1) 'Arnis' is a corruption of the word 'arnes' is spanish. It is the term of the northern island of Luzon. The capital of the Republic of the Philippines is on this island. For this reason the name Arnis has been the name given to promote the Filipino Martial arts around the world. If you asked the average Filipino they could tell you what Arnis is but wouldn't have a clue what Kali or Eskrima is. Eskrima or Escrima (it really doesn't matter) is a term used in the central islands or the Visiyans. GM Remy Presas who is from this region decided to use term Arnis over Eskrima (Arnisador, article by Hoch Hocheim). Kali is generally a term associated with the Moro's, Muslim Filipino's of the south, the main island being Mindanao. However, in doing some research for a paper on one Moro tribe the Tausug (where I trace some of my ancestry) I never came across the word Kali used to describe there blade arts.

2) Dumog (Filipino Wrestling) and Sikaran (not Sikoron) or Panajakaman (foot fighting) are not exclusive to Kali or Arnis. Robert Torres stated in a post on a FMA-list that Dumog developed seperatly from blade arts of Kali. Thru diffusion (anthropological term) Dumog has been incorperated into many systems of Kali, Eskrima, and Arnis. GM Remy Presas's Modern Arnis seems to have a heavy Dumog influence.

3) It is hard to trace the origin of the Filipino Martial Arts some believe that Kali is an indegenous art while others beleive that it came from Indonesia and before that India. It really doesn't matter. Silat and Kali/Arnis/Eskrima are similar but really are different.

4) There are many forms of Silat. Silat exists in Malaysia (Bersilat), Indonesia, and the Philippines. There are over 157 offical styles of Pentjak-silat in Indonesia (Donn F Draeger The Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indosesia, p.33). Some one flamed a previous post, the name of the style put forth might actually exist, ( or he could of just spelled PS wrong as suspected).

5) There lots of FMA. Not only are there the systems of Arnis/Eskrima/Kali but Panatukan or Sunatukan (Filipino Boxing), Dumog, Sikaran, Filipino Kuntao, Filipino Silat and others.

In any case, to the original poster be assured that the Filipino Martial Arts has lots to offer.

Vincent Bollozos

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