What is Eskrima?

Answer 1

Eskrima (or Escrima), a fighting style indigenous to the Philippines, is believed to have evolved from Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian martial arts forms brought to the islands by South China Sea traders around the 2nd century. It is a mostly weapons-based fighting style that combines punches, kicks, takedowns and joint lock techniques with stick and sword or knife fighting techniques. Eskrima was first introduced to the non-Filipino world in 1521, when Spanish explorers led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the South China Sea to stake their claim on the Philippine islands. Soon after the invasion, Magellan himself was killed on the small island of Mactan by native resisters armed with hardened sticks and led by the island’s chief, Lapu-Lapu.
Spain eventually gained control of the Philippines and outlawed all indigenous martial arts. Over the next several centuries, many fighters continued their practice in secret, by disguising Eskrima techniques in what they pretended were ceremonial dance-like rituals. The ban was lifted after 1898, when the United States won control of the Philippines from Spain, but an air of secrecy remained around Eskrima and its practitioners. During World War II, Filipino fighters used the stick-and-sword techniques to resist Japanese invaders, compensating for a lack of firearms with powerful, swift movements of their sticks and knives.
By the 1970s, however, organizations such as the Doce Pares association and the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) had managed to turn Eskrima from a martial art used primarily for killing into a sport, with organized competitions and generally sanctioned rules and regulations. Eskrima techniques are still employed by the Filipino army, especially in its struggle against guerrilla members of the militant Islamic organization Abu Sayyaf, related to Al Qaeda.
Adapted from the Spanish word esgrima (fencing), Eskrima is variously referred to as Arnis (from the Spanish word for harness) and Kali. Unlike other martial arts, each strike in Eskrima is designed to be used three different ways: empty-handed; with a knife; or with a baston, or stick, often made of a lightweight bamboo-like wood called rattan. Eskrima fighters can use single-stick, double-stick and stick-and-dagger techniques. Some key moves in Eskrima include tapi-tapi, a system of defensive checks and counter-attacks, and labai, a violent takedown where a fighter checks his opponent, locks his opponent’s elbow over his arm, and uses leg thrust and momentum to throw the other fighter to the ground.

Answer 2

Eskrima is a type of Filipino martial arts that teaches alot about stick fighting as well as sword fighting. My family which originated from the island of Luzon in the Philippines were taught Eskrima with using two sticks, knives and machetes. Eskrima is very dangerous if taught right and can be easily dangerous if not taught right.

Answer 3

Simply put, Eskrima is a hybrid system of blade fighting developed during the Spanish colonial occupation of the Philippines from the 17th to the 19th century. It is a combination of the indigenous Filipino blade fighting art like Kali combined with Spanish rapier and dagger techniques. The rattan sticks are used during practice the same way bamboo swords are used in japanese Kendo, to prevent injury to the practitioners, but with the idea of using a real sword or bladed weapons in a real fight. Since it started to be promoted as a sport during the 80s, different arnis stick fighting schools which emphasize the use of rattan sticks over bladed weapons became more popular in the U.S. hence the common misconception among non practitioners that escrima/arnis and Kali are exclusively stick fighting martial arts, when in fact they where originally blade fighting arts and that subsequently, some schools taught a watered down version consisting of stick fighting for sports and safety considerations which made it more acceptable to the western public. Most of the best practitioners come from the central Visayas region of the Philippines since this is where the majority of Sugar cane plantations are situated, where the tenant sugar cane farmers wield Bolos and Pinuti(a sharper version of a Bolo resembling a saber) in harvesting the sugar canes in the haciendas from sun up to sun down. It was the descendants of these tenant farmers who migrated to Hawaii to tend the plantations there during the American occupation of the Philippines, after the U.S.-Spanish war, who introduced the art of Eskrima to the westerners.

Answer 4

Its a style that uses a light hardwood stick about 3' long.
History channel has a show, called "human weapon" They do shows on different styles of martial arts. They have one on Eskrima and its very good. They go to 5 or so different schools or masters of the art and then do a fight at the end.

Answer 5

Phillipino stick fighting.

They use rattan cane, one in each hand, to block & strike very quickly.

Answer 6

It's fencing dude...