History of Arnis

The origins of arnis are easy to trace, primarily because there are

nearly as many styles of Filipino stick fighting as their are islands in the

Philippine archipelago—more than 7,000

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The races that settled in these

islands came from Africa, Southeast Asia, China and Indonesia.

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These highly sophisticated fighting styles have grown in

popularity in the local martial arts community.

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One of the earliest known forms was called tjakalele, (Chinese

fencing).

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The word arnes soon became corrupted to arnis, and the name stuck.

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The deadly fighting skills of Filipino warriors nearly overwhelmed them, and they dubbed the native stick style escrima (skirmish).

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Escrima was subsequently outlawed, but the techniques did not disappear.

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Historically,  arnis incorporated three related methods: espada y daga (sword and dagger), which employs a short blade and a long dagger dagger; solo baston (single stick); and sinawali (to weave).

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Modern Arnis, as Presas terms his system, incorporates empty hand moves based upon

the same motions used in solo baston and sinawali.

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Unlike kali, his system also uses low kicks and takedowns

for a more well-rounded approach.

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