparts are sensitivity and flow. Varying the intensity of the drill, as well as the timing, teaches one to feel the attack, and respond as required, not as you may have planned.

All of the above is directly related to flow, or moving in the most beneficial manner to effectively accomplish your goal. Getting well versed in sensitivity and flow leads to real skill in trapping, skill that can be done real time, instead of just for show. And finally, as we progress through Hubud, we can use to build attributes in things such as knife and short weapon work.

The strategic overview that comes from Hubud Lubud is keeping your center and exploiting the center of your opponent. Every move covers and protects your center line, and opens and clears your attackers center line.

Tactically, Hubud provides an "immediate action drill" which provides three means of defense and offense in one logical progression. Each movement can be performed as a stand alone defense, if you are able to follow it with an immediate counter attack. But when performed in a synergistic manner, as a whole, it works wonderfully, providing defense, mobility, offense, flow, and an opening into your opponents center.

Chi Sao

Chi sao or "sticking hands". Term for the principle, and drills used for the development of automatic reflexes upon contact and the idea of "sticking" to the opponent. In Wing Chun Gung Fu this is practiced through two practitioners maintaining contact with each other's forearms while executing techniques, thereby training each other to sense changes in body mechanics, pressure, momentum and "feel". This increased sensitivity gained from this drill helps a practitioner attack and counter an opponent's movements precisely, quickly and with the appropriate technique.

Chi Sao additionally refers to methods of rolling hands drills (Luk Sao). Luk Sao participants push and "roll" their forearms against each other in a single circle while trying to remain relaxed. The aim is to feel forces, test resistances and find defensive gaps. Other branches do a version of this where each of the arms roll in small separate circles. Luk Sao is most notably taught within the Pan Nam branches where both the larger rolling drills and the method where each of the arms roll in small separate circles are taught.

Dan Chi - Centerline

Dan Chi - Cross arm

In some lineages (such as the Yip Man and Jiu Wan branches), Chi Sao drills begin with one-armed sets called Dan Chi Sao which help the novice student to get the feel of the exercise, each practitioner uses one hand from the same side as they face each other. Chi Sao is a sensitivity drill to obtain specific responses, it should not be confused with sparring/fighting, though it can be practiced or expressed in a combat form.

The Wing Chun practitioner develops reflexes within the searching of unsecured defenses through use of sensitivity. Training through Chi Sao with a training partner, one practices the trapping of hands. When an opponent is "trapped", he or she becomes immobile.

Lop Sao

Lop sao means "pulling hand". This drill like Chi Sao is used to practice various traps. improve sensitivity, hand placement, reflexes, timing, rhythm, and promote arm strength.  Lop sao involves close cooperation between both hands. The lop sao cycle involves the bong (wing) and Wu (defensive hand) on the part of one partner who defends against a punch and lop (grab) by the other. Then the roles are reversed and the cycle goes on.

Chinese philosophy:  "Greet what arrives, escort what leaves and rush upon loss of contact"

-- Yip Man --

Parry/Reposte

Riposte is a fencing term.  The riposte is an offensive action with the intent of hitting one’s opponent, made by the fencer who has just parried an attack.  Often put in combination as parry then riposte (parry and then immediate attack) all in one fluent motion.  Bruce utilized this motion with his lead right hand against the lead attacking punch or rear attacking punch.  It is very fast!  It’s almost as if he draws you in so he can parry and hit you back.

Lan Sao Spring Energy Drill

The lan Sao is a Wing Chun technique that can be used as a block or attack. The practitioner uses the outside edge of the hand to deflect attacks or. strike the opponent. Usually in the neck.

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Trapping Principles

So, to make the tools strong requires a number of important factors and attention to some small details.  Here are a few:

1)  Immovable Elbow Principle.  The elbow must be maintained on or close to your centerline, and should never be positioned less than one fist length from your body.  "If your elbow gives," I recall Bruce saying, "then your structure is destroyed".  About this, Bruce was adamant! 2)  Structure Softening.  Learn to soften and concave the chest so that you are all shoulders, back, and forearms.  This allows structural strength and firmer grounding while reducing tension in the body.  It keeps your mid-body at further reach from your opponent while, at the same time, naturally extending your reach to him.  The soft curvature of the body face is also used for setting up gaps that you may need for exercising powerful mechanical advantages in the use of your tools. 3)  Sealing down the shoulder.  Raise it and your structure will be both offensively and defensively weakened.  This is not only important while jamming and trapping, but also in striking.  The Sil Lum Tao form teaches how to weld down the shoulders so that your structure will powerfully unitized, rather than weakly disjointed. 4)  Triangle structure.  Bruce's structure was based on triangles.  A number of triangles beginning at the feet work all the way up the body and end with the tools.  For instance, even the simple tan sao if done correctly provides the angles for five separate triangles.  See if you can you find them. 5)  Chi.  To improve chi energy for greater strength in your tool you must be sure to keep open a space between your index finger and middle finger, particularly in tan sao, jut sao, bon sao, wu sao.  In tan sao, keeping the palm flat up and angled slightly will also create a natural mechanical advantage and line of deflection.  Bruce believed in chi! 6)  Wrist Mechanics.  The practice of wu sao, huen sao, and jut sao (as in the Sil Lum Tao form) teaches powerful and indomitable wrist mechanics.  Pay close attention to the drilling and adduction principles using the joints of ankles, knees, hips, forearms and wrists.  These are the mechanics that will move a bigger man around with seemingly little effort on your part.  A Bruce specialty! 7)  Ball Principle.  If you were to roll around on a big ball, you would be rolling on multiple planes of movement.  You can go under, over, around on either side and in either direction, or at any one of 360 degrees of direction, or push straight through.  Learn to use these planes to your mechanical advantages.  For instance, you might lift or push down the opponent's arms or elbows to break down and move his structure.  Bruce was great at this! 8)  Switching.  The switching movements both at the heels and the balls of the feet offer certain mechanical advantages.  For power and uprooting your opponent switch on the heels.  For instance, a bon sao that not only deflects an attack, but also serves to put shock into the opponent and disrupt him, switch on the heels.  To create angles and cover single ground in a single movement switch on the toes.  To cover ground, as in snake-stepping alternate switching on heels and toes.  Bruce could either come straight at you or retreat without ever taking a step! 9)  Falling Step Power.  True Bruce picked this one up from Jack Dempsey's book, but he was also quite familiar with its principle from his gung fu training.  It has to do with landing your punch or trapping a hand in timing with your lead step and weight transfer.  Actually, there is an exercise that develops this power.  It's one of those tricky things that looks like a feat of strength, but also provides a clearer understanding of how to optimize the falling step effect.  (See: "Falling Step Drill").  I still wear Bruce's palm print on my chest! ;-) 10)  Bow Action of Hip.  Here the hip acts like a bow (as in bow and arrow), flexing and building tension, then releasing it directionally.  A fundamental power source provided by the wing chun structure and well known to Bruce.  It's the very kind of thing that you don't see, but you can be sure it's there!  (see: "Hip Loading Drill) 11)  Tactile Sensitivity.  Bruce developed this mostly from Wing Chun's Chi Sao's sticking hands, but also from Tai Chi's pushing hands.  The only way to learn this correctly is to learn it from a good instructor, hands on.  When Bruce trapped he became one with his opponent.  But one trap is not always enough.  The highly skilled practitioner will be able to go to the next move, and the next move, and whatever is needed to finish the job.  Bruce did not get stuck after the first move! 12)  Helping Hand.  Sometimes a single tool is just not enough and you need a little help.  This is where the other hand comes into play, a mechanical reinforcement or engine for maximizing results.  It made Bruce's traps indomitable! 13)  Third Hand Principle.  Tactile sensitivity teaches how to use the full arm as a tool.  Often times you will be in a position to trap or jam down with your opponent by using your upper forearm while, at the same instant, freeing both of your hands.  This is how Bruce fought with three hands. 14)  Expanding Triangle.  One of the greatest forces throughout the universe is the Principle of Compression and Expansion.  Compressing and expanding the body's structure and the use of its tools was a powerful component to Bruce's art.  The Expanding Triangle involves setting up a triangle structure with the arms, backed by the triangle structure of the body and expanding it.  The effect is unbelievably incredible mechanical forces, but with very little effort. ​Needless to say, this list does include all of the principles and mechanics used by Bruce, such as grounding, slipping, poling, vectoring, oscillation, plyometrics, slanting, joint selectivity, jing (final power), simplicity, and more.  I always find it amusing to think how utterly simple Bruce's art is if you understand all that complexity of details.

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Bruce Lee and Trapping

There are a number of very good drills that can be used to develop the kind of effective trapping skills enjoyed by Bruce Lee in what I like to call his personal art.  This simply means the way "he" did it.  The principles and mechanics that he used and what made him so astoundingly effective. To be sure, there are different kinds of trapping for different systems.  For instance, Filipino martial arts make use of extremely effective trapping, designed around its structure, tools, and strategies.  The same holds true for other martial arts like American Kenpo where trapping is a component of the system.  Bruce's trapping was born from Wing Chun Gung Fu, an art that is very much different in nearly every respect to other arts, including its trapping methodology. When Bruce trapped you there was a lot more going on than opening a line of attack and/or tying up your arms.  He disrupted and broke down your structure, a key strategic point.  He corrupted your balance, froze your timing, and sent shock into your body like electricity through copper wire.  By virtual of his technique, he was able to automatically measure the correct distance for optimal striking power and accuracy, the kind needed for deep penetration to attack the body's nervous system.  While he re-angled his attack to open new lines, he took away the distance that you needed to be effective in your counter attack.  And to make all of this work, he depended on body structure, proper mechanics, a variety of carefully forged tools, and a high degree of tactile sensitivity and knowledge of energies.  To put is simply, he trapped with the entirety of his body, not just his hands. Bruce's inner body structure had been uniquely developed for the most part from his earlier Wing Chun training.  Yet he still had some knowledge of other gung fu arts, including Tai Chi and, to a lesser degree, Preying Mantis.  Although he later modified his fighting stance, you can be sure that his inner structure did not change.  It still afforded him the kind of grounding needed for exerting and holding pressure while jamming and trapping, along with all of those special mechanical advantages that were so often mistaken by observers as sheer acts of strength.  These mechanical advantages constituted many of the details that not only went into Bruce's trapping, but also into every phase of his personal art.  In other words, the way he did it. One of the things that made Bruce so different from other martial artists in the US was that he more directly faced his opponent.  Rarely, if ever, was Bruce caught in a position where he would be forced to give away one side to his opponent.  At the same time, he would always be in position to gain control of either the opponent's side or his center, both basic strategies of Wing Chun.  This facing principle was a central part of Bruce's method fighting method and of core importance to his trapping and striking, in particular.  So that I might narrow this discussion a bit, I'll limit myself to just a few of the mechanical advantages enjoyed by Bruce that made his trapping so incredibly effective.  Of course, this requires a brief mention of his tools. Bruce compared a tool like tan sao (palm up hand) to a car jack.  "If you want to lift a Cadillac," said Bruce, "use a jack made to lift a Cadillac, not a Volkswagon".   What Bruce was saying here is that your tools must be strong enough to do the biggest jobs.  At less than 135 pounds, Bruce jacked up a professional wrestler holding him pinned to a wall with double tan saos.

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Interview with Sifu Richard Bustillo

by Paul Borrett - 30th April 1999

RB : Richard Bustillo & PB : Paul Borrett

​

PB- Could you recap, for people who haven't met you, how you first got involved in Martial Arts?

RB- I first got involved with martial arts when I was a kid. When I was eight years old I accompanied a Japanese friend to his Judo classes. I wasn't formally enrolled, but the sensei saw me with my friend and invited me onto the floor. I practiced Judo for almost nine months. At ten years old I got involved with boxing because my cousin, who was into boxing would throw jabs at me. I couldn't grab him and throw him with my Judo so I trained in boxing from ten to thirteen years old. My other cousin who was practicing Kajukenpo started kicking me in a friendly sparring match. Kicking was something I had never done before so I took up Kajukenpo at Waipahu Kempo/Karate Club. After graduating from St. Louis High School in Honolulu I came to California for my college education. I saw Bruce Lee's awesome exhibition in 1964 at Long Beach. I searched him out to study his method of martial arts. In 1967 I was invited to the first orientation class at his new Jn Fan Gung Fu Institute in the Los Angeles Chinatown area.

PB- What ould you say was your first impression of Bruce Lee?

RB- Awesome! My first impression of Bruce Lee at the exhibition was awesome. I liked his philosophies, explosive speed and power. His one-inch punch! His ability to non-telegraph his kicks and punches and still maintain speed and power. Bruce displayed an unbelievable exhibition of coordination, flexibility and strength.

Everything he said about the martial arts were the same things that I believed in. I liked the part about the individual being more important than any established system or style.

PB- Would you say that the different training that you did as a youth set the seed for cross training?

RB- Actually no. Because in those days when you boxed you just boxed, when you did judo, you restricted yourself to just judo techniques. At that young age it was to concentrate on one thing or one activity at a time. It wasn't until I met Bruce that I actually started cross training. When we sparred in Bruce's classes we could punch, kick, trap or grapple. Bruce Lee's way was a case of being well rounded in all those fighting ranges and adapting to the changes.

PB- So although you had trained in all those different styles it wasn't until you met Bruce that somebody encourage you to put it all together.

RB- Yes, it was Bruce and Dan Inosanto who taught me to adapt to the changes.

PB-What would you say was Bruce Lee's biggest influence on your martial arts growth and development?

RB- Having an open mind and being honest with yourself.

PB- To the best of my knowledge Bruce Lee integrated boxing into his repertoire mostly during his L.A. period. Where did he get his technical knowledge of boxing from and was any of it from your boxing background?

RB- Well I like to think that! (Laughing ) But you know a lot of the guys that trained with Bruce had some boxing background. Bruce Lee was his own best boxing coach. Our class got into boxing right at the start of our training because Bruce wanted us to understand the combative way. Full contact, really hitting each other not practicing like the points system. To know what it felt like to get hit and to learn how to hit without getting hit back was our first encounter with Jeet Kune Do.

PB- Where do you think he learnt the technique for the various boxing combinations and punches?

RB- You know a lot of his stuff came from self-knowledge, he used to watch a lot of 8mm film of boxing matches. Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano etc.

PB- How would you describe what you have done with your Jeet Kune Do since Bruce Lee's passing?

RB- I think I have grown. All because of Dan, God bless Mr. Inosanto (Daniel Inosanto); he's the one who showed me how to practice with an open mind in martial arts training. To look at other arts and to see what best fits me. Mr.Inosanto would tell me, "you can't criticize any martial art until you have practiced it."

PB- I know you have a very tight training and teaching Schedule, but do you continue to train with other Nucleus members when you can?

RB- Yes I'd like to practice with other guys. But because of time and schedule conflicts, I get by best training with my own students. My goal in the martial arts is to have my students surpass me and to introduce them to masters of different styles, that way we are all growing.

PB- One thing that struck me while you were teaching me some movements on the wooden dummy (mook jong). Bruce already told you that you had alive hands so I am curious as to what interested you in the Wing Chun influenced movements?

RB- Because I had never done it before, I found it interesting. To explore the different techniques and incorporate them into my JKD, and on the other hand see how it can be beneficial or restrictive. Now if I had never learnt it I would never understand the pros and cons of the Mook Jong Dummy.

PB- Since Bruce's death a lot of JKD practitioners have incorporated Filipino Kali and Escrima into their trapping arsenal. Do you favor Wing Chun or Kali styles trapping? Or is it too difficult to dissect once you get going?

RB- Eskrima or Kali empty hands techniques are similar to Wing Chun or any other hand trapping arts. It can be hard to tell the arts apart once you get flowing. In midflow you don't know which art you are practicing, its instinctive, that means that JKD is doing its thing. The hands can only move certain ways. In the end, it makes no difference which art I favor. The important thing is to freely express yourself.

PB- Lately a lot of JKD students are cross training everywhere. Do you think there is a danger that new students are not getting as much of the basics as perhaps a lot of the original students were getting. Perhaps to the point where something could be lost in the next generation?

RB- Yes, you're right. New students can get lost by cross training. It is happening now. New instructors are watering down Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. However, students who have been there and done the basics enjoy trying different arts to increase the knowledge level in all different ranges.

PB- I noticed that you taught a children's class. A lot of children's classes have to be very structured. How do you manage to keep the children disciplined and train them responsibly in an all-encompassing system?

RB- At that age they don't know what is and what isn't the standard way. They do what you tell them. If you start training them in different ways to be elusive and diverse in the different arts they pick it up real quick. I don't want my students to be restrictive and bound by set standards. I want them to change and adapt to the long range, close range, or grappling range on any given day.

PB- What do you think is the most satisfying thing you get out of teaching?

RB- There is a lot of gratification in teaching. Seeing the student grow above and beyond his potential is the biggest gratification any instructor can receive.

PB- You started out in Judo as a child. Lately Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has become quite the flavor in grappling and  I understand that it was originally brought to Brazil in the form of Judo. Did you find that it was significantly different or did you find that the judo actually helped you to understand the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

RB- When I was a kid learning Judo it was just playing for me. I wasn't really in to it in the same way that I am into Jiu Jitsu as an adult. Also I never knew that today I would be a martial arts teacher, had I known that then, yeah, I would have studied it intensively.

PB-What would you want to see in the future for Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do?

RB- Since we are expanding rapidly, more of the public will see our side of the martial arts. I would like to see others witness more of the same kind of atmosphere we experienced at the Seminar and Banquet in Seattle last week, or the ones we previously held in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. We had fun, we worked out, we cried, we laughed. I would like to take that same attitude outside of our seminars and share it with the general public and martial arts community.

PB- Thank you for taking the time to do this interview and in particular what you have done for me here at the IMB academy.

RB- Oh, you're very welcome Paul. Come back anytime. Our doors are open to you.

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Taky Kimura Interview

Taky Kimura Interview 

24th April 1999. Interview conducted by Paul Borrett

PB ¡V For the benefit of those who don¡¦t know the story could you please recap on when and where you first met Bruce Lee? TK ¡V I met Bruce Lee in 1959, he catapulted himself like a bomb into the Seattle area and held us spellbound for five years until he left in 1964 to take part in The Green Hornet series. PB ¡V Would you say the Seattle curriculum was heavily based on modified Wing Chun? TK ¡V Yes, when Bruce arrived in Seattle he was well aquainted with a variety of systems but favoured Wing Chun over others because of its straightforward approach.  By the time he arrived in Seattle he had already modified his method somewhat, based on his experience of street fighting in Hong Kong, which he felt classical Asian arts didn¡¦t address. PB ¡V When Bruce began teaching in Seattle, did he concentrate on drills or did he also teach the three Wing Chun forms to you? TK ¡V He taught us the Sil Lum Tao and that was the only one of the three that I was honoured to be taught.  When he first started teaching us he emphasised stretching and other necessary exercises.  But on the other hand at that stage in his development felt that you didn¡¦t need to be in tip-top shape as he felt a fight shouldn¡¦t last all that long. PB ¡V I noticed that when we were working out with Jesse Glover and Jim DeMille that they started us out straight away on double handed sensitivity drills leading up to chi-sao.  When you start with Wing Chun, as I¡¦m sure you know, you start out with single sticky hand (doan chi sao).  Did Bruce start you on doan chi sao or did he launch straight into double chi sao? TK ¡V Well we did a little single hand, but we pretty much jumped straight to the double handed drills. PB ¡V How much change did you observe in the curriculum over the Seattle years before Bruce moved to Oakland? TK ¡V I think it was pretty straightforward in the years before he moved to Oakland, it was a composite of things that we drilled over and over.  Even at that early stage of his life he felt that the curriculum shouldn¡¦t be based on knowing a great many things, but rather knowing a few things very well. PB ¡V How much to the best of your knowledge was Bruce taught personally by Yip Man or was it William Cheung or Wong Shun Leung who taught him more frequently? TK ¡V As I understand it, Bruce¡¦s father was a very close friend of Yip Man, and that was in fact the main reason Bruce was able to train personally with Yip Man.  Yip Man did very little personal hands on teaching but did so with Bruce because of friendship with Bruce¡¦s father.  He spoke of William Cheung as being his senior, but as I understand it he had direct access to Yip Man on his own in private lessons.  I think that was a big factor in the speed at which he progressed in the Wing Chun system.  On top of this, according to an old school friend and fellow Wing Chun student, Henry Pang, Bruce would also work out in rooftop sessions with William, Henry and Wong Shun Leung. PB ¡V Is it true that Bruce phoned you during his L.A. period of development and said ¡§chi sao was out¡¨? TK ¡V After he went down to Los Angeles he called me one day and indicated to me that chi sao wasn¡¦t really in any more, but there was a strong emphasis on that when he taught us in Seattle so it kind of blew my mind because all of a sudden he said ¡§well chi sao isn¡¦t the most important ingredient of it any more¡¨.  I said ¡§My God, what do you mean?¡¨  He said well I¡¦m working with this fellow Kareem Abdul Jabbar, he¡¦s 7¡¦2¡¨ and my eyeballs are right even with his naval, I can stick my leg out straight and he can still hit me with his hands.  He then felt that chi sao wasn¡¦t the most important means of training because of size differences. PB ¡V From my limited experience, the process of trapping is only necessary as a means to clear an obstruction to hit.  Do you think Bruce had got so fast at this point no one could block him anyway thereby negating the need to trap? TK ¡V Well I think that has a great deal of truth to it, Paul.  I think that he developed the structure of 5 ways of attack coupled with the 4 ranges of combat and he discovered that there is only a fleeting moment when you can use any one thing as you change the distance between you and your opponent.  I think that Bruce developed a greater sense of mobility and footwork at that time and I think that put everything in balance then, rather than over-emphasising any one aspect of fighting. PB ¡V To your knowledge, at what point did Bruce change from using the Wing Chun Bai Jong stance to the more flexible on guard stance. TK ¡V Even in Seattle at the point when he was getting ready to leave us the mobility was already there, and the right lead being dominant.  Although I should point out he advocated that we also practice the left lead on our own so as to be well rounded. PB ¡V How much emphasis did Bruce put on sparring at that time? TK ¡V Well, we were sparring off and on, but it was in balance with our technique and drill training. PB - Bruce implemented a ranking system, which when you read all the different magazine articles can be very confusing to the average reader.  Can you help clarify this from your point of understanding? TK ¡V Well, first of all, he didn¡¦t really believe in a ranking system, but he assessed that the western and American mind is geared to the concept that they have to know where they are at any given time.  So to accommodate that he devised a ranking system that was based on the yin yang symbol and colours on the symbol to denote rank. PB ¡V What do you think it is about the combat orientated arts that holds our interest and provides such welcome side effects of health, fitness and confidence.  I have tried other, less combative and performance based arts, and found I didn¡¦t get as much out of them? TK ¡V Well, if I understand your question correctly, all of us going through our journey of life have to go through the physical aspects of life.  Being in control of oneself physically allows the door to open to other higher philosophical and mental aspects of life. PB ¡V Unfortunately we don¡¦t always stay young forever!  How have you changed your training to cope with that? TK ¡V Well, I just turned 75 in March and recently over the last year or so I¡¦ve had a few physical problems and I¡¦ve become a little bit more sedentary.  But I found out the effects of that were that I developed more of an arthritic condition.  I started taking vitamins and nutrients; it helped me to a certain extent.  I guess the analogy is, you can put rich gas into an old car but isn¡¦t going to help all that much!  I realised that exercise is probably one of the single most important things in a man¡¦s life and can really help slow down the aging process.  I don¡¦t do any weight training, or anything like that, but every morning I have a little exercise routine that I go through and it has helped me a great deal.  Unfortunately I haven¡¦t really improved my eating habits that much, but I think at my age you have to think in terms of moderation and there are a few sins you have to tolerate and live with you know! PB ¡V Well I think you¡¦ve earned the right, my friend!  What advice do you have for us youngsters training in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do? TK ¡V Well, I think if you achieve the wisdom that there is something beyond the totality of the physical being, you get into the philosophical and spiritual aspects of ones life.  Then you see things much more clearly, enjoy life for what it¡¦s worth and you understand things in terms of helping other people, which I think is the most important thing. PB ¡V What would you like to see for Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do in the future? TK ¡V Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do was created to form a sense of harmony and common purpose in the Jeet Kune Do community.  Since Bruce Lee contributed so much in terms of revolutionizing the martial arts he needs to be remembered, to be given acknowledgement for having done so much.  I just want to help in any way I can to keep Bruce¡¦s image alive and to try to create an environment of cooperation in the Jeet Kune Do community.  To shoot from the heart rather than from the value of the dollar bill. PB ¡V Thank you very much for taking time out to talk and answer my questions. TK ¡V My pleasure, thank you Paul.

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5 Self-Defense Tips From World Champions

Martial arts teaches practitioners the knowledge and wisdom of self-defense. Protecting yourself and others around you is a basic human right. It’s knowledge that everyone should have access to.

For those who have never been in a real fight, it can be a scary thought. Luckily, martial arts empowers us with the knowledge of self-defense. The reality is, there’s no telling if and when we may find ourselves faced with an impending physical confrontation.

We may be thrust into situations where we, and the people around us, are at risk of physical harm from an assailant or an attacker. In these situations, it is best to be well equipped with the skills necessary to protect ourselves. By training in martial arts, we gain the ability to do just that.

These World Champions have the knowledge and experience gained over years of training, and their insight can help us better understand how to use our skills effectively in real fights. In times when physical confrontation is inevitable, it’s best to have every advantage. Here are a handful of real-world self-defense tips from World Champion martial artists. Check out the complete article at the source below.