Overview Of Silat And Indonesian Martial Arts (Part 2)

Continued from part 1teach firearm retention and counter-firearm strategies,
The Pentjak Silat styles are the indigenous stylesas well as more traditional weapons (knife, stick,
which include cultural elements. Here is where you willspear).
find the wedding styles, the dance styles, and many ofOne noted difference between the Indo arts and the
the sport styles. There are also quite a few fightingnearby Chinese arts is the tendency of the Indo arts to
styles in here. The Pentjaks tend to prefer outsideuse already strong structures within the body (as
over inside fighting positions. They tend to go fromopposed to the Chinese tradition of conditioning the
open defensive postures to closed offensive postures.body). This allowed the old, the young, the sick, and the
They will occasionally have mystical elements.wounded to effectively use these arts.
The Poukilan Silat styles tend to be pure fighting stylesTraining:
without cultural elements. They tend to be direct and toWith so many arts, there is a great deal of variation in
the point. They tend towards close fighting (Poukilantraining methods. Some schools teach Silat in a very
means "impact"). They also tend to prefer outsideconceptual way. Some are similar to classical Chinese
positions.or Japanese schools. Some teach it around the
The Kuntao Silat styles are conglomerates of Indo andsparring (like kickboxing). Feel sure that there is a Silat
Chinese fighting methods. They tend more towardsschool somewhere that matches your preferred
closed defensive postures that open to attack. Theytraining method.
also tend more toward inside positions when fighting,Definitions:
preferring the availability of soft targets to the safetySilat - Silat means something close to "fighting
of outside positions.applications". By itself it has little meaning, rather it
The Silats do have animal styles (Harimau (tiger) andmodifies the word it is with.
Madi (monkey) being two of the better known). TheyPentjak - Literally "forms, postures, and movements".
have few if any unarmed styles. They tend to adaptWithout Silat, Pentjak is useless, and without Pentjak,
rapidly. There is a tendency to throw out whateverthere is no Silat.
becomes obsolete and add whatever becomesPoukilan - Literally "impact".
relevant. This is why most modern Silat schools to