Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Kali, err say that again?

Got through warmup yesterday and a quick run through the first 24 self defense technique, a run that reminded me that I need to work on them more. Man was I mixed up on some of those, even though I know all of them, or I used to know all of them...

Once through these, our instructor told us we'd do some kobudo and that Daniel, his usual assistant and 3rd dan black belt, would be the instructor for the night. I was expecting him to tell us to go get a bo, but know, he pointed to some sticks on the floor, kind of like strong cut off broomsticks, maybe a couple feet long, maybe a bit longer. He told us what we would be working on was called kali. I have found many places talking about kali on the web and it's also called stick fighting, or escrima. Not so sure it falls inton kobudo, or at least it doen't fit the okinawan kobudo line, as the kali are a philipino weapon.

He took us through a few different strikes, some very interesting stuff. You actually hit with the stick as if you had a blade attached to it, mostly doing motions in continuity, in the shape of an eight. We went throuhg the downward 8 (with right hand, from right should to left thigh, go up and round to left ear and strike downward from left shoulder to right thigh, repeat the round movement), then the upward 8 (reverse the motions, from left thigh to right shoulder, go round and tow right thigh and strike back up to left ear). That last one could look a bit like hitting a tennis ball with a racket, either brushing it forward or with a backhand. The effect with a blade would be a slicing of the blade, going upward or downward, depending on which way you go.

We went on with a bit more, including some blocks and counterstrikes then we went to actually hit the things together. Weeee!!! :) We actually did a few self defense techniques that did make a lot of sense. Some say finding a broom to use as a bo is easy, but think about it, it would be even easier to find a two foot long stick to block then strike an attacker. Block, strike to the wrist, chamber the second stick (yeah, we had two in our hands at one point, how scary) and strike again. I loved it! :)

FM

5 comments:

Mathieu said...

Lucky guy!

HOUSTON!! we have hope! There are kobujutsu classes in longueil that I will try to attend when Sensei says it's time.

I may finally learn weapons. (hahahahhahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAA - be very careful when you go outside, there's a crazy dude with no hair playing with weapons somewhere!!) Just kidding.

Fillipino escrima, that seems a nice thing to learn. How to you use these things? it is similar to say "standard" karate strikes or is it different? The way you describe them, they feel like kama.

Anyways, enjoy your classes, lucky fella!
Mat

FrogMan said...

kobojutsu huh? interesting. :)

The escrima sticks, well, I'd liken them more to a katana. Strikes are much different from usual karate strikes as you use even more fluidity and mostly movements from the elbow up to the wrist with help from the hip. When you strike, you rarely seem to fully extend the arm from the shoulder on down if you know what I mean. It's hip-elbow-wrist.

I've never done kama at all, so I can't compare them to escrima sticks. Someone commented that one form we worked on was similar to some nunchaku moves, but again I can't comment as I've also never tried the nunchucks.

Take care, Steve.

MrX said...

From what I know, kali is different from kama. You will mostly poke with the tip of the kama blade (not sure if it is called a blade) but with kali, try imagining yourself with two junior baseball bats in each hands. What strikes would you naturally do? Probably like Steve said, similar like having two small blades in our hands, "brushing" or "sweeping" thru.

There was kali classes where I use to do Jeet Kune Do. It is a very effective and fast weapon when handled adequatly.

Longueil!? Is it very far from your place? Which school?

Take care

Marc

Mathieu said...

hey, is that sushi no kon?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6054104342708505820

Marc, sports pour tous longueil. I don't know the date yet. But kobujustu classes are open to everyone I believe. I.E. All styles of karate.

CHeers!

FrogMan said...

Mat, while there are similarities, it's not exactly the same.

You can find a rendition of Sushi no kon sho done by a Nick Cerio's Kenpo practitioner at this page:
http://www.alkarting.com/charles/videos/videos.html

Go to the "Compétition 13 mars 2005 - Galeries de la Capitale" section, the video titled "Kata armé maman (1.25min. 2.3mb)" is the one to look at.

Take care, Steve.