If This Is A Sword Art, Why Are We Using Rattan? KALI, ARNIS, ESCRIMA 

Because knives and bolos were outlawed by the Spanish so the Filipinos kept on practicing with sticks, like rattan, so that they can remember the art. Also they used other types of wood like bahi and kamagong.

All great reasons to use rattan for sparring or impact training! Another consideration I think is worth considering is the weight of the training item, and how those items can be wielded. Moving a 20oz steel blade feels different than a 7oz rattan stick, and requires more body movement and tighter mechanics to make it effective. If someone is training with the idea of it being a blade-based art, I think there is a lot of value in using heavier sticks/metal trainers when they can (solo drills, hitting tires, etc).

Alright, you got a subscriber. This is good stuff. I'm a firm believer that some of the best martial arts is when you train with weapons. FMA hits the nail on the head for certain.

I so appreciate you, you are knowledgeable and traditional. I am only sad that the people that do not understand what you are saying probably won’t hear this. God bless!

uh...so you don't chop each other's fingers off?

Our late Guro, GM Brian "Buzz" Smith always tell us, " The Stick is use to teach the way of the Blade".

Because its a safe training tool. If an attorney represents himself in a court case, he has a fool for a lawyer. If a knife fighter trains with a (sharpie), he has a fool for a surgeon.

Great stuff! A great 101 to why

I definitely agree 💯%... As a kid During the 90s i remember i brought my dads shiny arnis kamagong in school. It has a thin strip of leather that wrapped around it served as a handle. i bring it simply bcoz i just want to showing it off with my classmates, coz they're just using a much cheaper and lighter version, which is the rattan... The P.E. class started, i mightily wielded it. When my instructor suddenly appeared Infront of me, telling that i will not participate unless i have the rattan. I ended up warming the bench watching them.

What I love about escrima is that it’s so intense from a coordination aspect It has a long history Every now and then people talk and question it’s effectiveness for Self Defense purposes but I love this martial art And I want to start training again

Nicely done and articulated.

New subscriber, thanks for a very informative video. I kinda always guessed this, or maybe just assumed it.

The old rattan sticks make good hearth boards for friction fire.

Cool stuff, i love kali eskrima. Another channel i subscribe after kali center.

It’s funny the people labeled it as a bladed art but I see techniques were people grabbed a stick, and how does that work out?

Remember the half inches, lower hand of stick is a dagger to hold the wrist and some rotation hand to hand combat. It is not same of fencing.

Good for safe by using a basic one or two sticks. If you professional and experts by single sword and double dagger. The best with hand to hand (Sticky Hands).

I've noticed that practitioners don't kick higher than your waist. Is this because you saw the stick as a blade? Is it really required to follow the rule, or can you choose to kick higher?

Have you broken your eye in fma training? If yes , that's just badass ❤

OMG your eye! You okay?

See: your eye bro

This is why grabbing the stick in training isn't realistic or good Training.

i've been training in various escrima styles since 1982....and for a long time i was told that the stick is the same as the blade.. BULLSHIT...most filipino instructors NEVER train with a blade (you can use metal trainers) most styles are stick oriented. The exception being Decuerdes and a few others..after practicing with metal trainers i came to see the shortcomings of stick...sticks are primarily impact weapons(oh you can stab or poke but it's not a SHARP tip) i can take a blow to the ribs for instance and while it would be painful it won't necessarily stop me,especially if i was fighting for my life...whereas try that with a sharp weapon (a machete for instance) and it's game over...when you fight with a bladed object the techniques are different, the timing is different, the approaches are different and so many other things that i can't list them here..bottom line ...stick and blade are NOT the same , and any escrimador who says they are doesn't know what he's talking about.