Martial Arts in the Digital Age
Normal 0
It is interesting to meet practitioners from different styles of Filipino Martial Arts and learn their naming and numbering structure.Our concepts to stick fighting are related to each other, but perhaps our perspectives influenced by the background of our instructor. Whether you refer to your art in general terms like Arnis, Escrima, Kali, or something specific such as Serrada or Doce Pares, we are learning that, many times, we have more similarities than differences.We are all part of the bigger picture.
Back when I first started the Defensor Method in the mid 80’s at the University of Chicago, martial arts groups were less open to collaboration, and as such, we sometimes got caught up mixing western logic and eastern linguistics. I can remember discussing such trivial things as, arnis is this, whereas kali escrima is that.Years ago I asked Guro Nathan Defensor about the similarities and differences between escrima and arnis. Guro Nathan Defensor used to say that whether we call our arts Arnis, Eskrima, or Escrima it is much like saying car, auto, automobile, they are just words that refer to the same thing.” During my early training years however, there were some that were very firm that what they studied was abc, NOT xyz.
We are now deeply rooted in a digital age, and it is great to have the input of martial artists all over the world to get their input and perspectives different aspects of martial arts. Online resources such as Ray Terry’s Eskrima Digest and numerous web sites have been, in my opinion, a huge help in getting us all to see that we are very much alike.View some video clips on the web and you will see that we are unique in our own way, but still very similar.Now there is a great deal of people learning more than one martial art, as we now see the benefits of a multiple system approach that just would not have happened back in the 80’s in many schools.
We are also seeing greater access to international trade, which means that escrima practitioners have greater access to exotic kali sticks such as ironwood sticks and bahi sticks. I can easily remember a time when kamagong sticks, bahi sticks, and cocobolo sticks were very hard to purchase. With technology at our fingertips and the success of online shopping, everyone now has access to buy great escrima sticks.
While allowing martial artists to meet and compare notes all over the web, the Internet may have done more to spread martial arts all over the world in a short period than any other source!
