Escrima, Kali, Sayoc Kali

[Xue Sheng]

I am going to admit right now I know little about Escrima, less about Kali and absolutely nothing about Sayoc Kali.

What is the difference?

I am also gong to apply some webfu to this and see what I can find

 

[Blindside]

Escrima/Eskrima and Kali are two common names for the weapon based martial arts of the Philippines, the third common name is Arnis. The terms are somewhat unimportant as some instructors have switched the names of their art between these terms over time. There are many arts as these are often tribal or family systems, some that have well developed curriculums that incorporate many different weapons and unarmed methodologies, others that are all about hitting you with a stick.

The term "kali" has some controversy associated with it, with some people saying that it really didn't exist as a "style" term until the '50s. Regardless, of the etymology, "kali" is a now well known term associated with the Filipino Martial Arts. Sayoc Kali is a system that heavily emphasizes use of the blade. They have a pretty extensive set of videos on youtube to get an idea of what they do, personally, I like what I have seen of their material though I have never had the opportunity in person.

 

[geezer]

I am going to admit right now I know little about Escrima, less about Kali and absolutely nothing about Sayoc Kali.

What is the difference?

Hey, Xue... What Blindside said. Also, some people get the wrong idea that Eskrima, Arnis and Kali refer to three different Filipino Martial Arts. They don't. There are hundreds of different FMAs and related arts, just as there are uncounted styles and substyles of CMA. But one man's Eskrima for example, might be very close to another's Arnis or Kali. Someone else might practice a system of Eskrima with a similar name that is totally different. Or, a master may start out calling his system by one name such as Arnis and then later decide to call it Kali. The terms themselves are as broadly applied as Kung-Fu, Wu-Shu, Chuan-fa (Mo-sut, Kuen-sut, Kuen-fa) in CMA. So instead of asking, "Do you practice Eskrima or Kali?", you are better off asking "What is your Eskrima, Kali or Arnis like?".