Eskrima Kombat

 

GM Inosanto Does Abaniko

In the video above Guro Mike Pana does a masterful job of explaining the witik and abaniko, 2 common techniques in the Filipino martial arts. The real meat of his teaching starts at about 1:40.

“It’s very impressive, very fast, the speed is very overwhelming, but the problem is that when you put it into the real context of a street fight, –considering the real sticks you’ll see in a street fight– it may not turn out that way.

At times we get stuck in the Filipino martial arts world, so to speak, we’re so focused on rattan sticks and all the fast, cool things they can do, but in reality if you’re fighting on the street you’re probably going to pick up something heavy, with some weight and some length, that quite frankly, abanikos and witiks will not translate very well.

It is very rare that you’re going to find the dimensions of a rattan stick on the street. “

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It’s a point I’ve made multiple times, that real-world weapons don’t handle like rattan sticks.

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There is one more point I would add. I actually start to worry when I see the other guy start to abaniko with the 36-inch pipe. The abaniko puts tremendous stress on your wrist, and injury is a very real possibility. It is also easy to throw the weapon out of your own hand because you are effectively putting yourself in a wristlock when you abaniko, especially with a heavy weapon.

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In a newspaper article on a recent assault in New York, 2 men were attacked with hammers. An abaniko or a witik with a hammer simply won’t work.

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