what is the difference between arnis and escrima and kali

[Blue Wave Gym]

My gf is fillipina and took arnis in college but forgot it all lol. So what is the difference between the three? I know it's a newbie question but humor me ok

[William]

Terminology.

Arnis, Kali, Eskrima all refer to essentially the same thing: Basically the main three terms used for Filipino Martial Arts. The major differences are at the specific system level (imho). There can be diffrences as well between schools that use similar terms.

For example:

Modern Arnis
Lightning Scientific Arnis
Arnis De Mano
Balintawak Arnis

Doce Pares Eskrima
Inayan Eskrima
Lameco Eskrima
San Miguel Eskrima

Pekiti-Tirsia Kali
Sayoc Kali
Kali Illustrisimo (Illustrisimo Kali)


Now, you can get into arguments as to what is the "correct" term and whether there "are" differences between them...and believe me, it's happened many times here. But, general acceptance is they basically refer to the FMA's in general.



William

[littlebadboy]

they're all the same!

however, here in motherland philippines, it is more known as "arnis". apparently, over there overseas, there is so much controversies whether its "arnis", "kali", or "escrima"... coz the thing is, we don't really care. what matter is, it is FMA. in the olden times, people don't care much on how to call it as long as it works as a tool of survival.

[lorenzodamarith]

hello,

arnis..... escrima.... kali..... main differences? ten of them.

a... r... n... i... s... e... c... m... k... l...

as you can see, the differences are many...

hahahaha. mostly alphabetical arrangement. linguistic thing.

thanks.

[Liberty]

Terminology.

Arnis, Kali, Eskrima all refer to essentially the same thing: Basically the main three terms used for Filipino Martial Arts. The major differences are at the specific system level (imho). There can be diffrences as well between schools that use similar terms.

For example:

Modern Arnis
Lightning Scientific Arnis
Arnis De Mano
Balintawak Arnis

Doce Pares Eskrima
Inayan Eskrima
Lameco Eskrima
San Miguel Eskrima

Pekiti-Tirsia Kali
Sayoc Kali
Kali Illustrisimo (Illustrisimo Kali)

Now, you can get into arguments as to what is the "correct" term and whether there "are" differences between them...and believe me, it's happened many times here. But, general acceptance is they basically refer to the FMA's in general.

William

I know what Arnis is - what the heck is Lightening Scientific? I keep getting this image of the American guy, Ben Franklin, up on a hill in a lightning storm with his kite and a bunch of Pilipinos doing Sinawali or something! No, I'm not knocking Pilipinos. Any culture that could force the almightly Spaniards back then to have to deal with them with muskets, like the Pilipinos did with their badass martial arts has my respect. It's just the image I got in my head. Oh, and one of my uncle's Jim Morrison songs in the background.

So what is it?

[littlebadboy]

I know what Arnis is - what the heck is Lightening Scientific?

Lightning Scientific Arnis is short for Lightning Scientific Arnis International (LSAI), a group that practices the style Tercia Cerrada Cadenilla y Espada y Daga which was developed and refined by the late great Grand Master Benjamin Luna Lema. The GM was a real tested arnis fighter in REAL fghts.

For more info: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=littlebadboyph

[Lua50]

All of it is regional dialectal references to Filipino Martial arts. Anyway its not the name but the style techniques one should pay attention to.

[Paco]

As I understand it, "arnis" is mostly used in the Luzon [northern] area to refer to fma; "escrima" is mostly used in the Visayas [central] region and "kali" is used in the southern parts of the Philipines [Mindanao]. However, if you look at Dan Inosanto's or Mark Wiley's books, you'll see that there a bunch of other names for FMA in the Philipines. Hope this helps.