Eye Square Martial Arts

Cultural Preservation… with Bruises (sometimes).

Tag: FMA History

  • The Filipino Martial Arts Bookshelf: An Annotated Reading List

    The Filipino Martial Arts Bookshelf: An Annotated Reading List

    If you’ve ever been cracked on the knuckles during a sinawali drill and thought, “There’s gotta be a story behind all this,” you’re absolutely right.

    Filipino Martial Arts—Arnis, Eskrima, Kali—are more than just sticks and strikes. They’re deeply rooted in the history, culture, and resistance of the Philippine islands. Whether you’re new to the arts or have been swinging a baston for years, understanding where it all comes from adds depth to every movement.

    Here’s a handpicked, annotated list of books and films to deepen your knowledge of FMA and the cultural forces that shaped it.

    🗡️ Historical and Cultural Foundations

    1. Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society – William Henry Scott
    A must-read for precolonial Filipino life. It covers warfare, social classes, and how early communities functioned. Great for understanding the roots of indigenous martial traditions.

    2. Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino – William Henry Scott
    Debunks colonial myths and gives voice to what pre-Spanish Filipino life may have really looked like. Think of it as the historical groundwork beneath your footwork.

    3. An Anarchy of Families – Edited by Alfred W. McCoy
    Less about martial arts directly, but packed with insight on how power, violence, and family dynasties shaped Filipino society. It gives context to how martial skills were preserved and used.

    🏋️️ Martial Arts-Specific Studies

    4. The Filipino Martial Arts – Dan Inosanto
    The book that opened Western eyes to FMA. A solid intro with history, technique, and personal stories. If you train, you should own this.

    5. Filipino Martial Culture – Mark V. Wiley
    Part cultural anthropology, part martial arts tour. Interviews, system overviews, and an honest look at how the arts have evolved.

    6. The History of Filipino Martial Arts – Felipe P. Jocano Jr.
    An academic and practitioner’s view. This one digs into the historical transitions FMA went through—from tribal warfare to colonial resistance.

    🌍 FMA in the Modern World

    7. Kali’s Odyssey – Christopher Ricketts (interviews)
    A look at how FMA traveled with the Filipino diaspora, especially into the U.S. You’ll get a feel for how the art continues to evolve abroad.

    8. RA 9850 (2009): The Arnis Law
    Not a book, but an official recognition by the Philippine government naming Arnis the national martial art and sport. A big deal for preservation and legitimacy.

    🎥 Documentaries and Oral Histories

    9. Eskrimadors (2010, Dir. Kerwin Go)
    A well-produced doc on Cebu-based masters and their systems. Solid footage and interviews. If you want to see FMA in action, start here.

    10. The Bladed Hand (2012, Dir. Jay Ignacio)
    Explores the global reach of FMA with interviews from masters around the world. Shows how the art thrives far beyond the islands.

    Final Thoughts

    You can swing a stick without knowing the history. But once you do know the history? Every strike hits different.

    Whether you’re building your bookshelf or your footwork, these resources will help you connect the dots between the blade, the hand, and the culture that shaped them both.

  • Part 5: From Jungle to Global – The Rise of Modern Filipino Martial Arts

    Part 5: From Jungle to Global – The Rise of Modern Filipino Martial Arts

    After surviving centuries of colonization and a world war, Filipino Martial Arts emerged from the smoke not just intact—but ready to travel. The second half of the 20th century marked the beginning of FMA’s transformation from a secret kept in backyards and barrios to a respected, global martial system. And it all started with one simple truth: people started talking.

    Veterans Started Teaching

    After WWII, many of the men who had fought in the jungles came home and began organizing what they had learned. Some were already informal teachers. But now, systems began to form. Drills were refined. Techniques were cataloged. And for the first time, many of these arts got names—Modern Arnis, Doce Pares, Balintawak, Pekiti-Tirsia, and more.

    Martial arts schools popped up in the Philippines, often still taught behind homes, in church courtyards, or anywhere with enough space to swing a stick. Rank systems were introduced. Uniforms were optional, but pride was not.

    The Diaspora Effect

    As Filipinos migrated abroad—to the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe—they took their culture with them. And that included their martial arts. What started as stick drills in garages or parks turned into full-blown schools. Filipino martial artists in California played a huge role in spreading the art—especially in places like Stockton and Los Angeles.

    And then, of course, came a little boost from Hollywood.

    Enter Bruce Lee (and Dan Inosanto)

    When Bruce Lee started exploring martial arts beyond Wing Chun, he found himself learning from Dan Inosanto—a Filipino-American martial artist trained in FMA. Suddenly, Filipino techniques were showing up on the big screen. Knife work, stick drills, limb destructions—they all looked cool and hit hard.

    This was huge. Bruce Lee gave FMA a moment on the world stage. Dan Inosanto gave it structure, visibility, and credibility. And the global martial arts community started paying attention.

    From Combat to Curriculum

    By the 1980s and 90s, FMA was becoming a staple in military combatives programs, law enforcement training, and civilian self-defense. The arts adapted again—this time for modern threats. Knife defense. Weapon retention. Multiple attacker scenarios. The same principles that worked against invading forces now applied to street-level survival.

    Seminars became the norm. Global organizations formed. Filipino grandmasters were invited to teach internationally. What was once a village art had become a global phenomenon.

    The Cultural Tradeoff

    Of course, with growth comes change. Some systems leaned into sport formats. Others clung fiercely to tradition. Still others got sliced and diced into weekend workshops with little cultural context. But through it all, one thing remained: the arts still worked.

    They remained brutal, efficient, adaptable—and unapologetically Filipino.

    In the next chapter, we’ll bring things up to the present and explore how Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali are being preserved, promoted, and practiced today—and what it means to be a modern-day practitioner of these warrior arts.

  • Part 4: Brass Knuckles and Bolos – Filipino Martial Arts in the American Era and WWII

    Part 4: Brass Knuckles and Bolos – Filipino Martial Arts in the American Era and WWII

    By the end of the 19th century, Spain had worn out its welcome—and the United States saw an opportunity. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippines was handed off like a consolation prize. What followed was decades of American occupation, a war for independence, and one of the most brutal chapters in world history: World War II. Through it all, Filipino martial arts kept adapting—and proving their worth in real combat.

    The Philippine-American War and Guerilla Reality

    From 1899 to 1902, the First Philippine Republic fought fiercely against American forces. While the Americans had rifles, Filipinos fought with whatever they had—bolos, spears, and raw determination. It was a guerrilla war, and FMA was central to it. The jungle wasn’t just terrain—it was a training ground.

    Even after official hostilities ended, pockets of resistance continued. These fighters didn’t wear uniforms, and they didn’t fight by the book. They moved fast, used ambush tactics, and hit where it hurt. And they passed down their skills quietly—just like during the Spanish era.

    From Training Grounds to School Grounds

    The Americans brought with them a love of boxing, baseball, and a school system that emphasized “civilized” sports. Martial arts weren’t part of the curriculum, but that didn’t stop them from thriving in the provinces. Systems were preserved within families or taught through private tutelage. In some cases, stick fighting even became part of physical education—but only in its most watered-down, sportified form.

    Still, many of the old masters kept the real material alive. Backyard lessons. Nighttime training. Real-deal blade work.

    The War That Changed Everything

    When World War II hit, the Japanese occupation of the Philippines was brutal. Civilians became soldiers, and martial skill became survival skill. FMA practitioners—some already veterans of resistance against the Spanish or Americans—once again took to the jungles.

    Many Filipino fighters served alongside American forces in irregular units like the USAFFE and various guerrilla groups. And yes—FMA was used. Bolos were standard gear. Improvised weapons, ambush tactics, blade work, hand-to-hand combat—it wasn’t theory. It was life or death.

    The Influence of WWII on FMA

    The war created a generation of hardened fighters. Some would go on to systematize what they’d learned in blood. When the war ended and the Philippines became independent in 1946, many of these warriors began to teach in earnest.

    This was the era that produced legends. Many of the grandmasters who shaped Modern Arnis, Doce Pares, Balintawak, and other systems came of age during or just after WWII. Their systems were forged from experience.

    A Legacy of Resistance and Reinvention

    From machetes against muskets to bolos against bayonets, Filipino martial arts remained what they had always been: practical, adaptable, and dangerous. The American period and World War II didn’t just test the arts—they validated them.

    In the next chapter, we’ll explore how Filipino martial arts went from village secrets to global exports—thanks to migration, Hollywood, and one very influential Bruce Lee.

  • The Sword in the Soul of the Islands: Why Filipino Martial History Matters

    The Sword in the Soul of the Islands: Why Filipino Martial History Matters

    When people think about martial arts, they usually imagine kung fu masters leaping off rooftops or UFC fighters trading elbows in a cage. But tucked away in the tropical mess of jungles, islands, and traffic jams we call the Philippines is something just as badass—if not more: Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali.

    These aren’t just some old-school ways to swing a stick around. They’re survival systems. They’re family legacies. They’re the “hold my bolo and watch this” moments passed down from generation to generation. More than that, they’re cultural time capsules—full of grit, improvisation, and a deep refusal to stay conquered.

    See, looking at Philippine history through the lens of its martial arts isn’t just about techniques or training drills. It’s about how people adapted to hundreds of years of colonizers trying to kill their culture—and still found a way to hit back. Sometimes literally.

    When the Spanish said “No weapons allowed,” Filipinos said, “Cool, we’ll just dance with them instead.” When the Americans brought boxing and baseball, the old arts went underground but never disappeared. These arts lived in fiestas, in rituals, in little moments where someone would casually flip a stick around and say, “Yeah, I used to train a bit.”

    This series is going to walk through Philippine history with an eye for the fighters—tribal warriors, resistance leaders, backyard masters, and everyone in between. We’ll talk about why people fought, how they fought, and what they passed down. This isn’t just for the historians. This is for anyone who’s ever taken a shot to the knuckles during a sinawali drill and smiled through the pain.

    So if you train in Filipino martial arts—or you’re just curious where this whole stick-twirling madness came from—strap in. This is the story of the Philippines, told through its fighters. It’s a little bit blood, a little bit blade, and a whole lot of spirit.

    Let’s get started.