Kali
Translation: "Bladed Weapon"
Country of Origin: Philippines
Created: circa 750 AD

Escrima, Arnis and Kali are essentially all the same martial art and are sometimes collectively known as Filipino stick fighting. Kali originates from the Southern Philippine islands, Escrima from the central islands and Arnis from the Northern islands. Records date back to 750 AD (at least for Kali). All three variants where originally introduced by travellers from Indonesia and Malaysia, but were greatly influenced by the arrival of the Spanish invaders in 1521. Escrima takes its name from the Spanish word escrima meaning skirmish and Arnis comes from the Spanish term arnis de mano meaning "harness of the hand". Unlike many martial arts, weapons training is introduced first followed later by hand and foot techniques. Although best known for the use of stick fighting it covers 12 areas of study including projectile weapons, anatomical weapons and bladed weapons. The Spanish technique of fighting with sword and dagger "Espada y Daga" was incorporated into this system and practitioners are well known for fighting with stick and dagger; single or twin sticks and the machete like knife known as the bola. The name Kali means "bladed weapon" in Malay. The Spanish invaders suffered great losses at the hands of bola and stick wielding locals and unsuccessfully banned the art in the early 18th century. After winning the Spanish-American war the Marines then moved in and they too received heavy losses. General Pershing issued special leather neck protectors to his men to slow down the rate at which their throats were being cut. This is when the US marines picked up the nickname "leathernecks". Not wanting to be outdone the Japanese forces were also on the receiving end when they invaded during World War II.