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ARNIS

Arnis is a martial art that originated in the Philippines and was developed by indigenous populations using weapons like rattan, swords, daggers and spears for combat and self-defense. When the Spanish colonized the Philippines, arnis traditions were preserved through ritual dances and mock battles despite being prohibited. Modern arnis has been influenced by both the U.S. and Japan after the Philippines gained independence in 1898. In 2009, the Philippine government declared arnis as the national martial art and sport.

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414 views

ARNIS

Arnis is a martial art that originated in the Philippines and was developed by indigenous populations using weapons like rattan, swords, daggers and spears for combat and self-defense. When the Spanish colonized the Philippines, arnis traditions were preserved through ritual dances and mock battles despite being prohibited. Modern arnis has been influenced by both the U.S. and Japan after the Philippines gained independence in 1898. In 2009, the Philippine government declared arnis as the national martial art and sport.

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PaulHarveyCadanoSuarnaba
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HISTORY

ARNIS
Arnis was developed by the indigenous populations of the Philippines, who used
an assorted range of weaponry for combat and self-defense. Encompassing both simple
impact and edged weapons, arnis traditionally involved rattan, swords, daggers and
spears.
In 1521, equipped with nothing more than bladed weapons and their fearsome
arnis abilities, Filipino islanders defeated Ferdinand Magellan’s armored, musket-bearing
Spanish conquistador forces when they tried to invade.
When the Spanish eventually returned and successfully conquered parts of the
Philippines, the traditions of arnis were preserved, despite its prohibition, in the forms of
ritual dance, performance and mock battles. While earlier Filipino martial arts were
influenced by Spanish colonization, the modern forms have been affected by the country’s
contact with both the United States and Japan after gaining independence in 1898. Just
over a century later, in 2009, the government of the Philippines declared arnis to be the
martial art and national sport of the Philippines.

CULTURE AND TRADITIONS


Arnis is otherwise known as eskrima, kali and garrote, and by even more names
in different Filipino regional languages. Although Spanish influence had a pacifying effect
on Filipino martial culture, the original warrior ethos has persisted and remains on the
fringes of the art. Arnis “death-matches” were outlawed as late as 1945 yet, as Mark V.
Wiley explains in Filipino Martial Culture, they still take place in private today.

The Philippine government’s declaration of arnis as the national sport has codified
a clear martial culture. This should begin to develop an accessible story of Filipino cultural
heritage that the outside world can grasp, like Japan did during the Edo period (1603-
1868) and as post-cultural revolution China has done with Wushu.

HOW IT WORKS
Like all martial arts, arnis is primarily defensive, encompassing hand-to-hand
combat, grappling and disarming techniques. However, the fighting style also includes
the use of bladed weapons and sticks, in addition to improvised weapons. A baton-like
cane is the primary melee tool employed and the weapon used in officiated arnis
competitions.
Competitive Arnis generally takes one of two forms: the performance-
based anyo model or the combative leban. Anyo competitions are judged on the basis of
the overall choreography of the performances, including the gracefulness, strength and
force employed. Meanwhile, the leban form tests participants’ agility and reactions, as
competitions are judged based on the number of strikes inflicted. Although
most leban competitions exclude body contact, such as grappling, blocks and disarming
an opponent using the hands or feet, there are some exceptions where full contact is
permitted.

ARNIS IN POPULAR CULTURE: HOLLYWOOD


Close-quartered, fast-paced fights look great on screen and no martial style
involves quite the combative speed of arnis—no wonder it’s so popular with Hollywood
directors. The Bourne Identity (2002) features a kali/jeet kune do hybrid fight style when
Jason Bourne encounters Jarda, the only other living agent of the terminated ‘Treadstone’
program. Vin Diesel and Jason Statham also engage in eskrima-inspired combat, using
metal pipes and wrenches instead of sticks, in the final fight scene of Furious 7 (2015).
In Kick-Ass (2010), the eponymous character fights crime with arnis canes, while
his vigilante partner, Hit-Girl, uses Filipino balisong knives. Meanwhile, Liam Neeson uses
a combination of arnis, wing chun and silat to rescue his daughter from her French
captors in Taken (2008). James Bond too subdues a knife-wielding assassin using
Filipino martial arts in Quantum of Solace, the 2008 installment of the James Bond
franchise.

Source:

Carroll, Ruaidhrí “Arnis: The Philippines' National Sport and Martial Art.” Culture Trip, The
Culture Trip, 24 Apr. 2017, theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/arnis-the-
philippines-national-sport-and-martial-art/.

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