Sittie Aisah H.

Abdulrahim
Prof. Angco, Rogelio
BSA 2-2

Assignment # 2

DEFINITION OF ARNIS

DEFINITION OF ARNIS WITH AUTHORS

- Arnis comes from “arnés” an Old Spanish for "armor" (harness is anarchaic English
term for armor, which comes from the same roots as the Spanish term). It is said to
derive from the armor costumes used in Moro-Moro stage plays where actors fought
mock battles using wooden swords. Arnes is also an archaic Spanish term for weapon,
cited from the book "Ilustracion de la Deztreza Indiana" by Francisco Santos de la
Paz in 1712

- In the book; History of a Forbidden Filipino Fighting Arts, Fred Lazo put forward
that Kali was an ancient root word for blade, and that the Filipino words for right
hand (kanan) and left hand (kaliwa) are contractions of the terms "way of the blade"
(kali daanan) and "without blade" (kali wala) as weapons are usually held with the
right hand and the left hand is typically empty.

- The Philippine’s National Martial Art and Sport is Arnis (Yap, 2017). Arnis was
strongly influenced by the Spaniards, its name coming from the Old Spanish for
armor. It was originally named “Kali” and was developed by the native people of the
Philippines during the era where they were under the Spanish rule. In the year 1764,
Spain still having control of the Philippines, prohibited Arnis due to its fighting
techniques. Nonetheless, Filipinos still secretly practiced it and continued to train to
fight for their independence. After winning their independence from the Spain and
the United States, they went through phases of building organizations and clubs of
Arnis as a way to prepare them for future wars and invasions. Throughout the years,
it became less of a combat training and more of an art that was passed down to future
generations through rituals, dances and theater. Today, it is known as a sport,
practiced and competed around the world. (Siguenza, 2013)
- Most likely, Kali derives from the pre-Hispanic Filipino term for blades and fencing
“Calis” documented by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition chronicler Antonio
Pigafetta. During their journey through the Visayas and in old Spanish to Filipino
Mother Tongue dictionary and vocabulary books dating from 1612 to the late 1800s,
such as in Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala by Fr. Pedro de San Buenaventura. The
term calis in various forms was present in these old Spanish documents in Ilocano,
Ibanag (calit), Kapampangan,Tagalog, Bicolano (caris), Waray (caris), Hiligaynon and
Cebuano(calix,baladao)-"kalis balaraw/dagger" and cales. In some of these
dictionaries, the term calis refers to a sword or knife kris or keris, while in other sit
refers to both swords and knives and their usage as well as a form of esgrima stick
fighting. While Mirafuente posits that the original term was "Kali" and that the
letter "S" was added later, the late Grandmaster Remy Presas suggests that the
"S" was dropped in modern times and became presently more known as "Kali" in FMA
circles.

- Arnis is a safe sport and although it involves fighting, violence is not permitted in
competitions and can lead to disqualifications of competitors. Violence that can result
in disqualification includes disrespecting any of the referee, judge or opponent,
attacking with great amount of force, continuous attack after opponent drops his/her
weapon and using kicking, punching and takedowns techniques. General rules in the
competitions includes bringing your own stick to competitions as well as safety
equipment. The competitor automatically loses if he/she drops his/her stick three
times in one round and loses one point if disarmed at any time in the round. Like
previously mentioned there are no punching, kicking or takedowns allowed, especially
any contact to the back. The fighting is continuous, but the referee stops and restarts
the fight if and when a competitor falls to the ground or drops his/her weapon. Each
fight consists of three rounds of 60 seconds each and 30 second break in between
rounds. Each competitor can be scored up to 10 points by the judges and the person
with the most points or closest or has 10 points win. Finally, the fight begins and ends
with competitors saluting to judges and their opponent (“Arnis Stick Fighting,
2016).