HISTORY

An emerging martial art in the world today is Eskrima, or as it is more commonly referred to, Arnis, a term derived from "arnes", the colorful trappings worn by medieval soldiers. When Spain colonized the Philippines, The Filipino Martial Arts were widely practiced throughout the archipelago. The birth of the term Arnis, was the result of an episode in Philippine history when the practice of our indigenous martial arts were outlawed by the Spanish authorities as one of the precautionary measures taken to discourage an enslaved people from rising in revolt against Spanish rule in the Philippines. Henceforth, our martial skills were only practiced in secrecy.

In 1637, however, Spanish friars, who came to the Philippines, introduced the moro-moro, a socio-religious play dramatizing the victory of Christian Spaniards over the Muslim Moors apparently as a visual aid meant to coerce the natives to convert to Christianity. The play called for the use of a sword or any bladed weapon by characters who played the role of Spanish soldiers. These soldiers wore colorful trappings called arnes which the early Filipinos cleverly used as the new name of their indigenous fighting art, whose techniques were again practiced in rehearsals for the moro-moro plays. From then on our indigenous bladed arts became known as Arnes, immortalized as Arnis in the Balagtas Tagalog epic Florante at Laura in these lines, "… larong buno’t arnis na kinakitaan ng kani-kaniyang liksi’t karunungan."

During the Philippine Revolution, the first known fighting weapon of Filipino revolutionary leaders like Andres Bonifacio was the itak which he used probably with Arnis fighting techniques. Other Filipino revolutionary leaders were said to be experts in Arnis, which they learned in their youth. The greatest Filipino hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, for instance, studied Arnis before he left for Europe. Revolutionary generals like Gregorio del Pilar and Antonio Luna were known practitioners of Arnis.

Eskrima or Arnis today is popularly practiced with the use of a rattan cane, being less lethal than the bladed weapon, itak. The cane is assumed to be the extension of the hand, which is the reason Arnis is called Arnis de mano in Spanish: Pagkalikali to the Ibanags: Kalirongan to the Pangasinense: Kinaadman to the Visayans: Eskrima or Garote to the Cebuanos: Baston to the people of Panay and Negros Occidental: and Sinawali to the Pampangenos.

-Grandmaster Remy Amador Presas 1936-2001