Kamatuuran Kalijin Videos from Athens, Greece

[guramicmac]

Here are one of the new videos of Tuhan Joseph Arriola's seminar in Athens, Greece.

More of these are posted at:

http://www.youtube.com/m0chamonkey/

Regards,
Gura Michelle Bautista

 

[guramicmac]

This is another Athens, Greece knife video:

 

[lhommedieu]

Nice vids. Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Steve

 

[guramicmac]

Merci, Monsieur L'hommedieu!

Funny, I just met Wes a few weeks ago at Camp Danzen and was just watching your youtube vid when I read your post.

 

[lhommedieu]

Funny, I was talking to Wes the other day and he had some nice things to say about you as well...

What we both found noteworthy about your style is the..."Bagua-ish" quality of some of the movement. There seems to be a Chinese influence to what you guys do about which your teacher, when I asked him a while ago, said teasingly, "maybe..."

I'd be interested to hear your take on the matter.

Best,

Steve

 

[lhommedieu]

Michelle:

Just a follow-up:

I did not mean to imply that there had to be a Chinese influence; certainly in some styles of Silat, for example, you can see that somewhere, in some manner, the founders of the style had studied Chinese martial arts. The Ba Gua influence is particularly evident in some styles of Kuntao - but not at all present in others.

In some of the clips of your teacher wherein his footwork is very circular it is tempting to think that there is a Ba Gua influence - but that is not necessarily the case. It could just be a case of parallel development, etc.

Best,

Steve

 

[guramicmac]

-I wrote the following reply before I read your follow-up. And I'm thinking that I would not have a much shorter reply, but for what it's worth, I'm posting it anyway. - Michelle

Hi Steve,

I cannot speak to a direct Chinese influence, because really only Tuhan can answer that. It is his style. But I can tell you that having done this style for 12 years watching as it evolved and going around and seeing other martial arts styles, I find myself at times feeling more akin to choy li fut and tai chi.

One of the concepts in this style is to absorb, to be water, to blend to the opponent.

I remember a story Tuhan told about the Grandmaster Ben Largusa about how he had a sparring partner who practiced Choy Li Fut. They were well matched. The partner then went to China to practice I believe it was elephant style, one of the highest forms. When he returned, they sparred again and despite not having seen any of the moves before, the Grandmaster Largusa matched him once again. It didn't matter what the other person did, if they had one technique then he had one technique, if he had 10,000 then he had 10,000.

And as much as 2nd generation Filipinos who live outside the Philippines would like to contextualize the Filipino culture as this jungle/native/tribal/pre-colonization culture, there is an aspect of the Filipino culture, usually seen as a detriment, of the way in which Filipinos take on the culture of others so readily. As a culture and a country influenced by Asia, America and Europe, it has somehow found a way to blend these cultures and influences together.

I attended a poetry reading of Fil-Am authors, and poet Joel B. Tan quipped, "we (Filipinos) are no one yet everyone".

I believe Tuhan has taken this theory and concept of water and blending much much further than what he learned from his own teacher of simply matching technique for technique. For him there are no boundaries. He picks up different weapons as if speaking to them. And while he may not use 3-sectional staff in a "traditional" way (I'm not really sure what commenters mean by "traditional"), it is in using this theory and concept of blending of being water that allows him to uncover new techniques.

In the school we do teach particular techniques and basics, sure. But the hardest lesson to learn I've found, is really how to take the theory and concepts you've been taught to find your own techniques.

Having said that, this is an evolving style in the same way in which culture evolves by and through its interaction in communities. We don't purport to be "traditional" Filipino martial arts, although we can always return to that movement quite readily.

When Tuhan went to Greece, he told the Greeks, I'm here to teach you Greek martial arts. When Tuhan went to Rome, he told the Romans, I'm here to teach you Roman martial arts. Why? Because it's the Spanish influence that brought Greek and Roman ideas to the Philippines. These cultures shaped how the Spanish moved which shaped how the Filipinos moved. A balisong class I took at camp, the instructor mentioned the oldest found balisong was found in France, yet the butterfly knife is known as a Filipino weapon.

So, back to the question about bagua influence. After reading people's reactions and comments to the various videos from Kamatuuran, I think it's similar to looking into a body of water, at times we see our own reflection what we already understand and know, at others the water is so deep, we see nothing.

As a writer I have struggled trying to explain to people who and what we do. But words are used for things that we have already defined, and what my teacher has always done and what he has taught his students to do is to seek out what he does not yet know and to re-examine and test what he does know to find what is truth. I have used the word Bagua to define us before, but that's only because it seemed close enough, but not quite, but for the function of communication and conversation, I'll go with that.

And perhaps this rather long story and explanation also comes down to "maybe".

 

[lhommedieu]

Michelle,

I think the water analogy is particularly apt - and "maybe" is as good an answer is any so long as we're not hung up on putting labels on everything!

I have a teacher who teaches what looks like kickboxing until you start delving into the body mechanics behind the power development and start practicing what is in essence Tai Qi push hands as a precusor to sparring. While there is a definine Chinese influence to his Western martial arts (he studied Xing Yi and Ba Gua in addition to boxing professionally) you would not say its "Chinese martial arts." He has a name for what he teaches and its his name and it reflects what he does and who he is. On the other hand, when we were both at a seminar quite a few years ago I heard him referred to by someone that I respect a lot as "basically, an internal boxer" - which was high praise considering the source.

I imagine that your teacher has probably gone through a process of similar development wherein what he teaches is who and what he is.

With respect to individuals who desire a "pure, unadulterated, etc." FMA I find it interesting that Filipino culture is so well known for assimulating cultural influences that originated well beyond it's borders. (BTW there is an amusing thread about Filipino "food" that makes this point very well on www.fmatalk.com.) And I'm curious to know what we will call "FMA" in the United States (that other culture so well known for assimulating features of other cultures) in a hundred years time. If I could coin my own "Chinese" phrase:

"Respect for the root leads to a thousand flowers."

Perhaps what is "purest" about Filipino culture is its both its tolerance and willingness to adapt to adverse circumstance.

Best,

Steve

 

[arnisador]

When Tuhan went to Greece, he told the Greeks, I'm here to teach you Greek martial arts. When Tuhan went to Rome, he told the Romans, I'm here to teach you Roman martial arts. Why? Because it's the Spanish influence that brought Greek and Roman ideas to the Philippines. These cultures shaped how the Spanish moved which shaped how the Filipinos moved.

I love this attitude! That's great.

A balisong class I took at camp, the instructor mentioned the oldest found balisong was found in France, yet the butterfly knife is known as a Filipino weapon.

I didn't know that, but I can hardly be surprised--every culture ends up with the same basic ideas, based on anatomy and physics.

 

[guramicmac]

We've posted up new videos of the Grandmaster Joseph Arriola in his last trip to Rome.

Not Filipino Martial Arts

Numerado and espara y daga

Women's self-defense

Accuracy

Leg Locks

Stick manipulations

 

[lhommedieu]

Nice vids. What's up with "kalistawarrior?" You don't like an art, a teacher, etc. - fine. But why bother to post on multiple YouTube vids? People like this almost always have an agenda that has little to do with the quality of the vids.

Best,

Steve