kempoinfo.com

Sometimes I think that combination 13 is a sort of silly ‘extra’ in the SK system. Why include one ‘belt’ technique along in a (bloated, but that’s another story) group with 107 other empty hand responses to a step through right hand punch? I just had a great conversation with Jesse Dwire of Dragon-Phoenix martial arts about how he’s improved how he did 13 lately, and it paralleled my experiences with it as well.

Some folks might remove it, as it’s a distracting detail, a one-off, almost a party trick. That would probably be a mistake. I know it seems strange given my penchant for blog posts that could essentially be replicated by a filter that just substituted ‘Trim!Simplify!’ over and over again for whatever I went on about that I’d want to keep this blip that doesn’t fit in with the rest, but here’s why.

It’s a doorway, and a hint at some roots. First, combination 13 appears virtually identically in the beautiful book Lua: Art of the Hawaiian Warrior. I’m not certain that’s the whole story, but it is nice to see. It’s a hard book to get your hands on, but it’s a real beauty.

More likely, and probably more indicative of the real roots in our system, it’s a doorway into the flexible weapons training of the Filipino martial arts. I trained in some kali at one point, and the instructor was well versed in the use of the sarong as a weapon. Weighted ropes, belts, and even t-shirts became tools of self-defense. After that, the seemingly useless combination 13 gained new life in my eyes, and the variations and expressions blossomed.

Now as one of 107, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Why do one technique? However, if you trim the redundant combinations, it becomes a significant part of the repertoire. One of 25 is 4%, small but significant. Think of it as a reminder to do variations of uses with flexible weapons. It’s a bookmark in the training syllabus that says, “Spend some time on flexible weapons”. Just get some knowledge of the principles and apply from there.

Here’s a trailer for a seminar in Italy, but it replicates many of the Kali / Silat techniques I learned. I have no idea about the person teaching the seminar, but if I were in Italy, I’d certainly check it out.