ARNIS

Introduction
Arnis is the official national sport and the martial art of the Philippines. It is also known
as "Kali" or "Eskrima". These two terms are used for the traditional martial art of the
Philippines (“Filipino Martial Arts”, or “FMA”) that focuses on weapon-based fighting with
knives, sticks, bladed weapons and some improvised weapons. Arnis is a combat
sport to defend oneself from attacks using hand to hand combat, grappling and weapon
disarming in weapon-based fights. 

Origin of the Name

The word Arnis got originated from the old Spanish term, arnés, meant “armor”

and Eskrima is a Filipinization of the Spanish word, esgrima for fencing. Whereas the
name ‘Kali’ was derived from the pre-Hispanic Filipano term ‘Kalis’ which meant
Blades and Fencing.
Practitioners of the sport are called “arnisador” for male and “arnisadora” for female in
Arnis and “eskrimador” for male and “eskrimadora” for female in the Eskrima and Kali
Art. Moreover, all the three, Arnis, Eskrima and Kali belong to the same family of Filipino
weapon-based martial arts and fighting systems.

History
Philippine is an island nation that is not only rich in culture, heritage, and history but
also in sports. The Filipino martial art widely known as Arnis / Kali / Eskrima has
contributed to both the history and diversity of Philippines.
Some common questions that arise in every reader’s mind are (a) “Where did this
Sport Originate From?” (b) “Why is it played?”  Therefore, to get a better
understanding about the sport we need to dig into the past.
Initially, the sport was practiced by peasants or by commoner class people.  But these
practitioners lacked the scholarly knowledge due to which this sport has no written
records. The origin of Arnis can be traced back to native fighting techniques during
the conflicts among the various Pre-Hispanic Filipino tribes or kingdoms. Whereas,
another form of Spanish fencing dating back to the 15th Century, also influenced the
current form of Arnis, moreover it also has the impact of Chinese, Arab and Indian
martial arts.
It is also believed by some people of Philippines that the Filipino art of Arnis has
some roots connected to India as the people who traveled
through Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippine islands had brought this art with
them. Silambam, a stick based ancient martial art of Tamil Nadu, India, has
influenced many martial art forms in Asia like Silat among which it is also believed that
the Filipino Martial art sport, Arnis, also shares ancestry with India’s Martial art,
Silambam, as it has some similar moves with the short stick (kali or kaji) and other
weapon based styles of Silambam.
Arnis originally belonged to the people of Philippines, but as time passed by, the art
spread over to other countries and by the time of World War II; many continents
adopted it. Arnis also played a significant role during
the Philippine revolutionaries against the Spaniards.
Eventually, it was the Filipinos who provided the art with a systematic structure. It was
brought to Hawaii and California in the 1920s. The teaching was kept within
the Filipino communities until the 1960s after which Master Angel Cabales and others
began teaching it to others. It took almost two decades to make the art known to all
around the world and in January 2010; it was officially recognized as the National
Martial Art and Sport of the Philippines.
Depending upon the use of weapons and sticks; Arnis is differentiated into two styles:
the Classic Arnis that is all about the use of blades and weapons whereas the Modern
Arnis deals with the art of sticks and everyday objects. The Modern Arnis is the system
of the Filipino fighting arts founded by Remy Presas as a self-defense system. His goal
was to create an injury-free training method as well as an effective self-defense
system to carry forward the older Arnis systems.

Variants
Arnis was declared as the Philippines’ National sport and martial art on 11 December
2009. The first national organization for Arnis is the National Arnis Association of the
Philippines (NARAPHIL) which was founded in 1975 by Gen. Fabian C. Ver. 
However, its existence faded post the Philippine Revolution in 1986. The two major
types of Arnis practiced as sports are the system followed by WEKAF (World Eskrima
Kali Arnis Federation) which was established in 1989, and is recognized
internationally; and the other system followed by Arnis Philippines (ARPI), established
in 1986, which was used prominently during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

1. World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (“WEKAF”) 

WEKAF is the most common system of Arnis art which is used internationally. It was
established in 1989.  The system works on the 10-point ‘must’ system that
is quite similar to boxing. Here, the participants spar with live sticks wearing a long
padded vest, skirts and sleeves. In this system, hitting below the thigh is strictly
prohibited. This system emphasizes heavy offence at the expense of defensive
techniques, and the combatants are seen hitting each other in a disorganized manner.
Hence, the "four-second rule" according to which the participants were forbidden to
use the same strike for more than twice in succession. This system is preferred by
participants who want to test themselves.   

2. Arnis Philippines System (“ARPI”) 

The Arnis Philippines system was established before the WEKAF system (in 1986) and
adapted the scoring system similar to fencing. The matches are observed by multiple
judges to mark fouls and the loudness of the impact judges the strike strength. The
participants score points by disarming their opponent or by forcing them to step out of
the ring. In the ‘ARPI’ system, participants use padded sticks with light rattan cores
(wooden stem) in place of live sticks as they are tenderer and flex while attacking.

Objective
The sport Arnis is played between two fighters with a main objective of earning more
points by legally attacking the opponent with the help of stick. It is said that Arnis
develops self-discipline and control because this sport is a simple martial art and it is
all about defending oneself by using sticks.

Participants
For individual category event in Arnis, one player is selected per team and for team
category, three players are selected per team.