Kenyetti. He lives on the island of Cebu, one of the large islands that make up
the Philippines.
His home has always been in Cebu City, the capital of the island, a place of
harsh contrasts.
Just outside the city center is the headquarters of the small club which
sets the standard for a screamer throughout the nation. The name of the
club, Dosay Paris, means 12 pairs and is taken from the name of Charlemagne's
bodyguard. The club celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1982. It was started by
the family Kenyetti to train themselves and their friends. It is still a family
club. The training ground is beside Kakoy's house which he shares with his
children and their families. A screamer is a fighting system in a state of
transition. It has been used for hundreds of years throughout the Philippines. Now
people like the Kenyettis are adding to the basic art, the sophistication of
Japanese techniques. An indication of this is the practice of forms or cartas.
They are long elaborate solo performances. This one is a speciality of
Diony Kenyetti. He spends most of his time in Manila working as a very
successful businessman. Though they are adding Japanese ideas to the techniques,
50 years is not long enough to also import Japanese formality. Any activity
on the training ground is watched by every curious eye in the neighborhood.
Most of the Cebuanos speak two languages. Training is conducted in both English
and in the language of Cebu.
A screamer is a complex, sophisticated and effective fighting system. Much of the
credit for its present status is due to the Dosse Paris Club with Kako Kenyetti
as its leading fighter, publicist and master. The most common and the most
effective type of holding is the full grip type. This in this manner even if it
is hit on the side, either from any direction still you can control the stick.
And there's an allowance about two inches from the butt. Purpose is to use
this for disarming, for hitting any part of the body at close range. Then you can
twirl the stick in any direction. And there are people, there are screamers who
twirl the stick in this manner. They always open their palm. I observed many
there in the United States, screamers opening their palm whenever they twirl.
But Dosse Paris people are always full grip. Many weapons are used in
the screamer. But Kako has always concentrated on the stick made from a
special tough light wood hardened by fire. He has brought new strikes into the
system, developing curving strikes rather than straight or linear ones. And the most
effective strike is the curved strike. You can easily block the linear strike.
But when the strike is curving, no matter how hard you try to block the strike, the
forehand of the stick will always hit, reach the target.
Even gentle sparring is a painful process for Kako's opponent. He is an
advanced student, but he never manages to hit Kako once. Kako has had many real
fights. All his life he has been challenged, always having to use his
techniques against new opponents. He has never lost in over a hundred fights.
After a few moments the challenges always collapse before him. The only way
to prove that your style is the best is to accept any challenge. How can you
claim that your style is the best when you do not accept any challenge? That's
why in our group whenever there is a student who refuses to fight, I always
ask him to retire. What use will our techniques be if he has
only techniques and he doesn't use it in actual fight?
A screamer is above all a practical fighting art. It has developed out of the
need to survive in a violent society where knives are a common weapon.
These defensive moves are designed to push the knives away so that they
don't slice into the vital veins and arteries on the inside of the arms. Then
both opponents are disarmed, again avoiding the knife blades.
Elojio Kenyetti is the oldest of the founding brothers. He has always been the
president of the Dossi Paris. Although over 80 he is still a formidable fighter.
You know, just like in, it is like this.
Without this thing it's actually the same. Now if you have this it's the same
technique. Black then black. One of the masters at Dossi Paris is alive because
he was taught how to defend himself against knife attack. It happened when he
was walking with a friend. Neither of them had weapons. The friend ran away
when they were attacked by seven men with knives. Master Karin nearly died in
the attack but fought back killing one of them. He's lucky that he survived that fight.
Of course one of the brothers got killed.
This one with my liver and my stomach. This is in the position.
That's the evidence that he engaged in a real fight.
I was sitting there, that's where I was down. And they make a stabbing position while I'm down.
I snatched all the daggers. And that dagger which I snatched hit one of my opponents.
I snatched it. If this opponent was the only one he could easily beat his opponent.
But then there were four brothers and three companions.
You're lucky you should be thankful to God for having learned the skill of arming.
It had to be because of my skill and hardness and combat judo. I'm already below the ground.
The only yardstick for skill is to have an actual fight.
Inspiring. It's not enough that you deliver the strike. But if you deliver
multiple strikes, for example, I deliver here. See? Rapid. Then here. See?
All in all movements. So you put your opponent on the defensive position.
But if you deliver only one strike, he will fight back.
Surely he will fight back. But you deliver a series of strikes.
He'll be on the round. He will be always on the defensive. You understand?
Yes, sir.
The function of the stick in Eskrimah is obvious. But the left hand is just as important.
Kakko's left hand moves independently of his right all the time.
It controls his opponent's stick, never allowing it to strike him.
Kakko's opponent is one of his sons, Edgar. Though he was trained by his father,
he is not yet in the same class. He just cannot penetrate his father's defenses.
Kakko's strikes curl around Edgar's body. He can achieve six strikes a second.
Apart from the pain, the speed of such an attack is absolutely demoralizing.
Dosse Paris shows its techniques to the public in January. Each year there is a procession through
Cebu City, and the club prepares a special demonstration to perform as they march along.
The procession celebrates the arrival of the Spanish explorer,
Magellan, in Cebu, and his death at the hands of a local chieftain.
The chieftain, called Lapu Lapu, is now a national hero,
for his resistance to the Spanish colonizers.
When Magellan arrived in the Philippines, he landed where Cebu City is now.
He made friends with the local tribes, and their chiefs were baptized into the Christian faith.
After Magellan's death, his ship sailed away to circumnavigate the globe.
Forty-four years later, the Spanish returned, and this time stayed to govern the Philippines for 350 years.
They set their mark upon the people and customs of the country, including Escrima.
Certainly, European sword fighting techniques have been added to the fighting system that existed when the Spanish arrived.
Before they arrived, the techniques were probably influenced by Chinese and Indian fighting arts.
Modern Escrima developed out of this mixture. The same system is called Arnis in other parts of the Philippines.
When Magellan baptized the chieftains, they told him about another chief, called Lapu Lapu, who lived on an island nearby.
Unfortunately for Magellan, he was a tough fighter.
The Spanish set up this monument to Magellan, near to where he died.
Surprisingly, Magellan made the mistake of sailing around to attack Lapu Lapu, without thinking about the state of the tide.
The water around Lapu Lapu's village was shallow, and the battle between the Spaniards and the Filipinos took place in that.
The Spaniards wore heavy clothing and armor. Their opponents wore very little.
Lapu Lapu, of course, has a monument put up by the Filipinos.
Here, on the 27th of April, 1521, Lapu Lapu and his men repulsed the Spanish invaders, killing their leader, Ferdinand Magellan.
Thus, Lapu Lapu became the first Filipino to have repelled European aggression.
The Spanish stories of the battle say that Lapu Lapu and his men fought with wooden sticks, the first reference to a screamer.
However, patriotic artists always give Lapu Lapu a sword.
Before his death, Magellan gave the friendly chieftains a carved image of the baby Jesus.
When the Spaniards returned 44 years later, they found that miraculously it had been a child.
The Spanish were very happy to see the baby Jesus.
When the Spaniards returned 44 years later, they found that miraculously it had been kept.
And so Santo Niño, the sacred child, became the patron saint of the Philippines.
Today's procession is in his honor. People travel great distances to be at his church on his day.
Outside it, a lady selling candles and dancing the special steps that are also a prayer to the saint.
Nearly everyone buys candles and sets them to burn in special trays.
The melted wax is collected and recycled.
Inside the church, the people queue to worship the original statue left by Magellan.
They believe his virtue is transmitted through his protective glass.
As they kiss the glass, the people pray to the sacred child for special favors.
Many of the worshipers who traveled to be here slept in the streets around the church.
After the procession in January, Dose Paris started to practice for their anniversary celebration.
Every night there were training sessions, special track suits and t-shirts were designed,
and invitations sent to Filipino communities throughout the world.
Escrima is not a traditional
male activity, though not many women practice it.
Cacoy's daughter, Kathy, has studied other martial arts and has a black belt in karate.
Escrima is not a traditional male activity, though not many women practice it.
Cacoy's daughter, Kathy, has studied other martial arts and has a black belt in karate.
It is not easy for a woman to be a student of fighting in the Philippines,
since masculine pride is so easily offended.
Kathy stopped practicing karate when she discovered that it frightened away boyfriends.
Dose Paris also sent invitations to senior members of government
and expected at least one general to attend their celebrations.
The club planned to display as wide a range of techniques as possible.
They particularly wanted to make clear the difference between the classical style
and the modern style developed by Cacoy.
His main teacher had been his brother, Moumou Kenyeti, a very hard master to learn on.
Moumou is a traditionalist.
He still uses the long-range style that was the most common fighting style.
There has been family tension between him and Cacoy
because of the way that Cacoy has changed as a screamer,
especially the added techniques from judo and other Japanese fighting arts.
Moumou is practicing his demonstration of an advanced technique.
This combination of stick and dagger is formidable.
The grips and locks can be used to hold an opponent,
or the dagger can be used to kill him.
The traditional style of a screamer has been exported to any country
that accepted Filipino immigrants, especially the United States.
Many people practice it there, usually under its other names,
Arnis or Kali.
The Kenyeti family have been to the USA demonstrating their skills,
and they always call on Dan Inosanto in Los Angeles.
Dan Inosanto is an American-born Filipino.
He is very well known in the martial arts world
because of the time that he spent working with Bruce Lee.
I hope I can learn it in the Philippines.
I never really got deep into this Palo Daga.
Just like my father.
I don't know this style.
This is the classical form?
Yes, this is what my uncle Moumou teaches.
When was this form developed?
Somebody said it was as far back as 1930.
Was it 1930 when they developed this form?
Dan teaches Chinese boxing and the Filipino systems.
His training techniques are very organized and yet relaxed.
Escrima has yet to gain an international reputation.
Dan is in a unique position.
As a master of both Chinese and Filipino systems,
he is able to compare the two and to assess Escrima.
Okay, time!
With weaponry, it is very hard to beat.
I'm talking about dagger and stick.
I've always maintained that the Chinese are the prettiest,
and that the Filipinos seem to be the most practical as of right now.
But I'm not saying that a Chinese martial artist
wouldn't be as effective as a Filipino martial artist.
I'm trying to say that the way it is taught, it is functional.
So I want you to strike diagonal, diagonal, diagonal up, diagonal up, horizontal, horizontal.
Then your overhead, which is this way, your backhand overhead, which is this way, this way.
So this is what you practice your blows.
Just slowly, different up.
If you go like that.
This is where we kick. We kick and out.
Okay? Okay, let's give it a try.
Though it is light, the stick used in Escrima is a powerful weapon.
It can be used to strike quickly at many points on the body.
When a blow lands, it is painful, perhaps paralyzing rather than bone breaking.
It makes its effect by the number of places that can be hurt in a few seconds.
It is the quickest art to be the most dangerous, just because of the weaponry.
Its destruction of kicks makes all kicking arts kind of obsolete.
Its destruction of the limbs very quickly makes a lot of the punching arts obsolete.
Okay, now what I want you to do is you feed one and you follow, you deflect and follow with three follow ups.
You feed one and you follow with three.
Okay, slow motion, okay?
Deflect, three hits.
You three, three hits.
Its techniques are basically the same, whether the fighting is with fists, daggers or larger weapons.
So you go three, you attack with three and he blocks with three.
Okay, that's the position, okay?
Alright, time.
To me, it's one of the most well-rounded martial arts that I've ever seen.
And it's not taking anything away from the Chinese because they're very good, excellent.
But I've always maintained that everybody has something to offer.
Thrust, butt, strike.
He takes down, see?
This is it, see?
So that's the drill, see?
Because I want to get the pungo in here.
Almost like the flow, right?
Which is using the butt.
Now in reality, this is not going to last very long, see?
We just catch it here like that, see, for the training.
See?
As I said before, this is not going to last very long, but just to get the flow.
Okay?
Okay, you can do it?
Okay, let's try it.
So you take it down, okay?
Okay, ready.
Flow, very slowly.
Thrust, butt, strike.
Thrust, butt, catch, strike, take down.
The techniques taught by Dan are mainly the classical ones.
He hopes to go to Cebu City to study with Kakoen.
There are two of his techniques that Dan doesn't use yet.
The curved strike and the complex disarming tricks.
Now, there are two types of disarming.
Disarming in which you cease when you cease.
Disarm him, and secondly is when you knock the stick off his hand.
For actual sparring, see?
You can disarm him that way.
For actual sparring, then you hold him, then disarm.
These disarming techniques are probably Kakoen's greatest pleasure.
He is constantly thinking of new ways of taking weapons away from opponents.
His hands seem to have minds of their own.
His disarming techniques are based on applying leverage in various ways to his opponent's stick.
Ready, port.
Dan is full right pulling.
Follow, follow.
Kakoen calls the style that he teaches, eskredo, the way of eskrim.
He is deliberately copying Japanese customs in this.
There is no doubt that he has made eskrim more effective.
Dan is full right pulling.
Serious, serious, no smiles.
Well done.
Okay, move back to your respective places and do the amara.
Okay, face your partner and do the pinky pinky.
That's enough.
Go back to your respective places.
In order to hold sporting competitions, they have devised a system of body protection.
Wearing this armor made it possible to hold a national contest in 1976.
This was the first such competition.
Dose Paris swept the field and Kakoen naturally was the champion master.
The judges estimate the effect of the blows to decide who scores points.
Even wearing armor, they still hold back from hitting hard.
On the day of the 50th anniversary, people started to arrive from many parts of the Philippines.
There were fewer than they had hoped for because a typhoon disrupted travel.
Some people got to Cebu after wading through rivers.
Others arrived more comfortably.
The airport reception party waited some hours for the important guests of honor to arrive.
The Philippines were, until recently, under martial law.
President Marcus has reestablished civilian government.
It is, however, a country under severe political strain.
The generals are still powerful in government.
It is a measure of the importance attached to Escrima that General Estrada made a special journey to attend the event.
He flew in a government plane with many other guests.
There are many reasons for promoting Escrima.
It has its national hero, Lapu Lapu.
It is fast becoming the national sport.
It is an effective fighting system especially suitable for crowd control and other police work.
Kukoi regularly trains groups of soldiers.
General Estrada is often referred to as the third most important man in the country after the President and General Villa.
They invited General Villa but he could not come.
Amongst his other duties, General Estrada is head of internal security.
Hey, how are you?
Ladies and gentlemen, Brigadier General Wilfredo C. Estrada,
NFL Vice President and Special Case in tonight's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the
Dorsley Palace.
Distinguished guests, General Wilfredo C. Estrada and the Lord Eagle from San Jose, California, United States,
Fred Bandelan, Master of Gameplay.
And Mr. Ben Gulado, the sister of Ruben Mascando.
Fellow Escrimadores, friends, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all.
Thank you.
It was an occasion for speeches and emotion, especially when the five surviving Canetti brothers stood on parade.
The brothers inherit their fighting ability from their grandfather, who fought as a guerrilla against the Spanish in 1890.
Then the Philippines became an American colony until the Japanese invaded.
The brothers became involved in the highly successful resistance movement that tied up so many Japanese troops.
Finally, the Philippines became independent and the Canetes, with their devotion to a holy Filipino fighting form,
became part of the search for a national identity.
Friends, ladies and gentlemen, as a sports enthusiast myself, I find gratifying our increasing appreciation of the importance of Arnis,
which was very much part of the way of life of our forebears.
To them it was more than just a sport, recreation or art. It was a vital skill.
My Jalan was killed in Magtanahelan because Lapu-Lapu was very, very good in Arnis.
That's really credit to the Cebuanos.
May I reiterate my sincerest congratulations to all of you.
Carry on the good work. Thank you and good day.
The rest of the evening was devoted to demonstrations by people from all parts of the Philippines.
The swordsmen start performing in slow motion, then steadily speed up.
Even though they're using real swords, not sticks, they still use their left hands to try to control or parry their opponent's sword hand.
National Arnis.
One is nearly done.
Now, Edgar is against three opponents. One is down. Two tumble. Another one is coming again.
Koykanyeti commentated with a father's pride on his son Edgar's carefully staged fight against overwhelming odds.
Down's Edgar. Down on Picas.
Perfect. Perfect performance.
Edgar, I'm not with Koykanyeti. Like father, like son.
I'm here to show my gratitude to the Instructor's Division tournament, to the Junior Instructor's Division, to the Cebuan Body Champions, to the former Katakaron Controles Parry.
Finally, Koykanyeti himself demonstrated his techniques.
The history of the fighting arts is full of men like him. They invented new techniques, improving their particular fighting art.
They themselves are forgotten, but what they taught will be remembered by the generations which follow, and added to the store of knowledge that makes up the fighting arts.
Thank you.