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Weapons Alert!!!
If you aren't charmed by a length of well-balanced cold steel, ignore this review. You won't be missing anything.....
And yet - given our school's mission (www.maelstromCore.com) to focus on southeast Asian weapons training, we would be missing out big time if ajarn Stephen Wilson and Krabi Krabong hadn't come to town. For just about any other martial artist, especially those with Thai roots, Krabi Krabong is simply something you have to experience to understand.
And so we did on Nov. 20/21 2004 in Vancouver, Canada.
As many of you no doubt know, Krabi-Krabong is a traditional Thai weapons martial art still practiced in Thailand. This tradition focuses on hand-held weapons as well as empty hand techniques. Specifically the:
* Krabi (sword)
* Plong (quarterstaff)
* Ngao (staff with blade in the end)
* Daab Song Meu (a pair of swords held in each hand)
* Mae Sun-Sawk (a pair of clubs like oversized tonfa)
Although for most Thais Krabi Krabong is a ritual to be display during festivals or at tourist venues, the art is still taught according to a 400-years-old tradition handed down from Ayutthaya's Wat PutthaiSwan. The King's elite bodyguard are still trained in Krabi-Krabong.
Ajarn Stephen Wilson himself is part of the Household of the Thai Royal Family, Bodyguard Division, having trained extensively at the Buddhai Sawan temple in Bangkok with Ajarn Samai (now passed on).
We hadn't really had much contact with ajarn Stephen prior to the seminar (except by e-mail) - but we were pretty keen to get more direct instruction in KK. Our previous sources had been sporadic influxes of instruction from guro Dan Inosanto, ajarn Arlan Sanford, and guro Marc Denny over the previous 4 years.
And the results? Just what the doctor ordered!!! Ajarn Stephen is not your usual martial artist - not only is he a wealth of information (on KK and lots of other aspects of Thai culture) but he is also very sincere in his devotion to the arts. He doesn't put out any ego or any trashy flash. He is entirely honest about what he knows and what the arts are about. And he knows very well of which he speaks and teaches.
What does that translate to? Insight. Into a very traditional martial art. Not repackaged for instant consumption by a mass market. But transferred with all its original integrity to students with open minds. Not stripped down to some "street-wise" bastardized eclecticism. But taught with a mind to the principles that makes this a seriously bad-ass open field fighting system.
How bad-ass? Ask a Dog Brother. Ask this Dog Brother - after having my hand broken in a toe-to-toe shoot-out with one of ajarn Sanford's fighters (Jeff "Sleeping Dog" Inman), I got the message. I wanted to know exactly what was under the hood on the raw, powerful fight coming out of Sante Fe. So I started asking around four years ago. Krabi Krabong.
Give power, Receive power,. Crash the gates and bring them down in splinters!!
This is a gloriously crazed way to go to battle. Half-beserker and half-monk, a well-trained KK fighter is an oversized kitchen blender coming at you on puree!! Not for the faint of heart. And yet emminently sensible - combining defense into offense, meeting a powerful rush and turning it aside to return witn your own power, clashing blades in simple, brutal, battle-field effectiveness.
This isn't sophisticated - it had to be taught to a 100 would-be soldiers at a time over a short period of a few weeks. And yet it is deeply rooted and principled.
Now back to the seminar - by request, we spent two very different days looking at just those elements:
o the fighting principles and physical drilling
o the Wai Kru and Ram Muay
The first day was aimed at training in some of the basic principles of movement, attacking, defending and countering. The second day we looked deeper into what makes this system Thai - the Wai Kru is all about respects and awareness of relationship to other - the Ram Muay is a precise exercise in body control and mental focus, blending elements reminiscent of classic kata, dance performance, and personal ritual. Combined, the two of them define a way to fight.
Sound similar to many other arts? Maybe. And yet after 20 years in various martial arts, it was like nothing else I have trained from Japan, China, or the rest of Southeast Asia. And I love it!!
I am not even trained in Muay Thai - I wish that I were - then my kicks would be all the more effective. What other blade art teaches the correct timing for kicks (other than low-line stop kicks)?
We are looking forward to having ajarn Stephen back again - his brand of honest and integrity combined with his skills and an abstruse sense of humour make for a great learning experience. If you have trained Muay Thai, or think of the sword as a way of life, you really should check this out. And if you know you want Krabi Krabong, definitely contact ajarn Stephen (chalambok@hotmail.com).
P.S. Remember those mae sun sowks in the list of weapons? Make sure you ask about those - those are even better than the swords!!! Yeah!!
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Loki "Tricky Dog" Jorgenson
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