# to brother john



## thekuntawman (Feb 14, 2003)

sir i see that you are given some information that is not totally true, so i want to give you another answer to your question. of what is the difference to arnis, eskrima and kali.

for technqiue, there is none. 99.9999% of what you see is "kali" out there was eskrima or arnis, and the name was changed to "kali" for whatever reasons. yes, i have heard the "just a name" garbage, but let us please tell the truth:

* there is no REAL DIFFERENCE OF KALI, ARNIS AND ESKRIMA, THAN JUST A NAME. KALI IS NOT "MORE COMPLETE" OR "MORE ANCIENT"

*yes, maybe a long time ago there was KALI being used as a word, maybe a separate style, but not any more. and don't listen to the "the philippines has 1,000 languages so how do you know" garbage too. maybe in a barrio somewhere there is some old guy who kept this art alive in secret in his family for 400 years, but none of the people who claim this word today are part of that group. they are all arnis/eskrima who use the word KALI today.

*styles of philippine martial arts have many categories, but most of them only have 3 or 4. the only real reason i can see a style today having so many categories is if the instructor created them, but this does not mean his style is better or "more complete" than styles with 3 categories. really from what i see most styles who claim to have all these categories and weapons they teach, only have a little bit in each, then a whole system of 3 or 4 like everyone else. the only school i know about who has many categories that you can study just that weapons or specialize in them is ernesto presas' ARJUKEN, where you can come and sign up to learn just the chakos or just staff or just single stick.

"AUTHENTIC KALI SCHOOLS"
GAUDIOSA RUBY---COMJUKA ARNIS, KUNTAW NG PILIPINAS
LEO GAJE/PEKITI TIRSIA---PEKITI TIRSIA ARNIS
BEN LEMA SCIENTIFIC KALI....---LIGHTNING SCIENTIFIC ARNIS
SAYOC KALI---PEKITI TIRSIA ARNIS
DAN INOSANTO'S KALI/JKD---SERRADA ESKRIMA, EDGAR SULITE'S ESKRIMA, VILLABRILLE KALI (his teacher in the philippines is known as a ARNIS teacher)
RICHIE ACOSTA'S KUNTAW KALI---DOCE PARES ESKRIMA, KUNTAW NG PILIPINAS, LSA (ben lema)
ILLUSTRISIMO KALI---ILLUSTRISIMO ARNIS

this is all i can think of. i cannot criticize the use of the word KALI because i use it too in some of my advertising to get people in the door. but i NEVER tell someone that KALI is more ancient and complete and passed down through the years...and you learn it here. especially when you know better, it is dishonest to tell people this stuff. no matter what your technique is or how good it is, why tell people a false history of another culture


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## Wingman (Feb 16, 2003)

I believe that there is no ancient Filipino Martial Art called "kali". The word "kali" is not an ancient word for arnis or escrima. It is not even used in the Philippines to mean arnis, escrima, or any martial art for that matter. 

Yes, there are many languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines. And I don't claim to speak all of them. I only speak Tagalog & Bisayan. These 2 languages are the 2 most widely spoken in the Philippines. And neither of these 2 languages has a word "kali" which means arnis, escrima or a martial art.

If "kali" is such an ancient word, then it and/or its derivatives would be found in most languages in the Philippines. But this is not the case. I think the word "kali" is widely used in the US and the rest of the world; but not in the Philippines.


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