Silat clip of the week

Hello guys heres this week clip its a long one but awesome the late Pendekar "Eddie" Jafri
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=290708661647834300&hl=en#

Enjoy guys ;)

Kujang: The Blade of Sunda (Part 1)

Hello again everyone.
Well I've been threatening you all with it for a long while, but it’s finally here, a full two perhaps three articles on my favourite weapon the Kujang. I would firstly like to dedicate this article to my first Kujang students Max and Matt (This ones for you guys); and to their Main teacher a highly skilled, wise generous man and a good friend. You know who you are!

My aim in this series is to give an informative and illustrative introduction to the kujang sometimes called Kudi (In Javanese) I wont stray into the academic "mine field" which is related to the history and the uses (or not) of the kujang there’s just to many people, with there own opinions, agendas etc to satisfy. I will include at the footer of this article, for those that want to "Go there" a list of links to some great articles relating more to the history and origins of the kujang. I’m not a scholar of classical Indonesian history and will leave that debate to fester on its own it’s done just fine before I was around and will no doubt continue long after I’m gone.

I want to focus on the uses of the kujang in our system of Pukulan Cimande, my expression of that system in Pencak Silat Seni-Sunda, its relevance as explained to me through that lineage, to the Sundanese people, and to its animal links etc. This is a beautiful ancient weapon and very overlooked as I will hope to show you. Article two will look at some drills and buah taken from our "Cutting drills" and Juru-juru.

 A Story :
Here is one old legend of the kujang It starts with King Prabu Siliwangi of  Pajajaran kingdom in the 12th century (Western calendar) and his two sons. The older son was Prince Radan Komondoko. The Younger son's name has been lost in history . The story goes that the elder son was sent into the Jungle to train with a master of ilmu(magick) Pencak Silat and he carried the blade that his father . King Silawngi had created to roughly resemble the shape of the island of Java, or Djawa Dwipa as it was formerly known at that time. Some also belive that the shape resembled the root and bulb of a plant and is a reminder to the farmer orgins of the Sunda people. Some say the name was Prabu Kudo Lalean of the King who invented this shape but I have not heard this from any of the old Masters who always told me the former name. Now back to the story . The elder son met the master in the jungle and this man had young daughter who over time became the adopted sister of Radan Komondoko. Decades later the younger son ventured into the same area and came across the now older daughter of Radan Komondoko's teacher. He became interested in her and was flirting with her when along came his older brother . He did not recognize his younger brother and believed he was disrespectful to his adopted sister so he challenged his own brother to a fight. The younger Brother had also been studying his Pencak Silat and Ilmu very diligently and the fight as legend tells it went on for days . When neither could win they decided to use weapons and each pulled there fathers Kujang . At once they realized they were brothers as these were at that time the only two kujangs in existence given to them by there father,  They were happy to see each other and joined forces with there knowledge together of Pencak Silat Kujang fighting and Ilmu. From that point on their methods became the inheritance of kujang in Some Pencak Silat schools.

This is a quaint story there are many involving the Kujang and its place in Sundanese collective consciousness, a story of lost brothers re-uniting to mirror the plans of any ruler to re-unite various tribes into a strong and unified nation. The kujang are often fashioned with the body of a tiger and or in scabbards resembling the tiger. I was told that the tiger was a symbol of the ancient Sundanese peoples to whom it had totemic significance, although is is probably no longer remembered this is the reason, which is now done this way through tradition , a tradition who’s origin as been forgotten or eroded by Islamification at a later date.

Designs:
While I made mention that I wouldnt be drawn into history and exact origns of the kujang as there are none at least definitive as yet We know that the kujang originated probably from an agricultual tool used for cutting grass and for tiling the soil a reminder to the Sundapeoples of their agricultural origns and this may give relevance to the notion that the blade originaly was modlled on the root or bulb of a plant. Some stories claim that the blade was forged after a vision of the island of Java and the stories continue.
There are a myrid of different kujang designs, but today they basicly come down to two main types with two distinct historical roots. The original kujangs or Proto-Kujang are found on stone relifs of great antiquity circa 4th-7th centurys AD (Western calenda)  the original "True" kujang where belived to be of Hindu or even Budhist origins, these are sometimes called Pusaka kujang due to their great age, these are distinqued my sutlties in the shapes but mostly by the number of holes found in and around the blade the oldest kujang have three holes which is said to relate to the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Latewr Islamic kings Imans etc wanting to spread Islam changed the blades shape made wider to resemble the Abrabic letter "Syin" and they changed the number of holes (sometimes filled with gold) from the Hindu trinity to five to represent , some belive the 5 pillars of Islam. In our system the number five equates to the four animal mannerisms and the fifth being "Raja Naga" the blend of the other four animals.

Lineage:
The Kujang I studied as come to me through my Sut Guru, Guru Besar Liam McDonald. Who studied directly under Pendekar Sanders, Pendekar Sanders in turn learnt his kujang directly from the late Pendekar "Eddie" Jafri and from Pendekar Mama Sukarma. In the system of Pukulan Cimande Combat (Guru Besar Liam McDonalds expression) of Pendekar Sanders style there are two main areas of kujang study. One is the 10 Kujang Jurus, given to Pendekar Sanders from Pendekar Jafri and secondly the Latihan Permangkasan "Cutting excersises / drills." I practiced the  the former for several years and now whilst I do teach beginners the kujang Jurus which contain some wonderful concepts and cleaver techniques I personally prefere the latihan permangkasan. The aim here as with all things is to learn and drill the kujang movements from the juru and then forget the framework and keep the concepts, my rational for prefering the latihan permangkasan is that they have a two man element to them so your working on things like ranging to hit a moving target and working with anothers energy etc and because they are less static, but its horses for courses learn the rules and forget the tools.

Talisman or Tool:
One major debate which as scholars and persilats at each others throats is the view that the kujang is'nt or never was used as a weapon! there is a very hard core group that claim that kujangs are only ever meant to be used in ritual. Its true that there is a powerful cultural link with the Sunda peoples and the kujang and yes it was used in rituals of fertility and as a tool to communicate with our ancestors, there are rituals for cleaning and feeding the kujang and yes it was used in talismanic manner very similar to the Javanese Keris; but it is in my mind and many other much high skilled persilats a weapon.
Thye Sunda where and still are at heart a practical and pragmatic peoples skilled warriors with strong agricultural roots streaching back for thosands of years. So would these people ONLY use items for ritual or would they "multi task" and use a sharp iron or bronze multi blades sharp tool as a weapon too? OF COURSE THEY WOULD AND DID AND DO STILL!

There is an element in Indonesia today that over emphasises the spiritual practices of Pencak Silat and its trappings telling us that kujang and Keris where just for status and ritual. Ok Im a "dumb white guy" trained by other white guys but they where taught by native Indonesians of imense skill many where native Sunda so did they have it wrong too? was Pendekar Jafri, Pendekar Mama Sukarma and even the greatest persilat of the last few decades Pendekar Herman Suwanda all wrong? all lying? "ummmm" proably not. Do people over press the spiiritual aspects of an art because they no longer know how to use the object anymore OH YES.

And yes the kujang is a mystical object In the Kujang there are PusakaTayuhan comprising what is called "isi" or "Tua" or Magick in the blade.  The real Pusaka can take months or even years to create. It is normally constructed with layered metals called Pamor and is filled with "tua" or "isi (magickal power) by the maker using various methods of fasting and mantra repeated over the blade while it is being made. From the occult side, like the keris, another weapon used by the indo-malayan natives, the kujang was often consecrated with magickal power and familiar spirits attached for specific purposes, such as the protection against psychic attack. Because of the inherent power of the kujang in conjunction with the presence of its spirit guardians, the well-informed natives revere them as sacred objects. But they are also weapons! Old pre Islamic relifs depicted the use of Kerises and proto-Kujangs in combat. Also some of the folktales and historical events are clear that both weapons are used as weapons. Saying Keris and Kujang were just Talisman is the same as saying that wearing Katanas and Wakizashis are just symbols of the samurai, both weapons are not weapons but status badges.

Nowadays, the kujang is often decorated in homes as it is believed to bring about luck, protection, honor, etc. They are displayed in pairs on walls with the inner edge facing each other. There is a taboo, however--no one is to be photographed standing in-between them as this would somehow cause the death of that person within a year. Why this occurs is not known for certain, we might shrug it off as superstition, coincidence or synchronicity but behind every phenomenon cosmic laws and intelligences are at work; we just need to discover what those laws are and the mind-set of those metaphysical intelligences directing those laws to know the reason for the anomaly.

So hope you enjoyed the article and next part will cover more practical uses and some clips of kujang buah.
Till then train hard, play safe ;)

This Weeks Cool Clip

Hello guys and girls.
Heres this weeks clip its refreshing to see real people real martial artists doing what they love for the good of their people and for all fellow men.
The art of Silat is full of the "Money Gurus" making enormous profits from doing what they are supposed to be doing for love of the art, there clips are all over the net and social media sites.  So, this time I wanted to show the REAL heros of Silat and Kali! those working and training for love and for charity not to buy a new condo or flash car you know who you are. and I will purposely not give these individuals further exposer here on my small and humble piece of the net.
And to the "Money Gurus" out there, slowly getting richer higher profiled while driving other, lesser known but equally ( if not better) skilled gurus into the shadows for fear of harassment, abuse and straight out bullying, Your not as smart as you think, money doesn't buy intelligence or true peace and happiness it wont fill the hole in your heart, you know the one! Your actions are not un-noticed, others watch from the very shadows you pushed and prodded them into.

Respect to Fighting for Lives and all the other charitys fighting the real fight that matters, the war on poverty, hunger, sorrow, corruption, injustice the REAL WAR ON TERROR!
So to the clip THIS WEEKS REAL COOL CLIP

Respect and love to the guys in this clip, to all those suffering due to creed and injustice the world over.
One world one love one dream one heart.

Fighting for Lives (closed door event ) 24/10/2010 DUSA

Big and warm thanks to everyone who attended the Fighting for Lives closed door event on Sunday. I had a great time and relished the chance to work with the likes of Max, Chris, Matt and the others those working hard in the shadows to keep pure un-diluted Silat alive, without desire for fame and fortune, my heart and respects to you all for that ... so when can I come up again??? ;))))
For those wanting to know more about Fighting for Lives Charity and the wonderful work it does or for details of future events, please go to Fighting For Lives Home

Silat Clip of the Week

As some of you may or may not know, at the moment in my personel training Im heavily involved with the Monyet and Kera mannerisms of our art.
I thought that therefore I'd post a Monyet themed clip this week Guru Steve Gartin of the De-Thouars KunTao Silat system. This clip abilily shows the heartless and effective approach the monyet as to combat.

Enjoy Guru Steve Gartin
PS: Double Kujang article on the way very soon ;)

SILAT CLIP OF THE WEEK

Hey guys on a brighter note here's my choice of Silat clips of the week.

This week my good friend Alvin Guinanao in my humble opinion is one of the best Persialts around!
I've seen none match his speed and grace, truly a peerless fighter.

His YouTube Channel is Satria Fighting Arts
The Satria website is under re-construction but will post link once it returns.

My shout out to my brother Al, hope you all enjoy the clip ;)
Guru Alvin Guinanao

Silat Clip of the Week

Hey guys here's this weeks cool clip got to say this is without a doubt the best Harimau trance work I've ever seen real Authentic Silat still survives here in West Java.

Enjoy until next time train safe, play hard ;)
Harimau Trance

Malaysia Night 2010

Hello everyone.
24th of September was Malaysia Night in Trafalgar Square London.
We had the pleasure to perform on the stage with another local Nottingham group playing Pencak Sialt from Malaysia.
The event went very well and we all had a great time, for those interested the first combined set we performed can be view at Mediafire Malaysia Night 2010 Set 1
We're trying to source copies of our other set and once we do I'll post em here too.
Just wanted to say thanks to all envolved. If anyone out there actully attended please email me and tell me what you thought of the performance I will admit due to nerves our second set was much better but still , it was our first ever ;)
Anyone wanting to see more pictures please click here for my Facebook album and if you like add me as a friend ;) Thanks guys.Facebook Album

Cool clip of the week - Part II

Hey guys heres the second part of Guru Penglima Derek Owings expression of the Cimande TarIk Kolot version of the Cimande Village Jurus, this time 5 and 6.
Here's his great site please take time to peruse
http://rajanagaacademy.blogspot.com/ 

Great to see more GOOD Pukulan Cimande  on the web.
My thanks to Guru Penglima Derek and big shout out to my Cimande brothers over in Port Huron ;)
http://www.pckinternational.com/

Fighting for Lives- Indigenous Combat Arts of West Java, Indonesia

Me again
Just to keep you all in the loop, I have the great honour of being asked to teach as a guest instructor at the
Fighting for Lives "Invite only" charity event due to be held on the 24 October · 12:00 - 18:00.

Firstly I'd like to thanks the host for the opurtunity to work, not only with him, but for such a worthy charity.
Secondly, the aim is to raise money for the "Berur Project" to help street children in Kenya.
For more information please visit Fighting For Lives
Lastly it will be a  cool opportunity to train with a great crowd and have an enjoyable exchange of skills and concepts, focusing on the Sundanese arts of Banten West Java.
Here's our right up and plan of days events:

Sion-marc Simpson:
Pukulan Pencak Silat Cimande Binatang
http://www.pukulancimandeuk.blogspot.com/
A traditional style from West Java which is heavily involved with animal fighting methods. Brutal and beautiful.

Other Instruction in :
Pukulan Kombinasi
Combined styles from West Java
Pamonyet (Monkey), Pamacan (Tiger), Cikalong and the Pukulan system.

On the day we will be covering relevant aspects of these art to help you go away at the end of it with material you can progress with. Not just a collection of techniques but the threads that bind these arts together.

The intention is to have these seminars repeat and introduce more and more advanced material as we go along.

Will be a great day, Im looking forward to meet those invited on the day ;)

 

Malaysia Night 24/09/2010

Hello again.
Our group will be performing at the Malaysia Night London Malaysia Night 2010 event in London Trafalgar Squareon the 24/09/2010.
Pukulan Cimande Binatang Pencak Silat and will be sharing the lime-light with Guru Vinnie's group of Silat Fitra.
Here's the narative of the advert:
Fans of Asian food and lifestyle are in for a treat as for one night only, Trafalgar Square is transformed into a traditional pasar malam. Around 20 individual stalls run by Malaysian restaurants will be serving dishes in an event designed to showcase the authentic and vibrant cuisine of Malaysia. From laksa and nasi goreng to satay and beef rendang, Malaysia Night will offer Londoners the chance to experience the very best of Malaysian food and visitors will be able to purchase authentic ingredients, including herbs and spices and traditional Malaysian drinks and cakes. The night is one of the highlights of the year-long Malaysia Kitchen campaign which aims to inspire British consumers to the world of Malaysian cuisine. And with contemporary performances on stage throughout the night, visitors will be able to experience a wonderful little slice of Malaysian culture.

Needless to say we're looking forward to our first public performance period and in such a venue the pressures on ;) But please come along and get an insight into the beauty of Malaysian culture.

Cool Silat Clip

Hey guys and girls.
Here's this weeks cool clip of the week.
Here we see the very talented Guru / Professeur  Sébastien Véroult of the FISFO system. Guru Véroult is I believe a student of the renowned Pendekar Charles Joussot one of my biggest inspirations when I began my Silat journey many years ago..
Please take the few minuites to check out Guru Sébastien Véroult Guru Veroult and his teacher who is one of the most functional Persilats in Europe if not the world IMO.

Here's the clip there's many fine clips on You Tube if you do a search of him and Professeur Joussot
Enjoy Professeur Sébastien Véroult
Professeur Veroult part 2
Until next time ;)

Silat Clip of the Week

This weeks clip is fine example of Pukulan Cimandes Tarik Kolot juru-juru and possible applications.
In this clip Guru Penglima Derek Owings of Pukualn Cimande Kombinasi gracefully demonstrates juru 1-4

(All clips used with permision from owners)
Guru Penglima Derek Owings

Silat Clip of the Week !

Hey all just wanted to start off new weekly thread featuring my pick of cool Silat vids.
I will post these on a weekly basis, so if you know of some I've missed please drop me an email at simpson76@tiscali.co.uk

Starting off with the excellent Guru Santiago Dobles

(All clips used with permision from owners)

.Guru Santiago Dobles

Future Articles

Hey guys just wanted to expalin why I'd posted some posts originally posted by Guru Besar Liam.
One because Im working on articles on specific conditioning and drills for each animal mannerism of our beautiful system and as such is taking a while.
Im still working on the idea of "Application of the month" as a tribute to all the old style martial art magazines I grew up with as a wee child, yes I was once wee! where they had a featured system and basic applications per month.
I have plans for a couple of articles on my favourite weapon the Sundanese Kujang
And also because the articles I've reposted are good material anyway and some less sad than I maynot have read them before ;)

Watch this space Silat fans!.

Our Styles Evolution

(Previously posted by Guru Beasr Liam McDonald Feb 2009)

(Original posting by Guru Eddie Ivester date unknown)

A number of my students have asked me, where our system was born from, and this excellent online article by Guru Eddie Ivester gives a good detail of the foundation from where we come from, and respect should be given to the Masters and Teachers who give us this art, and who dedicated their lives in teaching others. Hopefully one day we can honour them, by passing this beautiful art on to the next generation.

Willy Wetzel:

William “Willy” John Christopher Wetzel was born on January 23, 1921 in the village of Loemadjang, Java, Indonesia.

He passed away on March 17, 1975 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States.

Willy Wetzel was part Indonesian & Dutch and was born & raised in Indonesia and could speak three Indonesian languages. Monk Huang Wu Wen was hired by the Dutch secret service to locate rebel forces wishing to overthrow the Dutch government in Indonesia. Huang's cover was as a tea merchant and probably adopted the name Oei Kem Boen for his cover. Oei Kem Boen met Willy Wetzel when he was 9 years old and because of Willy's language skills and being a child from Java he recruited him to help locate secret rebel training camps in and around Java in return for fighting lessons.

At age 14 Willy asked Monk Boen to teach him everything he knew about fighting so he could become a master like Monk Boen. At age 17 during WW II Willy served as a member of the Royal Dutch Indonesian Army and was recruited into the Dutch Secret Service where he was assigned to locate leaders of rebel factions. 

It is said that Willy was in fact an assassin for the Secret Service and assigned to eliminate the leaders of the rebel factions that he located. Willy traveled throughout Indonesia undercover as a Pencak Silat historian and as such he learned many different styles of Indonesian Fighting Arts from all over the Malay Peninsula. It is believed that Willy knew hundreds of different Silat & Kuntao arts and thousands of different techniques as well as several Japanese fighting styles. In 1949 Willy moved to Holland and then in 1956 he immigrated to Vanport, PA. In 1960 Willy opened his and the first Indonesian martial arts school in the United States to the general public in Beaver falls, PA. He combined and synthesized all of the fighting arts that he had learned into a new system and called his new system Pukulan Cimande Chuan Fa.

Pukulan Cimande:

Pukulan cimande is a "Broken Mirror" system this means many styles woven into one.

In the tradition of Willy you are not bound or restricted to any one style or form, rather you are free and encouraged to seek and adapt what is right for you and discard the rest. pukulan cimande is taught and employed as the natural system and the students are eventually trained mentally to use their fighting/self-defense instinctively by accomplishing several moves at once without having to consciously plan each move.

This is accomplished by not just learning a fixed set pattern or sequence of movements but creating their own Kembangan (flower dance/form) also known as the "Crawl" by pukulan cimande practitioners.

Pukulan cimande is a varied art composed of a wide range of animal postures and movements inspired by the Bingatang Ampat or 4 animals; the Tiger, Snake, Crane & Monkey. Animal mannerisms were included in pukulan cimande because they increase human actions thus bringing to them a much wider range of technique possibilities and applications. Students learn to defend themselves from any position standing or on the ground. Striking, takedowns, weapons defenses and joint locks are all used and students learn the art through both structured forms and free fighting.

1. Tiger (Matjan) the Indonesian tiger’s grounded movement leads to the three-limbed fighting style of Harimau. The surprising but deadly moves of Matjan Tiengie- Leaping Tiger challenge practitioners to move quickly up from the grounded positions to attack either standing or grounded opponents with ripping motions, sweeps, springing shears or scissors, rolling elbows and knees. The Chinese tiger form uses open hands with extended fingers to claw or rip at vital targets. The method is to hit or place with the palm to the target, then grab and pull.

2. Crane (Blekok) the Indonesian fluid White Crane, erratic moods of the Mad Crane and the quieter more deadly moves of the Lazy Crane, various fist blows and parrying movements as well as balance, stability from the agile movement of the crane, aerial and multiple kicking techniques, long range striking and the ability to strike from a one legged position are adapted from this animal. The Chinese Crane style uses low to high one-legged body positions with turns. Every second or third move begins in a crane position, with a retreat covered by open hand parries, then follows with attacks or counterattacks. Kicks are delivered from high to low. The head rotates in all directions to watch for any oncoming attackers, providing a circle defense.

3. Monkey (Monyet) Indonesian monkey uses grounded stances, acrobatic movements, parries, grabbing, pounding fists, medium height positions, crawl, low movements, rolls, jumping and leaping with its playful energy sets. Also the groundwork for the heavy effective moves of the powerful ape the native Orangutan and the crazy antics of the drunken monkey are seen here. The monkey style is noted by its bent knee, wide leg positions with the body at a low height and arm movements that are circular with open hand parries, and closed hand grabs with palms down. Defensive body movements are side-to-side and forwards and backwards with dodging head movements and body rolls across the ground when needed.

4. Snake (Ular) Indonesian snake is recognized by the close foot positions and medium body height. Elbow-to-elbow distance is kept close to the body to protect the midsection from injury. By weaving the arms, body and legs during retreats and attacks the snake exponent appears to be giving in but immediately redirects the fight to his advantage. Advanced striking and wrapping techniques come from the Ular Sawa.

The snake in general, has fast multiple lightning strikes from any position, spiraling and weaving motions and short-range sweeping.

In the pukulan cimande style correct hitting is invisible and the striking weapons are camouflaged by foot & hand movements and always strike indirectly. The blow never starts or comes from the place the exponent is positioned from and never strikes the target it appears to be aimed toward. This deception is accomplished by having the arm or leg relaxed while on it's route of travel to the real intended target. In that way the same weapon can hit multiple targets without withdrawing and fools & confuses the opponent into blocking to protect a target that is not going to be hit. pukulan cimande makes good use of the head for butting action with head on, side to side and rear strikes, which are effective in very close in-fighting situations. Along with head strikes the use of elbows and knees are employed in close quarter combat as well.

Pukulan cimande is also an internal art where Chi Kung (breathing techniques) and meditation are developed for internal strength, focus, and healing.

PUKULAN CIMANDE LINEAGE

(Originally posted by Guru Besar Liam Mc Donald back in Feb 2010)

Below is a lineage chart and format that is used by Pukulan Cimande Schools, so students can trace back their lineage. The use of the term Well, and River are to give respect and linkage to the Cimande aspects.
I have only used the names of the Gurus that have a direct lineage to my learning. They are many other very highly respected Gurus in our Family tree. Having a lineage is important to understand what came before us, very skillful dedicated people who have kept the Art alive for us to learn, and in doing so, we are blessed by having this Art in our lives.
To return this favor we can pass the Art onto the next generation, by doing this simple act, we keep this beautiful Art alive, so the River of Cimande Knowledge keeps flowing through all our and future lives!

The Well - The Art itself
First River - The Founders, i.e. Oei Kim Boen and Mas Djut Bang Salemoen
Second River - Mas Goeroe Agoeng Willy Wetzel.
Third River - Goeroe Malterer,
Forth River - Pendekar Sanders
Fifth River - Guru Besar Liam McDonald
Sixth River - Guru Dan, Guru Robert etc... (Students of mine who have reach Guru Level)
Seventh River - Students of the above Guru's

Training Tips Series

Training Tip #1 – Turning Up

(Originally posted by Guru Besar Liam McDonald Wednesday, January 27, 2010)

Turning up for class is the single most important training tip there is! By doing the simple physical act of walking through the classroom door as either a beginners or a Guru, you are placing yourself in a interactive learning environment.

I tell my students this simple mantra” Don’t Think just turn up! “What does this mean? Well most of us are constantly fighting our internal demons, the one which comes up with all the so call reasons not to train – “T V good tonight “ “I go to the Pub”
“I play X Box” “I take it easy and have a night off” etc, in fact we get a whole day to think up a new excuse and to support it as why not to train, as most classes are in the evening. And when we miss one class, than it becomes that just bit easier to miss another class, than another till it becomes a habit, and one which is hard to break. So my advice is – Don’t Think, just do the simple act of turning up. Once you walk through the door than the teacher can do his work and help motivate you. You will begin to work out have fun and enjoy yourself. As human beings we are design to learn and develop, we take pleasure from it. When people leave class I look for two things “S and S” which is “Sweaty and Smiling” very few people ever leave a class in a depress state. Interacting with other students while training, having a joke or chat after class, is going to do so much more for your physical and mental state than sitting in your favorite chair watching the latest episode of Coronation Street.

On a final note on excuses, one of my teachers had a simple saying “what ever excuse you are going to use, its still an excuse, if you’re not in class, you’re not in class”.
Believe me I have heard it all from “A rash on a toe” to “Falling off a Toilet” to “I think I left the lights on at home” yes these some off my many list of excuses I have heard. Remember every time you miss class, you are taking a step back, and one which make the Instructor job harder, as he has to go back and retrain you on the material you have missed, or re-develop the techniques / skill you have forgotten. On this thought, how many of us have ever thank their Instructor for taking the time out to help us catch up, when we missed class? Or do You take it for granted that he will always take you back and will always help you catch up.

So help your Instructor out and more importantly Yourself and Turn UP
More Training Tips to follow.....
Posted by Liam Mc Donald at 9:44 A

The Other Animals (Part 3)

KUCING / KUCIN (Cat) PINTAR BERMAIN KUCING (Playful Cat)
MATJAN, CHI-MATJAN, MACAN, PAMACAN (Upright Tigers and other large cats, including Topcat, Tom, Felix and Bagpuss! ;)

(Please note I'll be using the word "Kucin" to refere to the cat as there are so many spellings I've been given so chose this for ease)
Kucin although a very old system is sadly now only found in its entirety and by name in Sumatra Bawa (West Sumatra) and the boarder region of northern Malayu and southern Thailand.

Its origins are lost to history. In the west, to my knowledge only East West Studios and its affiliated schools continue to train kucin style in its entirety.

Kucin can be found in varying degrees in many schools of Harimau in Sumatra, and it as influenced much of the ground fighting arts in the region, many teachers of Harimau will just call these movements harimau but historically they owe their conception to the upright kucin systems;

in fact I've heard said from good sources that styles like Harimau and Buaya originally came out of the kucin systems as practiced in Sumatra today.

In our system we also do not use techniques and concepts of the kucin by name, but in the movements of Matjan and Chi-matjan we find the same concept of movement attack and defence there’s tons of overlap as they all operate with the same MO.

In fact in my personal training I have studied a lot of kucin and advise all my students to put in some time outside of the standard curriculum prior to training harimau to cross train in this important range and plane of combat it helps with body movement at the lower line and acts as an excellent transition into harimau or out into Kera, Mawas and Monyet.

If one was to toss a cat into the air (Be careful if trying this at home) and watch it land we see its ability to hit the ground safely, with the option always there to either flee or fight always turning and twisting to land on its feet effectively and boom of it goes

Kucin makes a great recovery system should we be thrown, slip or fall to go to ground safely and to quickly recover and get back up to a standing position and if we're caught in the kneeling position in transition from the ground we can move like lightning and defend and more importantly attack from several different kneeling postures.

If we where to be fighting multiple attackers and please lets be realistic here, every encounter in the REAL WORLD (ie outside of the dojo) as the potential of developing VERY quickly into multiple combat with antagonists appearing from nowhere some not even originally connected to the scenario and just want to join in just for shits and giggles, or where in the bog or at the bar or maybe just not seen by you when it "kicked off"

Harimau as its place and is a very powerful system but anyone who as worked it and I mean REALLY worked it hard, pressure testing it against more than just another Silat player of the matts and outside of the "compliancy game" will testify its just to slow and lacks mobility and adaptability, its all or nothing.

When a tiger leaps on its prey its fully committed to smashing into it over powering it dragging it to the ground and tearing it to pieces it cant stop its leap half way through, should three people appear back from the bar, once your committed and supine on the floor its VERY hard to get back up

in one piece without getting your head caved in!

Its power and advantage comes in powerful Offensive shooting and takedowns its not meant to be so static its designed to take prey down ASAP and doesn’t fair to well in a multiple arena on a crowed street or bar or sidewalk, full of cars, people broken bottles dog turds syringes etc etc.

These aren’t the fields of Sumatra! If we are attacked and forced to hit the ground in Raja Harimau in middle of Piccadilly Circus in rush hour your likely to end up dead and that’s just from pass’s by!

Harimau was described to me best, by a very famous exponent like this" If I was across the street and I saw my wife and kid being pulled into a back of a car and someone was blocking my path to them, thats when I'd use Harimau"

Life or death to destroy the opponent as quickly and surely as possible"

As we can see it’s NOT a purely defensive system by any means and using it as such is like using a cannonball as a paper weight! Sure it makes a great paperweight but it’s not what it was meant for used correctly it blows things to bits!

Like the falling cat we need to land safely and quickly into an agile position with the ability formost, for mobility! Try chasing a cat and you'll see there VERY hard to catch

when we hit the floor and need to get out of the situation and move with speed and agility at the low line kuchin and matjan are what we should be pressure testing and working.

Harimau as its place and its a wonderful system when used properly, but like any other system needs to be used and tested correctly.

Kucin and matjan use a lot of what the Indonesians call "Gelek" which means to twist or turn and using the example of the falling cat we see it as the ability to almost turn 360 around its own spine it lands and spins a lot, twisting and turning to avoid contact

I advise that this, is where we should be working, with this ability to twist and turn spin and kick while turning using galek once grounded instead of adopting a static harimau posture and waiting for the inevitable

so lets look at some examples of kuchin and matjan.

The use of Mi-ing or "Play" is another great tool to work the kucin

using some of the traditional kucin postures (serveral demonstrated by one of my murids are pictured below)

These postures can be used  with either both starting from the floor, or one standing Vs one on the floor to start to try and kick or punch or in someway touch the opponant, who in turn rolls, turns and twists through these and other postures trys not to be touched and also to touch him back.

Like two cats play fighting, this teaches body movement, control, fluidity of movement adapatability and manoverability, not to mention once the pace is picked up fitness and conditioning.

In our curriculum there are several matjan techniques and many include attacking the enemies knees and groin obvious setup targets when in a kneeling posture, from there we can use elbow knee takedowns, using galek we can apply leg and ankle brakes or wraps and takedowns to harimau proper

but with kucin we can use kicks at various levels offensively as well as defensively to help twist us and make us of the momentum to regain a standing posture (some pictured below)

 In this sequence we see a famous kick applied from the kucin from this postion somewhat similar to the standard Coiled tiger posture from our Harimau curiculum, the persilat raises kicks to the enermys face or chest and then uses gelek hooks the enermies neck with the same leg and with a wheeling motion pulls him down to the ground to be finished of with perhaps a roll over the groin or hammer fist.

Kucin also uses a lot of trapping and crushing with the kneeling leg either pinning with the knee to an opponents head or limb or more cleverly between the fold of the thigh and calf to crush a limb or head controlling so as to meet other threats from other opponents.

The kneeling leg pin idea is also wonderfully effective as a base to roll from, cats roll a lot, when we use that knee as a base which, lets say is kneeling on someones testicles as a base to forward roll from then for the split second our entire bodyweight, plus gravity and momentum of our roll completely crushes what’s beneath it; easily rupturing the testicles! one person less to worry about as we roll into the next.

Obviously the kucin calls for a LOT of conditioning! Our power to weight ratio must be very good! As we make great use of the supporting hand to hold us, while applying kicks takedowns and rolls.

As well as wrist and shoulder strength, we need good cardiovascular fitness to apply the twisting and turning, learning to break fall rolling and springing up and conditioning the legs and "core" are all paramount to successful kucin play.

Those of us who are heavyset really have to work on conditioning for this animal as extra weight limits maneuverability and stamina, so missing a few meals and odd pint now and again wont hurt! As well as working hard on press-ups and core abdominal work are a must.

If you cant hold a "Plank" position or support your entire bodyweight repeatedly on one hand you ARE going to have to put in the hours and sweat.

In the wild there are very few "Fat" cats because they get eaten by the Tigers ;)

Play hard train safe brothers.

The Other Animals (Part 2)

BUAYA (Crocodile)

Hello again
This month we'll be taking a look at the second of our "Other Animals" which while less well known and becoming increasingly rarer are still sub-styles of Pencak Silat.
We will be looking at the Buaya or Crocodile systems; these are no longer widely practiced as they once where and can now be found in Western Sumatra in the villages of the coastal regions.
Funnily enough buaya can be found preserved unknowingly in some of the Harimau schools of the region, where movements from buaya have been incorporated so many generations ago that a lot of teachers just call it all harimau, it’s only from exposed to buaya that one can notice what can sometimes be subtle differences.
This is understandable as the movements of the buaya are a perfect companion for harimau practioners allowing for sweeps and takedowns using the buaya's tail and also allowing some evil pinning and transitional movements across a felled adversary.
In fact so much buaya material as been lost to time, that really there are relatively few movements in this system which are distinctively baya, compared to say Kucin ( Cat, another of the other animals and source of next article)or the Harimau.

While there are some "stand up" movements involved in buaya it really comes into its own, in its tell tale sweeping and takedowns; and of course once on the ground it really comes into its element.. 
A stylist of buaya will really be heavily reliant on movements of say the Kucin or in our system Matjan sometimes written or Chi-matjan or Macan or Pamacan (Father of Tiger) There all basically, either a Tiger fighting more upright or a playful cat and these will often times be used as a method of entry and upright movement used to close prior to taking down and dropping into buaya proper.

                                     

The Bite
Crocodiles are among some of the oldest animals on the planet millions of years old and have adapted wonderfully for survival, heavy armored, with jaws powerful enough to bite down with 5000 PSI ! (Pounds per square inch) in comparison the human bite is a sad 200 PSI. Also in the arsenal is a very powerful tail more than capable of knocking a man of his feet. 
 Croc bite force
Despite there apparent bulk and slow gait they attack with such sudden force that they usually catch there prey completely unawares; as can be seen in the previous clip also they have amazing camouflage and can almost disappear under the water and move silently through riverside foliage.
The bite is powerful enough to completely shatter bones and the animal can be likened to a walking mouth, some styles of buaya still practiced focus on biting while on the ground to muscles like the neck, cheek and waist (love handles) once clamped down they shake their whole bodies wildly tearing away and even rolling in imitation of the death roll; whatever they've bitten on to is coming off! The downward elbow is used also to simulate the downward penetrating force of the bite

The "Death Roll"
Crocodiles will clamp down on there prey with there powerful bites then as you will see they go into a "Death Roll" spinning over and over while clamped on tearing huge chunks of flesh of as their unable to use their tiny limbs. As you'll see in this clip this roll is very fast and devastating to anything attached to the part of the body being bitten into warning here it’s not for the squeamish.
Death Roll
In the buaya system we utilize the roll a lot, especially for breaking of the neck, also the roll is also utilized to turn a prone opponent over to expose vital targets and to set up for a choking technique.
The roll can be used from a standing position once the head is controlled in kind of a super vicious "Puter Kepala" (Turn the head) technique to get an adversary onto his back to choke or break the neck.
In this clip the great Guru Maul can be seen using the rolling method and some locking brakes in his expression of the buaya this method teaches the stylist that wherever he is in relation to his enemy brutal brakes and compressions can be utilized.
Guru Maul buaya
 Also used against kicks this role can be devastating catching a front or side kick and then literally flipping in mid air tearing and dislocating the knee and or ankle and possibly hip!
As mentioned also the roll can be combined with the bite to help cause terrible pain and injury similar to techniques used in the rare Kino Mutai of the Filipino arts of Dumog and Kali cause great psychological damage to an opponent where in his mind he's really being eaten!

                                       

Buaya's Tail
The main offensive tool of the buaya stylist is the tail. The tail is used for sweeping and for takedowns, chokes and extremely painful pins and pressure type attacks to the opponent’s limbs used to hold the foe in place or to exploit or expose a venerable area for an elbow or neck lock / brake when utilized with the roll.
As you can see from the following clip of Pendekar Steven Benitez.
(There are actually three clips with a short pause in between)
Buaya in action 
Here one can clearly see the utilization of the tail for compression pins to the bones and muscles of the limbs, the facial expressions and moans show the pain involved while the buaya stylist moves up and over the prone opponent until a finishing usually fatal movement is delivered.

Conditioning
I’m a huge advocate of conditioning with regards to the animal systems and what we learn from the buaya is the strengthening of the whole of the back area, mostly lower back and improved flexibility and strength of the  "core" and abdominals, gluts, hamstrings, shoulders and back of the neck. Some of our largest muscle groups are in this area and as such these become our armour. From the picture of the crocodile’s back one can see the amount of armour the animal carries on its back the yogic type stretching and conditioning of the buaya gives us dynamic strength and flexibility in the whole back of our bodies. The buaya also teaches us to move forward and down with a sliding type movement similar to a crocodile sliding into the water on its stomach the stepping of buaya is long and smooth utilizing this sliding manner.
So I hope this gives you a better incite to this beautiful subsystem of Pencak Silat, good luck in your training and see you next month with the Kucin.

Train hard and play safe.

                                        
                                       

Introduction to the Other Animals (Part 1)

CELING (Boar)

Hello again.
Firstly a big shout out to my Silat Brother James Thomas in Wales and the people of the Boar This ones dedicated to you.


Before I beging this journey into the lesser known animal systems from South East Asia I have the obligitory disclaimer:

• These animals are NOT part of the Cimande curiculum I study under Guru Besar Liam McDonald, or any of the Guru's under him.
• I make no claims that they are
• These articles are meant in no way, disrespectful to their teachings
• These are included because I have had exposure to them from early study and trainings. 
• They ARE part of my journey through the martial arts, part of my expression, my expirence.
  
• Because they are fucking amazing
• Blend so well with the Silat I have and do study , regardless of dogma or style.

That done, lets get on to the Boar.
The Boar is an important animal in many of the South East Asian martial arts, especially the Myanmar (Burmese) arts of Bando (pronounced Bandu) and Thaing. There ARE Boar systems to some small degree in a few Silat systems too, although now quite rare and mostly found in Indonesia.
One of the only teachers publicly teaching a portion of the Celing system is my friend (In mail corespondance only) Guru Besar Sean Stark of Pencak Silat Pertempuran.
Please see link to his website on the left hand side of this blog.
Guru Besar Stark is a FINE persilat and a great teacher from what little I know of him and yes some of his titles are in my Silat collection.

"What ! Herasy!"                 No....! There good, he's very good and its all Silat!  Now get over it!

Its not hard to see once one watches a boar charge. why ancient and modern warriors of the more animistic persuation would want to model themselves and some of their movements and attitudes on the boar.
The boar as been a symbol admired by warrior socilitys the world over a powerful talisman and totem animal even here in Celtic lands a symbol of the Ancient Britions (Modern Welsh) and also across the sea in the myth and legends of Ireland (Eire)

A quote from the famous Celtic poem The Song of Amergin from the Book of Invasions the mythological history of the invasions of Ireland these words spoken by Amergin of the Milesians once he set foot on the sacred shores of Eire as a challange to the people Tuatha de Dannan. theres a line amongst the boast and claims "Iam the Wild Boar in Valour"
This speaks volumes of the signifcance of the boar an amazing peice of literature in its own right worth a read for anyone.
Anyway Guru Jon and the guys in Eire will know all about this and I dont want this to be  talk about Celtic histroy!
Gaelic Song of Amairgin (Amergin)

Wherever  and whomever in the world from Indonesian and Myanmar to the west shores of Ireland all these different cultures have a respect and apreciation of the power of the boar.
Boar Charge  As you can see from this Youtube clip the charge of the boar is very fast and powerful, so

why do we care?
What can it teach us?

Boars are small built low to the ground but powerful and DETERMINED, I've seen a boar charge a much larger female Lion repeatedly see Boar Lion @ 0. 28 you can see the proper charge causes the Lioness to forget all plans for dinner ;)


The Celing system is based around the idea of "Rushing" by this I dont mean just doing something in haste, I mean the idea of rushing and charging an opponant, constant rams from a fairly close range there's a heavy emphasis on lowline destructions to the oponants legs with kicks and a LOT of knees. Like the boar we want to shread the legs and thighs or lower abdomen of our target.

Our knees become the tusks.
The end of the following clips shows what a passing rush from a boar can do to someones thigh. Boar injury @ 1.25 you see the short range charge and @ 2.15 the result.
We aim to do this to facilitate a powerful and determined entry into zero range destroying the thigh or leg of the prey on the way in and not before but simultaionously as part of the charge using angles to cut the line and repeatedly charging and ramming the legs to enter destroying the treat with elbows and headbutts.

Celing training consists of a lot of leg conditioning not just for strength of your legs and low posturing but their ability to deliver damage, conditioning the shins and knees, learning footwork patterns and angles to give that expolsive entry and again the emphasis here is to explode into the target. It cant just be fast or it will be "read"
drills to teach an explosive charge and the range is incresed incrementally until one can explode from 5-6 feet!

When done corretly regardless of training the instinct is to move back as the sheer fierceness, away from the impact which is just what the boar exponant wants repeatdly charging and destroying until he "runs over" the oponant or smashes him to peices with elbows and headbutts.

Intention is important here, as is the building of corage and ternasity. As mentioned primary weapons are not just knees, shins elbows head and teeth, but the whole body as an object is smashed repeatedly into the target, impailing with elbow on knee on entry, body weight is important you have to go in with full intention, holding back or going in tentivly, without the heart and courage of the boar means your impitous will be lost and you can be countered you must be very agressive destructive

ferocious and domineering’to get the effect of terror in the target.

Thanks for more information on Celing drop me an email at  simpson76@tiscali.co.uk if your in the Nottingham area give me a call and drop by a class.

Next article Buaya