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Traditional Weapons of Krabi Krabong (Thailand)

The weapons of Krabi Krabong reflect their open field warfare origins. The name krabi krabong actually reflects some of the basic nature, meaning "short" and "long" respectively. Those in turn can be roughly translated to "sword" and "spear" (or rather bladed staff). In some cases "long" means over 4 metres as combat was often conducted from elephant-back.

The basic weapons are usually listed as:

At a simplified level, each weapon can be said to be both unique in range in application, but also similar in how they derive from the basic art of krabi krabong. There are others besides such as knife, empty hand (different from Muay Thai), axe, and others more eclectic.

One of the most interesting is the forearm shields/clubs called mae sown soks (or just mae sowks). These are amazingly effective and yet simple in their construction. They appear somewhat like Japanese tonfa but they are strapped to the forearm and somewhat heavier.

Making mae sowks is relatively easy if you have a mind to. However, the details of their construction are hard to come by. Here we provide some background on the pairs what we constructed:

•  Making mae sowks
  

If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know.

Traditional Weapons of Kali (Philippines)

Fundamentally, kali (or "arnis" or "eskrima") is about bladed weapons. The basic weapon is some variation on a sword (a weapon of war) or a machete (a daily working tool) but there are many other variations.

Guro Dan Inosanto (www.inosanto.com) typically refers to twelve (12) categories of weapons.

1. Single weapon (stick, sword, cane, axe)

2. Double weapon (sinawali)

3. Long and short (stick and dagger)

4. Double dagger

5. Single dagger

6. Palm stick/double-ended dagger

7. Empty hand (boxing, grappling)

8. Long weapons (staff/sibat, spear/bangkaw)

9. Flexible weapons (whip, tabak-toyok)

10. Thrown weapons (spear, sand, coins)

11. Projectile weapons (bow, blowgun)

12. Inner training (healing, dance, spiritual)

Each of these categories involves a wide range of actual weapons. The basic training though usually involves the use of a single stick (solo baston) with a few other categories:

•  double stick (doble baston)
  
  
•  knife (daga)
  
  
•  double knife (daga y daga)
  
  
•   stick and knife (espada y daga)
  

and, perhaps at the highest level

•   empty handed combat (mano mano)

The same techniques and principles apply to all of the variations although the application is particular to each.

Pekiti-Tirsia is reknowned for its daga and espada y daga. It is specifically a bladed art system that acknowledges other weapon types including modern implements like guns and tazers.

The classic Pinoy weapons of Pekiti-Tirsia kali are

Gununting:

Pinuti:

Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje offers some background on a wide range of Filipino bladed weapons:

Or click on http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2425422665289486351

A great many sites offer extensive background, history, images and commentary on a wide variety of Southeast Asian blades and other weapons:

 Modern Weapons

  Although the Southeast Asian martial arts are replete with their own weapons, there are many modern weapons that appeal to today's martial artist. Here are a few of ours:

  Paul Chen "Banshee" - modelled after the Burmese dha

  Buck "Vanguard-R" - a simple, well balanced hunting blade in modern materials

 Columbia River "BearClaw" - somewhat resembling the Indonesian karambit, this is an Alaskan's vision of nature's own weapon.