Tongkat Pesilats

Thursday, 28 February 2013 13:16

by Guru Scott McQuaid

The region of South East Asia is renown for their blade and stick fighting systems, despite all martial art styles being practiced today from an unarmed hand-to-hand approach almost all combative arts were developed with a weapon in hand first before adapting to the unarmed last line of defense.

The most basic and first weapon adopted to the preferred style was the stick.

The first documented martial art known as Pankration came from Greece around 648 BC. This style had a stick fighting system called Lathi. The Oriental styles from Japan created Jojutsu also referred to as Jodo, while China’s Gung Fu style Wu Chu Chuan has a stick form known as the dog stick as well as numerous spear fighting forms. Africa’s Zulu tribes created the long staff style that beats their enemies from afar and recently the stick fighting style from Ireland resurfaced called Shillelagh whereby the Irish fighters used blackthorn sticks as weapons.

The Indonesian fighting art known as pencak silat also utilized the stick in combat, making use of various lengths. Tongkat is the name that is referred to in silat’s stick fighting systems. Tongkat literally means ‘walking stick’ and the walking stick style was generally practiced by Grandmasters in silat, because only with years of experience and training could the practitioner be skilled and wise enough to be able to defend themselves with a blunt instrument against an attacker with a golok (machete) or pisau (knife).

The traditional tongkat walking stick style consists of parrying and counter-strikes with loose locks using the curved handle grip upon their assailant's attacking knife hand. The tongkat fighter will also use the curved handle to hook around their opponent's ankle to sweep them off their feet or around their neck to choke.

The walking stick's length is used from a distance, out of reach from your enemies' shorter arms, which allows you to hit your opponent from afar using the full swing of the stick's length and generating a greater power than close quarter strikes. The practitioner can close in to their enemy at a mid-distance, locking and trapping the opponent's weapon hand while still being effective with powerful strikes.

There are various Indonesian silat systems that adopt a tongkat kecil (or short stick) form such as Harimau Berantai, Seterlak, Cimande, Serak and Silek Harimau.

The tongkat kecil combat style is said to have influenced Kali silat, the martial art style that is indigenous to the the Philippines. The Filipino eskrimadors (stick fighters) are perhaps the most famous short stick fighters in the martial arts community. Their fast, hard flaying stick movements make them formidable opponents.

During the 5th and 6th centuries in Indonesia, an empire was formed due to the migration of the Buddhist tribes of India to Sumatra and Java. This empire came to be known as Srivijaya.

It is believed that the origins of Kali developed some time in the 13th century, from Indonesia’s Srivijaya warriors who fled Java escaping the Majapahit kingdom. These warriors settled on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. The Majapahit empire spread across South East Asia eclipsing the previous empire and this is when the Indonesian fighting arts (nowadays recognized under the name of pencak silat) began to influence other combat systems in Asia. The Majapahit empire included areas that are known today as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, and the Philippines. From the Majapahit era came the Southern Asian martial arts culture.

Almost all of South East Asia incorporated a stick form into their fighting style which would have originated from the Majapahit tongkat system, known today as Tongkat Silat. The Filipino eskrimadors are famous for using double escrima sticks but eventually some of these stick fighters resorted back to the original single stick style, calling it the Balintawak style back in 1952.

This form of arnis fighting is perhaps the closest system to the original tongkat kecil art. Although the Filipino creator of the single stick Balintawak style may have thought they were developing a new system or branch of Kali, in theory they were actually revisiting the original art of stick fighting brought to the Philippines by the Srivijaya warriors. Admittedly, though, the Filipino arnis styles have become much more advanced.

The tongkat pesilats (silat players) used one bamboo stick that was utilized with one hand and depending on the particular pencak silat style they may have used two hands; this would also depend on the stick's length.

The mountain tribe in west Sumatra known as the Minangkabau adopted both the tongkat styles with the walking stick and tongkat kecil single-handed bamboo stick. These stick styles were known as tongkat silek.

The Minangkabu warriors would sharpen both ends of the bamboo stick and utilize it in battle to stab from a distance with the stick's full length range, while using the sharpened handle area end for close-quarter stabbing when in clinches with the enemy.

The Minang style of tongkat kecil is a striking art of stick combat, hitting multiple times from various angles and heights while stabbing when the opportunity arises. The Harimau tongkat fighters are particularly brutal, stabbing into the neck and eye sockets.

Although tongkat silek is predominantly a striking system, it does contain some of the usual disarming techniques seen in Filipino arnis styles when fighting stick versus stick or against the blade.

The Minangkabu Harimau (tiger) pesilats targeted the lower parts of the body starting with repeated strikes to the head at various angles, only to drop with a downward strike to a crouched kuda (stance), smashing the adversary's knee caps, ankles or groin. This cut the opponent down to their feet and limited their movement and flexibility.

Most stick fighters attack from a distance keeping their body out of range, but the Silek Harimau practitioner’s strategy is to counter-attack from a mid-distance, stopping or parrying off the attack before the opponent's stick can generate its full power by traveling its distance. They then tighlty close the gap which renders the opponent's weapon hand useless due to the compact clinch the two opposing bodies create. This allows the Harimau pesilat to use their close-quarter silat techniques while having the sharp handle of their stick to aid them much like a small knife.

A common counter-attack by Harimau pesilats is to stab using the butt into the pitt behind the enemy's leg while passing by them at a mid-level height. From an upright stance the Minang warriors will also thrust the stabbing point into their opponent's neck from a high angle and then slide their hand down the opposite end of the stick and pull downwards opening the wound further.

The evolution of stick fighting is constant; with modern thinking and the necessity to defend ourselves from various weapons and threats, tongkat silat continues to expand its techniques and ideology. Although a modern mindset is constantly upgrading the use of the stick and its techniques, the principal basics of striking remain true to our ancestors, the cave dwellers. For protection and survival, we simply must swing the stick.

Exclusive publication for Black Triangle Silat website © 2013.