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
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.
