Jogo Do Pau - Portugese Stick Fighting Art

[Makalakumu]

I came across this on another forum. Interesting story. A soo bahk do practicioner's mother knew this style as taught by her grandfather. He only learned that she knew it when she showed some of it right before he tested for shodan. Anyway, I've never seen it before and I thought it was cool!

Jogo Do Pau long stick technical display
Jogo Do Pau sparring
Jogo Do Pau by Portugese soldiers in WWI
Jogo Do Pau seated stick fighting drill - very interesting!
Jogo Do Pau short stick techniques
Jogo Do Pau against multiple opponents

It's interesting to note the similarities to Arnis De Mano. Yet, the footwork isn't something that I'm familiar with. The FMA that I'm familiar with was a lot more technical with the footwork. Of course, this observation is from the outside looking in. There probably is alot more there that I will ever see without training in the system.

 

[tellner]

very kewl!

 

[lklawson]

It's interesting to note the similarities to Arnis De Mano. Yet, the footwork isn't something that I'm familiar with. The FMA that I'm familiar with was a lot more technical with the footwork. Of course, this observation is from the outside looking in. There probably is alot more there that I will ever see without training in the system.

Two things I've always noticed about footwork, particularly in regard to FMA footwork.

First, outside looking in, the footwork is always more simplistic seeming to the observer than it really is. I've found this especially true of western stick systems (and, incidentally, longsword sword systems). It seems that there's a huge amount of implied footwork that isn't explicitly stated yet must be engaged in in order to complete the illustrated technique. Outsiders, particularly FMA trained people I've noticed, tend to take a cursory look and conclude that the footwork "just isn't that sophisticated." I suspect that this is because sophisticated footwork is especially stressed in FMA and they are (deservedly) proud of that fact. Whatever the case, it often comes across as a bit arrogant (unintentionally - with no offence intended -, I'm sure).

Second, I've noticed that when FMA practicioners actually get on the gear and go hard sparring, their footwork tends to... ah... "simplify." The majority of the most sophisticated footwork doesn't get used. Instead, the most basic footwork is what tends to come out. Usually, the individual FMA player, when queried on this, concludes that this is a shortcoming on his part and he needs to work on his footwork more. Conversely, I believe that it is more likely that, in the chaos of a fully resistent encounter, there simply is less opportunity and less real application for highly sophisticated footwork, to say nothing of the greatly elevated difficulty in performing more sophisticated actions, including sophisticated footwork, in the middle of a chaotic encounter. In short, even for FMA folks, the K.I.S.S. principle rules.

Personally, I've found that a combination of modified Boxing footwork and Classical (as opposed to "Sport") fencing footwork seems to apply in almost any weapon-to-weapon encounter.

In conclusion, Medieval and Renaisance europeans seemed to take a nearly perverse pleasure in applying geometric concepts to nearly everything but especially Martial Arts and associated footwork. However, this is not always immediately obvious when scanning the texts. They must be read in context, which is often given by a more-or-less obscure preamble (Fiore is an example that springs to mind) and in context of the related body of period work (particularly scientific).

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk