ARNIS

1. ARNIS
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

3. PRE-COLONIAL ERA AND INFLUENCE OF
OTHER MARTIAL ARTS
• ARNIS WAS DEVELOPED BY THE INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS OF THE
PHILIPPINES, WHO USED AN ASSORTED RANGE OF WEAPONRY FOR COMBAT
AND SELF-DEFENSE. ENCOMPASSING BOTH SIMPLE IMPACT AND EDGED
WEAPONS, ARNIS TRADITIONALLY INVOLVED RATTAN, SWORDS, DAGGERS AND
SPEARS.
• IT ALSO HAS OTHER INFLUENCES, AS TRADERS AND SETTLERS TRAVELLING
THROUGH THE MALAY REGION BROUGHT THE SILAT AS WELL AS ARAB, INDIAN,
AND CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS. A FEW OF THE PEOPLE STILL LOCALIZED CHINESE
COMBAT METHODS CALLED THE KUNTAW.

4. PRE-COLONIAL ERA AND INFLUENCE OF
OTHER MARTIAL ARTS
• MOREOVER, IT HAS BEEN THEORIZED THAT ARNIS, KALI, ESKRIMA MAY HAVE
INDIAN ROOTS AND CAME TO THE PHILIPPINES THROUGH THE PEOPLE WHO
TRAVELED THROUGH MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA TO THE PHILIPPINES. SILAMBAM,
A STICK-STAFF-BASED, ANCIENT, INDIAN MARTIAL ART INFLUENCED NUMEROUS
MARTIAL ARTS IN ASIA SUCH AS SILAT. ARNIS MAY SHARE ANCESTRY WITH THE
SAID SYSTEMS – SEVERAL ARNIS MOVEMENTS RESEMBLE THE SHORT STICK
(KAJI OR KALI) AND OTHER WEAPON-BASED COMBAT STYLES TECHNIQUES OF
SILAMBAM.

5. PRE-COLONIAL ERA AND INFLUENCE OF
OTHER MARTIAL ARTS
• WHEN THE SPANISH COLONIZERS FIRST CAME TO THE PHILIPPINES, THEY
OBSERVED WEAPONS BASED COMBAT ARTS PRACTICED BY THE FILIPINO
NATIVE.
A few early expeditions fought tribesmen armed with
knives and sticks. In 1521, the Portuguese explorer,
Ferdinand Magellan, was slain in Cebu at the legendary
“Battle of Mactan” by the Datu Lapu-Lapu’s forces.

6. ARNIS
DERIVED FROM THE WORD “ARNES” WHICH MEAN COLORFUL TRAPING ON
DEFENSIVE ARMORS USED ON MORO MORO PLAY.
WHAT IS MORO MORO PLAY?
The Moro-Moro is a form of theater premised on battles
between Christians and Moors performed in village
fiestas in the Philippines from the Spanish colonial period
to the present.

7. COLONIAL ERA AND SPANISH INFLUENCE
ON ARNIS HISTORY
• ONE PROMINENT FEATURE OF ARNIS THAT MAY POINT TO SPANISH INFLUENCE
IS ESPADA Y DAGA (SWORD AND DAGGER) METHOD, WHICH IS A TERM
UTILIZED IN FENCING. THE FILIPINO VERSION OF THE ESPADA Y DAGA IS
QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THE EUROPEAN RAPIER AND DAGGER STYLES; THE
STANCES ARE NOT THE SAME AS WEAPONS UTILIZED IN ARE NORMALLY
SHORTER THAT EUROPEAN-MADE SWORDS.

9. COLONIAL ERA AND SPANISH INFLUENCE
ON ARNIS HISTORY
• FOLLOWING THE SPANISH COLONIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES, A 0DECREE
WAS ESTABLISHED THAT BANNED THE COMMON PEOPLE FROM CARRYING
WEAPONS SUCH AS THE KAMPILAN AND KRIS.
• REGARDLESS, THE PRACTITIONERS CONSTANTLY FOUND WAYS TO KEEP AND
MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM ALIVE, USING RATTAN-MADE STICKS RATHER THAN
ACTUAL SWORDS. SEVERAL ARTS WERE PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION
TO GENERATION.

11. COLONIAL ERA AND SPANISH INFLUENCE
ON ARNIS HISTORY
• OCCASIONALLY, THE ARTS TOOK THE FORM OF RITUALS OR CHOREOGRAPHED
DANCES LIKE THE SAKUTING STICK DANCE.
• FURTHERMORE, AS A RESULT, AN INTRICATE AND UNIQUE STICK-BASED STYLE
EVOLVED IN THE LUZON AND VISAYAS REGIONS.
• MINDANAO, ON THE OTHER HAND, RETAINED EXCLUSIVE BLADE-ORIENTED
METHODS BECAUSE THE SPANIARDS AND EVEN AMERICANS NEVER ENTIRELY
CONQUERED THE SOUTHERN REGIONS OF THE PHILIPPINES.

13. POST-COLONIAL PERIOD AND MODERN
ARNIS HISTORY
• THE PHILIPPINES HAS A BLADE CULTURE FILIPINO BLADE FIGHTING IS STILL A
LIVING ART. THE LOCAL PERSONS IN THE PHILIPPINES ARE CONSIDERED MORE
LIKELY TO CARRY BOLOS OR KNIVES THAN GUNS.

14. FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS WEAPONS CAN BE
FOUND AT HOME
• THESE WEAPONS ARE USUALLY CARRIED AS TOOLS BY FARMERS TO CUT
VEGETATION, STREET VENDORS TO CUT OPEN PINEAPPLES, WATERMELONS,
COCONUTS, OTHER FRUITS AND ANIMAL MEATS. ALSO, BALISONGS ARE VERY
EASY TO PROCURE AND ARE EASILY HIDDEN. IN FACT, IN A FEW RURAL AREAS,
CARRYING A KNIFE SUCH AS THE ITAK WAS A SIGN THAT THAT PERSON IS
MAKING A LIVING DUE TO THE AREA’S NATURE OF WORK.
● In Palau, they call Filipinos as “chad a oles”
meaning “people of the knife” due to their
reputation for carrying blades and utilizing
them in fights.

15. PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION
• CONTRARY TO THE STATEMENTS OF SOME HISTORIANS TODAY THAT IT WAS JUST
GUNS THAT HELPED THE PHILIPPINES ACHIEVED VICTORY AGAINST THE SPANISH
COLONIZERS, BLADES PLAYED A HUGE PART AS WELL.
• SOME OF THE HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION WERE ALSO
PRACTITIONERS OF ARNIS NAMELY ANDRES BONIFACIO, DIEGO AND GABRIELA
SILANG, AND THE YOUNG GEN. GREGORIO DEL PILAR. THE NATIONAL HERO JOSE
RIZAL WAS ALSO REPORTED TO PRACTICE THE FIGHTING SYSTEM. AS WELLAS
THE FOUNDER OF AGLIPAYAN CHURCH REV. GREGORIO AGLIPAY.

16. PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION
• DURING THE BATTLE OF MANILA IN 1898, THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
REPORTED THAT: THE PHILIPPINE NATIVE, LIKE ALL THE KINDRED MALAY
RACES, CANNOT DO ANY FIGHTING AS A RULE EXCEPT AT CLOSE QUARTERS,
SLASHING WITH HIS HEAVY KNIFE. THE WEAPON IS CALLED MACHETE, OR
BOLO, OR KAMPILAN, OR PARANG, OR KRIS.

17. THE FILIPINO BLADE CULTURE
• IT MAY LIKELY BE THE MEN’S FAULT, OR THEY ARE JUST UNLUCKY IN BEING
UNDRILLED, BUT THEY’RE FREQUENTLY KNIFED AS THEY RELOAD THEIR
RIFLES. WHATEVER THE EXPLANATION MAY BE, THERE IS CERTAINLY
SOMETHING WRONG IN SOLDIERS WITH BAYONETS AND RIFLES BEING
ATTACKED BY KNIFE-WIELDING NATIVES. THE INSURGENTS HAVE GUNS, BUT
MANY SPANISH ARE INJURED WITH KNIFE WOUNDS

18. WORLD WAR 2
• DURING WORLD WAR II, MANY FILIPINOS FOUGHT THE JAPANESE HAND TO
HAND WITH THEIR BLADES AS GUERILLA FIGHTERS OR AS MILITARY UNITS
UNDER THE USAFFE LIKE THE BOLO BATTALION (NOW KNOWN AS THE TABAK
DIVISION).
•

19. ARNIS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MODERN
TIMES
REMY PRESAS one of the Founder of Modern Arnis

20. ARNIS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MODERN
TIMES
• ARNIS IS THE SYSTEM OF FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS FOUNDED BY THE LATE REM PRESAS AS A
SELF-DEFENSE SYSTEM. HIS GOAL WAS TO CREATE AN INJURY-FREE TRAINING METHOD AS
WELL AS AN EFFECTIVE SELF-DEFENSE SYSTEM IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE OLDER ARNIS
SYSTEMS.
• IT IS A FILIPINO MARTIAL ART THAT CAN BE PERFORMED INDIVIDUALLY OR WITH A PARTNER
USING A SINGLE STICK OR A PAIR OF STICKS FOR STRIKING AND BLOCKING; CAN ALSO BE
USED FOR SELF-DEFENSE.
• MAJOR FAVIAN VER ALSO NOTED ENTHUSIAST AND PRACTITIONERS OF ARNIS FORMED THE
NATIONAL ARNIS ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (NARAPHIL) WITH THE OBJECTIVE TO
UNITE ALL ARNIS GROUP IN THE PHILIPPINES

21. ARNIS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MODERN
TIMES
• THE ARNIS IS A PHILIPPINES’ NATIONAL MARTIAL ART OR SPORT. AFTER
PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO SIGNED THE REPUBLIC ACT. NO.
9850 IN 2009 THE ACT MANDATES THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO
INCLUDE THE SPORT AS A PHYSICAL EDUCATION COURSE . ARNIS WILL BE
INCLUDED AMONG THE PRIORITY SPORTS IN PALARONG PAMBANSA (NATIONAL
GAMES) BEGINNING 2010