DOSE: FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS

Pamalo: Baston, Garote & Olisi

Published on 2008-07-17 21:33:00

In FMA, arnis sticks are called with different names. Each language or dialect has its own word for it. It usually means "stick" or "something used like a stick." Baston is actually a cane, garote is a gallow, and olisi is a grade used to guage a rattan, but they are used as if they are synonymous to "stick". I have sensed that Visayans like to use Spanish words a lot. Olisi, at first hearing, sounds Spanish that could be mistaken as a derivative word from olisca (scent or smell), but it is

Arabic On Moro Armor

Published on 2008-07-11 22:59:00

One of the Moro armors that has really convinced me that the Ottoman Turks did reach the Philippines, particularly Sulu, is the armor above made of copper or brass plates (I am not sure what kind of metal chips they are). It almost looks like the buffalo horn armors-- in chip, button, chain, and okir designs. This armor, to me, is Turkish.What has convinced me is the Arabic inscription, a Quranic passage, on the back of one of the chips. Unlike the Ottoman Turks, Mindanaoan Moros had no trad

Armors in Malay Peninsula

Published on 2008-07-10 18:03:00

The Ottoman Turks' supply of metal was abundant. They had complex metal arts and crafts. One should not wonder why there is no existing Turkish armors with plates or strips made from buffalo horns. Maybe early on they used buffalo horns but later changed to metals. Thus, there are no existing Ottoman non-metal armors-- so far.The ottomans had a history of breeding, hunting, and domesticating buffaloes. The population of the Anatolian buffaloes could not be matched by the carabaos of the Ph

Moro Armor is Ottoman's

Published on 2008-07-09 23:43:00

Another reason why Moro armors are not Mindanaoan is the chain linking design. Ottoman metal arts produced different kinds of complex chain designs. Such designs can be seen in Turkish dresses, jewelries, hats and helmets, weaving, decorative arts, drawing and painting, architecture, and even in geometric Arabic calligraphy. The Muslims of Mindanao have no tradition of chain mail and linking designs. Even their jewelries do not have complex designs like the ottomans'.It would be easy to co

Moro Armor: Is it Moro?

Published on 2008-07-09 00:16:00

A lot has been written about Moro armors. Some say they are Spanish in origin while others claim them to be Moro in every chain, chip, and detail. Moro is usually defined as the people of Mindanao although the people of Borneo were also called Moros by the European explorers in pre-twentieth century and by the Americans in 1900's.If Moros traditionally made and wore armors a long time ago, Muslims of Mindanao would have a lot of armors in their closets as inherited items from their old folks.

The Re-Sanskritized Kalis

Published on 2008-07-06 20:18:00

After checking available archaeological evidence, linguistic proof, and historical accounts, I am confident to say that keris, the malaysian and Indonesian kris, is from the Turkish word, kilich (sword). Even the genetic map, made from several human genome projects, supports my contention that Turkish influences, including their genes and weaponry, reached Mindanao before the Spanish came to the Philippines in sixteenth century.In Malay, ch usually becomes s and l replaces r (and vice-versa).

Uno-Dos-Tres Triangle Attack

Published on 2008-07-04 14:27:00

Tres or three is synonymous to triangle in Filipino philosophy and traditional martial arts. Lethal and immobilizing points in the body are in the clusters of three and in the forms of triangle. There are wet triangles for weapons such as spear, knife,and sword and dry ones for impact strike from stick, kick or punch.A strike on a wet triangle usually targets veins, blood vessels, or arteries. On a dry one focuses the impact towards internal organs such as heart, lungs, kidney, liver, etc. A

Guhit: Life Versus Death

Published on 2008-06-29 00:00:00

Guhit, a Filipino word for line, is always the target of the triangle force in serious fighting for offense when one attacks and for defense when one protects. A line can be a force or a target of force. Blade weapons, for instance, are symbolized by a line. Arms, legs, and even the entire body is a line. They are strong forces. There is a line in the human body that is weak and vulnerable to attack. That imaginary line is from the throat to the groin, and solar plexus and navel in between

Learning FMA By Thinking

Published on 2008-06-26 16:14:00

I wonder if these kids really knew why they raised their legs. I don't think they were about to kick. Their other legs on the floor were just weak. I don't also think that they were about to jump. Their upper body positions were not meant for forward move. I wonder why they vulnerably extended their arms like that. I guess they just raised their legs for a show ala Karate Kid and their arms for "wax on, wax off." If that was the case, then they were forgivable since they were not adults.I wa

KAMUT: Triangles of the Hands

Published on 2008-06-25 14:22:00

Kamut (hand) is not the same as kamot (scratch), and it does not also share the same meaning with kumot, a blanket for Tagalogs and for Cebuanos, a scratch or a fight between women that involves face-scratching and hair-pulling. In Philippine languages, a change in a vowel sound or a stress results to a different meaning. Cebuano, if you observe its sound, pronunciation, and stress, has only three vowel sounds: a, i, and u. I am not really sure how Sugbu became Subu, and then Cebu.Hands too h