# Escrima / Kali / Arnis



## Kirk (Jul 4, 2002)

I don't get the differences between all of these.  Can anyone
explain?  Also, typicall how does an FMA student measure his/her
progress?


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## arnisador (Jul 4, 2002)

Escrima/eskrima comes from a Spanish word for fencing (related to the word _skirmish_; cf. the French word _escrime_, fencing). Arnis/arnes comes from a Spansih word for (battle) _harness_. The origin of the word kali/kalis is disputed.

Some of the variation is regional (see this thread); much is choice (Professor Presas' first book was on Modern Eskrima, not Modern Arnis--he later changed it to arnis). The term kali, I understand, is not much used in the Philippines, and other terms, such as Panandata, are used that we hear less of here.

My experience in the States has been that escrima generally refers to arts that emphasize the stick to the (near-)exclusion of other weapons and empty hand; arnis generally refers to an art that includes stick, knife, and empty hand; and kali generally refers to an art that emphasizes weapons over empty hand but uses a wider variety of weapons including swords. You could easily find counter-examples to these generalizations!

Even the three terms you've mentioned leave out many FMAs--Pekiti Tersia, Sikaran (emphasizing kicking), Panandata, and many others.

Opinions on this issue may be quite varied! There are older threads addressing precisely this topic.


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## Kirk (Jul 4, 2002)

Interesting ... I thought that FMA stick (and knife) was a weapons
system that graduated you to empty hand, once you progressed
far enough.  Regardless of the name.  Ya learn something new
everyday!


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## arnisador (Jul 4, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
> 
> *Interesting ... I thought that FMA stick (and knife) was a weapons system that graduated you to empty hand, once you progressed far enough.  *



Balintawak Eskrima, for example, has only single stick techniques. They can be used with a knife or even an empty-hand in principle, of course, but hey train _only_ the single stick. Compare also Sayoc Kali, "All Knife All The Time" (including empty-hand defense against the knife, I believe, but not against unarmed attackers).

As always, someone may disagree with me--there is an older Sayoc Kali tradition, before the current head took over, that included a greater variety of techniques, and Balintawak has a few different streams now.


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## Rich Parsons (Jul 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by arnisador _
> 
> *
> 
> ...



As Arnisador points out, Balintawak Eskrima trains in single stick techniques. The empty hand translations come much later. As for a piece of history, Anciong Bacon learned Stick and Dagger from Lorenzo Savaadra before WWII. 

Have a nice day.

Rich


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## Matt Stone (Jul 5, 2002)

According to what I have read from Mark Wiley, the Arnis/Eskrima/Kali connection is sort of simple to understand, really...

According to Wiley they break down as follows - 

*Arnis* is the truly native arts that have millions of variations, but tend to ultimately resemble each other at some point.

*Eskrima/Escrima* are those arts that were more heavily influenced by Spanish fencing methods, and typically emphasize the espada y daga, or swordwork in general.

*Kali* does not actually exist in the Phillipines, but in the US (and other parts of the world) is used to refer to those Filipino arts that draw more heavily on their Chinese and Indonesian origins.

But in the final analysis, they are all the same. 

That is my poorly educated take on the situation.

Gambatte.

:samurai:  :samurai:


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