Extreme Weapons Full Contact Fighting

Arnis/Kali/Escrima is a form of Philippine martial Arts and can be dated back to many centuries ago.  History Fragments have shown that the Empire of Indonesia dating to the 7th and 8th century A.D. referred to Kali(Kalis) as a form of martial art of the Philippines.

The word “Kali” and the reference to “Kalis” may be the “Oldest Name” of Kali. This martial art was later influenced by people moving, wars and trading activities with countries like India, Malaysia, Spain, Indonesia and so on.

During the Spanish 400 year of occupation of the Philippines, they banned the teaching of Kali.  Luckily, these restrictions were only carried out in major cities and villages.  As a result, Kali have a chance to be practiced in the rural remote areas which were not guarded under the eyes of the Spanish Army. The Philippine people eventually found a very smart way to practice Kali under the watchful eyes of the Spanish Army; they expressed the Combat Techniques in Kali in a form of native dance and spiritual dancing activities. During the war with Spain, the Philippine Fighters employed some techniques from the Spanish Weapon Fighting (Espada y Daga), which refers to a “Sword with a Knife”.  Later on, the art”Kali” evovlved to some other names like Arnis de Mano, Kalis de Mano, and Dos Manos.

In the old days, Arnis was not practiced in a “martial art school”; it is rather like a Master and Apprentice way. A master trains with a handful of students in a very close relationship.  Usually, this relationship is life long, and the master will teach everything he knows in “Real Life Combat Situatoins” to his students, which makes Kali a very combat effective art.

Nowadays, the traditional form of Arnis/Kali are still being taught in some areas in Manilia, mostly in remote villages. The training session is the “Closed Door” type, which is very much like in the old days, with one Master and a very few Apprentices. This Old Way of training perserved the old techniques and culture of Arnis/Kali.

Nowadays, there are many styles of Arnis/Kali/Escrima being taught and developed all over the world, and the art is also widely practiced by the general public.