Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Discovering The Martial Art From The Philippines Called Arnis

By Ann Appelton


The national sport of the Philippines, Arnis is a martial art form which is sword- and stick-based. Individuals who practice Arnis today use it for both self-defense or combative martial art form for competitions. As Arnis mainly focuses on disarming the foe, it's often used in the western world for self-defense where attacks involve knives and other weapons.

In a similar way to Brazilian Capoeira, the Arnis martial art form evolved out of oppressive necessity. During the country's Spanish colonization, Filipino people were practicing "eskrima", a weapon-based style of martial art. The word "eskrima" is Spanish for fencing. As a Spanish decree forbade the natives from having full-length swords, eskrima practitioners developed the style, swapping blades with sticks. This style developed into the Arnis martial art style, named after the Spanish word for armor, specifically in reference to just how armored actors in Moro-Moro plays fought each other using wooden swords.

It was Remy Presas who invented Modern Arnis during the 1960s. To create the modern day form of Arnis, Presas mixed the classic components of Arnis with components of Judo and Shotokan Karate, Japanese martial art styles. In 1974, Presas migrated to America from the Philippines. That was when the US had its first taste of Modern Arnis. Though Presas died in 2001, numerous groups, including the World Modern Arnis Alliance, are teaching his style of martial art.

Similar to other martial arts, Modern Arnis displays ideals such as loyalty, discipline, and self-control. Presas outlined the cardinal guidelines of Modern Arnis in 1974, stressing the view that violence comes from self-preservation, and that humans just aren't violent naturally. Hence, Modern Arnis emphasizes caution and respect for the enemy. The style advocates disarming the enemy, a principle known as "defanging the snake".

Modern Arnis students use rattan sticks when they start their training, though they also train in bare-hands defense. Modern Arnis students are trained methods to block, counter attack, lock, and throw in order to disarm their foe. During training, students direct their hits at the foe's rattan sticks, but real-life situations generally require strikes against the weapon-holding hands for optimum efficiency.

Arnis competence ranks are divided into six levels with various belt colors, called "Likas", followed by ten more black-belt levels, called "Lakan", denoting the ranks up to grandmaster level. Practice requirements start from three months of training for novice levels to 20-30 years experience for the senior master levels. To receive the higher levels, one should train for life.

There are several schools of Modern Arnis in the United States. You will find unofficial Modern Arnis schools and groups that teach variations of the style. Nevertheless, the quality of teaching differs among institutions. The endorsed schools are licensed by the Modern Arnis Remy P. Presas International Organization (MARPPIO) in accordance to the instructions of Remy Presas. They are located in San Pablo, California; Royal Palm Beach, Florida; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Davenport, Iowa; Vineland, New Jersey; and Midwest, Iowa. Every year, Modern Arnis training, seminars, and shows are arranged by the MARPPIO.




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