Prof. Remy Presas taveled around the philippine islands learning different forms of Arnis, Kali and Eskrima.
Eskrima, Kali and Arnis are terms used to identify the indigenous weapons based martial arts of the Philippines. There has been and still is much debate in the martial arts community regarding the strict use of these terms. One school of thought is that each term defines the region of the Philippines the specific art originates: Arnis in the North, Eskrima in the Central Philippines and Kali in the South. Others maintain that the terms refer to the period in which the specific fighting system was developed. Kali during the pre-Spanish era, Eskrima (Spanish for skirmish) during the Spanish occupation and Arnis in modern times. The important part for us is that all three include amazing techniques for stickfighting, fighting with bladed weapons and disarming.
In 1957, Mr. Presas founded Modern Arnis which took the common thread of all the Philipino and put them in a teachable format. Empty hand translations were added by Prof. Presas. The art of Arnis, once banned, was brough back to life and respectability by Prof. Presas. In 1974, the philippine government named the professor "Father and Founder of Modern Arnis".
A typical class covering Arnis in our dojo would include:
We also practice Sinawalis (literal translation: woven). The art of Sinawalis comes are particular area of the Philippines renowned for its leaders and heroes as well as the courage, skill and loyalty of its warriors. This combat form is noted for its advanced and sophisticated double weapon system of fighting.
The Toshindo system integrates many of the basic Modern Arnis combinations:
The Toshindo system also integrates a nice, simple and effective Arnis kata in the lineup of traditional karate katas. Even though this kata is not in our belt test requirements, most of our students enjoy learning it.