A BRIEF HISTORY OF ARNIS
The origins of arnis are difficult to trace as the races that settled in the Philippine archipelago consisting of more than 7,000 islands came from India, Southeast Asia, China and Indonesia.
These diverse races and cultures blended over the centuries to produce a common method of utilising sharp swords, daggers and fire-hardened sticks in combat. These fighting styles have become more popular in the international martial arts community.
Historical evidence reveals that Arnis as an art of self-defence existed in the Philippines long before the arrival of the first Spanish colonizers in the country. Historical accounts of battle indicate that Arnis was practiced in 1521 and earlier.
When the Spanish invaded the Philippines, the invaders required guns to combat the deadly fighting skills of Filipino warriors and they dubbed the native stick style escrima (skirmish). Escrima was subsequently outlawed, but the techniques were preserved in secret and in the form of dances or mock battles staged in religious plays known as moro-moro.
Such plays featured Filipinos, sometimes costumed as Spanish soldiers wearing arnes, the harnesses worn during medieval times for armor. The blade fighting forms and footwork were identical to those used in escrima. The word arnes soon became corrupted to arnis, and the name was adopted.
Historically, arnis incorporated three related methods of fighting: espada y daga (sword and a short dagger); solo baston (single stick); and sinawali (to weave), which uses two sticks of equal length, twirled in “weaving” fashion for striking and blocking.
ARNIS TODAY
Arnis is a growing art, expanding in this country rapidly.
Arnis is the Filipino stick fighting art. The exact date of its origin remains unclear. Generally, Arnis is an art of self-defence involving the use of single stick, double sticks and stick and dagger.
The techniques involve: -
• adapting to different ranges of fighting, such as long, medium and short ranges; and
• the application of strategies and footwork associated with each of these fighting ranges.
Arnis is based on the principle that the weapon (i.e. the stick or otherwise known as “Olisi”) is a mere extention of the hand. As you acquire the technical and practical skills, this will lead you to the advanced level of offensive and defensive empty hand combinations with low line kicking techniques.
KALI
In contrast to Arnis which is concerned with combat using sticks, Kali is a complete art that is sword based. It concentrates on the use of bladed weapons (for example, sword, machete and knife) and such art is also applied to stick formats.
Arnis and Kali depend on the practitioner’s focus of instructions (i.e. stick or bladed weapon) and such differentiation is used by various masters of the art.
