Silat Student said:
Could we get a short description of the Martial arts listed? (That oughta give ya somethin' ta do).
Whew. That's a hefty order. Often, if you go to google.com and enter the name of the system and silat - so, for instance, enter harimau silat - you can find sites with useful information. However, I'll give it a whirl for the ones that I'm familiar with.
Harimau - a groundfighting system (predominately) from Sumatra - means "tiger" but tries to use the mindset/spirit of the tiger more than actual physical mimicry.
Cimacan - another tiger system from Java, haven't seen any of it but I've heard that it's similar to Harimau.
Pamacan - literally "father tiger" - I was exposed to it via Mande Muda and they sometimes referred to it as "Harimau hands" and, at least in Mande Muda, it was most commonly used as a standing compliment to Harimau's groundfighting.
Cimande - named after the village where its founder, Pak Kair, lived when he started teaching - a striking based system that conditions the forearms and shins to use as striking tools.
Cikalong - a bat system - very evasive, a lot of striking and enfolding (i.e.: a bat's wings flapping and wrapping)
Cimonyet - a monkey system - never seen any of it but I'd guess it's similar to Pamonyet.
Pamonyet - literally "father monkey" - only saw a little of this from Pak Herman Suwanda - very aggressive and somewhat acrobatic - more physical mimicry of the monkey than Harimau uses of the tiger but still mostly about finding the mindset/spirit of the monkey.
Tajakan - according to my Indonesian dictionary, a "tajak" is a "hoe used to remove weeds, esp. in paddy field" - I'm not sure how that relates to what I've seen of the martial arts system and I may be slaughtering/misremembering the name of the system - what I've seen of it (which isn't much) disrupts the opponent's balance with the hands, then uses the legs to achieve the takedown - hard to describe but here's a specific technique that might help - guy punches with right arm, parry and move inside, catch his right wrist in my left hand and use my right hand on his upper arm to disrupt his balance and bring his head down and toward me, then I bring my right knee up into his chin, then put my knee on top of right bicep and fall through (still holding his right wrist in my left hand) - it sounds kind of overly complicated when written out but can be done very smoothly and makes for a hard landing with a lot of pain and potential for serious injury during the fall.
Ulin Badui - not seen any of it but have heard that it involves a lot of esoteric training to develop high levels of sensitivity and awareness.
Nampon - an internal art - very reminiscent of Chinese Chi Gung - don't know if there's a direct connection between the two or not but they have a lot in common.
Serak (and it's derivatives or "child arts") - named after the founder, Pak Serak (Serak was actually a nickname) - he had a club foot and half an arm so had to get very close to his opponents and stick to them to maximize the tools he had - it's a close-range striking art that uses the strikes to disrupt the opponent's balance and set them up for sweeps/takedowns - very direct and brutal most of the time.
Cipecut - a flexible weapon system - traditionally trained with the sarong but can be translated to anything flexible - there's a brief clip of me teaching some of this at
http://impactacademy.com/vids and my instructor has an instructional vid available (not specifically Cipecut but flexible weapons material that is largely derived from Cipecut) at
http://asianfightingarts.com/catalog
Bakti Negara - a Balinese system - never seen it and don't know much about it - I've just read a little about it over the years but don't remember any of the details I've read - I primarily remember the name because for a while I had it confused with "Bukti Negara" which is a completely different system (one of the "child arts" of Serak).
Kari - if memory serves, this was named after the village that developed it and, again, if memory serves, the legend of its creation is that one of the villagers went to train with a legendary Silat master - the lessons were expensive and were paid in barter (i.e.: some bags of rice, some chickens, some manual labor, etc.) and he trained with the master for a while - the master taught him one technique - the man returned to the village and taught it to the rest of the villagers then they began experimenting with it and finding a bunch of different ways to use that technique and to get to it - my exposure to it comes from Mande Muda and Mande Muda ties it into a lot of Cikalong and Harimau material.
Madi - named after the founder - he was a very small man (even by Indonesian standards) and used his body weight to accomplish a lot of things - for instance, he'd climb on the opponent's back, plant his feet on the opponent's kidneys, grab the opponent's head (eyes were a good handle), then push off with his feet to pull the opponent to the ground - or he'd get a wrist lock and leap into the air to put all of his body weight into the application of the lock.
Syahbandar - I think this was named after the founder who, as a merchant, traveled a lot and was exposed to a lot of systems and often had to fight off brigands and such - attacks the arms with the intent of binding them to draw the head in so the head/face can be attacked.
Ratu Adil - founded by Pak Rudy terLinden (who died a few years ago) - I've only seen a little of it on one of the vids that Pak Rudy put out when he was alive and I think they're still available - if I remember correctly, he trained in several systems including Serak, Cimande, and Cikalong (there may have been others) and developed Ratu Adil from those.
Gerakan Suci - easiest way to find out about this would be to check out
http://gerakansuci.com/introduction01.htm
Hantu Jalan - the system of Silat my instructor, Guru Ken Pannell, has developed based on his background - it draws primarily from Serak and Mande Muda (specifically Harimau, Cimande, and Cipecut but also other stuff from Mande Muda) and has been influenced by a variety of other instructors that Guru Ken has trained with over the years.
Cikompak (may have screwed the spelling on that one) - I've only seen a little of this from Bapak Willem de Thouars ("Uncle Bill") - it uses a lot of body torque to disrupt the opponent's balance and set him up for really powerful strikes.
Sumpat - a stick system that uses an interesting curved stick - some of you have probably seen articles about it with Pak Victor de Thouars (I believe he's the only person in America teaching any Sumpat - he uses the older spelling of it, though, as "Soempat", I used the modern spelling to remain consistent with the rest of my list).
Satria Muda - means "young heroes" (I believe) - don't really know anything about this one - just remember reading something about it several years back.
Mande Muda (which draws from many of the systems mentioned here) - developed originally by Pak Uyuh Suwanda then passed on to his eldest son, Pak Herman Suwanda, and now headed by his daughter, Ibu Rita Suwanda - Pak Uyuh traveled and trained and integrated aspects from 18 systems of Silat in his life - now his children continue the tradition, they go out and train with others then come back and teach what they've learned and integrate it into the system - now it draws from, I believe, 26 systems of Silat - it's sometimes called the "JKD of the Silat world."
Rikesan - literally "to break" - it's a joint locking/breaking system - very similar to the Chinese Chin Na that I've seen - as with Nampon, I don't know if there's a direct link between the two, but what I've seen of Chin Na reminded me a lot of Rikesan.
Sabitan - a knife system developed by Pak Uyuh Suwanda - built around the use of a specific knife he designed and based on Cimande.
Ciular - a snake system - haven't seen any of this, just seen references to it here and there over the years.
Pamur - a Maduran system - I don't know much about it but based on what I've heard about the Maduran people as fighters, I'd assume it's a very aggressive system with a lot of emphasis on knife work.
Perisai Diri - literallay "shield self" but I think it's translated as something like "personal shield" or "self defense" - I've only seen some photo illustrations of this and have never seen it in motion so it's hard for me to really judge.
Setia Hati - I believe it means "heroic heart" or maybe "warrior heart" or "noble heart" - another one I don't know much about beyond the name.
Mustika Kwitang - a Kuntao Silat system - I've only seen a little bit of this - very aggressive and fluid motion and striking, a lot of low postures, a lot of locking (especially fingers).
Mike
