CUTTING EDGE

Pisau applications of Juru Satu (1)

“A note on the Jurus”

Hello again I wanted to take a brief brake from the "Animal Magic" articles to look at one of the main "Jurus" in our system of Pencak Silat.
Our system as at its core 18 Jurus or Forms/Katas if you like the meaning of Juru in the Malay language is "Upper body movements". These, in conjunction with our various "Langka's" or "Lower body movements" create the backbone of our system. The Jurus all begin with either Juru Satu (1) which is the focus of this article or Juru Dua (2). These two Jurus are referred to as the "Male and Female" or "Mother and Father" the "Male" beginning all the odd number Jurus and "Female" the even ones.
So for example Juru Umpat (4) starts with Juru Dua as "4" is and even number, also this "Male female" nomenclature refers to the Jurus attitude either "Male" attacking and aggressive in nature or "Female" counter-attacking using more drawing and decoy methods in most cases.

The Juru format usually starts, as we said with Juru satu or dua and then adds other new concepts or techniques to the beginning, the concept being that these "movements" are really concepts and ideas to be mixed and played with to create a myriad of possibilities reliant on the "million variables of combat।" Guru Sean Stark once said “Combat is abstract and ever changing” and we MUST be creative in our use of “techniques” or we simply fail to be functional; a point which cost us our lives! Another important point to make about the Jurus and this is VERY important is that these Jurus teach us a number of "possibilities" and "theories" rather than set counters to "specific" attacks.
Let me illustrate if an opponent was to attack with the obligatory "right lead" using Jurusan (Movements taken from the Jurus) we could do any number of things we could use for this example the "Pukul" which means to collide from Juru Satu which is the position the hands start in at the very beginning of the Juru the "salutation" similar to Chinese Shaolin hand gesture. Creating a triangular "wedge" to collide and penetrate using one of the systems "Principles of destruction"
Equally we could go straight to the "pukulan tukul" or Hammer fist from the same Juru and smash the attacking limb or we could use the “Sangsot” (uppercut) from Juru Tiga (3) and this itself , could be applied to the body as a punch or to the groin as a slap because the “concept” behind the “Sangsot” is and upward attack on the same trajectory as Western Boxing uppercut the same attack line but not necessarily just an uppercut. And this “concept” is more important than the specifics of the techniques taught. All would work there's no right or wrong, just what works as long as the "Attitude" of the Juru remains intact your free to mix and match.

There’s no set counter for a jab or cross, some work better than others, sure but its our freedom and expression of our intention and real understanding of what the Juru’s are trying to tell us that’s correct, just don’t get hit ;)
This is one of the beauties of Silat we learn the Jurus to learn the body mechanics and muscle memory to be able to punch, kick, evade etc once we "know" the technique we forget it and set the movements free.
The Juru individual techniques should be likened to learning letters of the alphabet the Jurus "attitude" to vowels and consonants, these when learnt are forgotten but we still keep the ability to "write" with them. Constructing words and sentences we can "express" various emotions like writing, we could "create" anything from beautiful sonnets to propaganda of hate and terror the kind we see too much of in the “popular” media these days.

When we write a letter we don’t write the alphabet over and over we take the letters we need, to convey our "intention" as second nature; this is how Jurus should viewed. We extract the letter/s or techniques we need instinctively, by second nature without having to reproduce the Juru move for move. The secret is in the "understanding" of the specific Juru and what its trying to teach its "message" and not the individual specific letters in isolation.

"There's no Silat, without the Blade" (Pendekar William de Thouars")

That said I'd like to draw your attention to the “Pisau” the Pisau is a small knife similar to the old cut-throat razor, but is used generally for all small knives used in Silat and it’s these applications in Juru satu I’d like to discuss and illustrate। Please note that the Pisau is usually linked to the “Ular” or Snake and in some systems the “Monjet” or Monkey mannerism’s I WILL ;) cover these “expressions” of its use in further articles। Here I’m looking just at Juru satu’s use of it.
Its my opinion that Pendekar De Thouars was correct when he said that there no Silat, without the blade. When we look closely at Juru satu without even having to "fudge" or "reach" for techniques from Kali or Escrima to use in the name of Silat we have our own techniques and concepts brutally LETHAL and efficient, let beautiful in their simplicity and literal in their interpretation straight out of the form!
I've posted a couple of lengthy clips to illustrate this belief. One showing Juru satu without the blade as we all know it and then performed with the blade to show you the differences...... there's none!
The second showing some applications that are literal in exactly the same order as in the Juru no "fudging" As always I welcome and feedback and flak ;) you guys and girls my have
Enjoy
Train safe, play hard।