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Escrima—Continued
The earliest records of Escrima date back to the 8th century and the Malay Sri Vishaya Empire. The Malaysians of this period used a fighting technique called Kali, which is how the broad-bladed weapon is now known. This crossed fertilised with the Filipinos when the Malays migrated and settled in the Philippines, forming Escrima.
The next big historical development came with the Spanish in 1521. The Filipino, Rajah LapuLapu of Mactan defeated the Spanish invaders using the Escrima martial art, as well as other native weapons. These ‘crude’ fighting techniques destroyed the Spanish army. Eventually however, the Spanish threw so much at LapuLapu that the Filipinos eventually came under Spanish dominance for four hundred years. This too intermingled with traditional Filipino martial arts.
The Spanish banned the fighting technique, thinking it too brutal, but the Filipinos kept it alive through dance and theatre. In the 1920’s the most renowned Escrimadors, mainly from Cebu, founded the Escrima society, Doce Pares, meaning “twelve pairs”. These are the twelve basic strikes and defences of Escrima. During WWII the guerrillas used Escrima against the Japanese occupiers. Due to this Master Ciriaco Canete made innovative improvements on the martial art because of combat experience.
In the Philippines the Escrima contests among the different associations form a major part of the fiestas. These fights have no rules, and contests are real, bloody and hard. Combatants only stopping when they have had enough and surrender, there are no protective devices. And Master Ciriaco Canete is still the best in this brutal but highly effective martial arts |