Hoplology: The Phoenix Rises

2 SPRING 2019 M AS TE R S MAG AZ INE I N DI GI TAL F OR MAT ! www.mastersmag.com Published by Empire Media ART DEPARTMENT Creative Design MMR Design Solutions Production Manager Mario M. Rodriguez EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Ben Judkins Micheal J Ryan The Immersion Labs CONTRIBUTORS Benjamin N. Judkins Michael J. 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Martial Arts Masters 1 CONTENTS SPRING 2019 30 HOPLOLOGY: The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts By Michael J. Ryan 6 A SPECIAL ISSUE Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology By Benjamin N. Judkins 50 2 GOING AWAY TO FIND ONES ROOTS By Wayne Quintyne SPRING 2019 12 58 ILF CARIBBEAN: The Hoplology Expedition to Barbados By Michael J Ryan RONDEL BENJAMIN: Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer By Jon White 40 66 PROFESSOR, MUSIC TEACHER AND STICKLICKER: An Interview with Philip Forde By Mahipal Lunia CARRYING THE TRADITIONS INTO THE FUTURE: Keegan, Chantwell and Bois Man By Rondel Benjamin Martial Arts Masters 3 CONTENTS SPRING 2019 About the Cover: The faces of a New Hoplology on expedition in Barbados. “This expedition was the beginning of what I’m calling “Hoplology: Immersion.” The project will be a very immersive study of combat in a systematic way.” -Mahipal Lunia 72 88 108 MEMORIES OF OLD-TIME BARBADOS WITH DAVID “BIGGARD” HINDS By Michael J. Ryan TFINDING AN ANCHOR IN HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING By Vincent Tamer AN INTERVIEW WITH T.J. DESCH-OBI: Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African and Afro-American Combative Arts By Mahipal Lunia 78 RONALD ALFRED: Guardian of Martial Tradition, Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer By Rondel Benjamin 98 122 THE FIGHTING STICK AND MACHETE IN VENEZUELAN GAROTTE: An Interview with Michael J. Ryan By Mahipal Lunia MAHIPAL LUNIA: From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force By Michael J. Ryan Can’t get enough Masters Magazine? Join us at Facebook/Martial Arts Masters. 4 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 5 A SPECIAL ISSUE A Special Issue: CARIBBEAN COMBAT ARTS AND THE NEW HOPLOLOGY By Benjamin N. Judkins The faces of a New Hoplology. 6 SPRING 2019 H ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean. We have all heard stories of adventurers who set out on a quest only to discover much more than they had bargained for. The accounts of pioneering martial artists are full of such tales as it is impossible to gain a detailed understanding of how individuals fight without also coming to appreciate the cultural values that they seek to uphold. Nothing Mahipal The silent guiding force by which events happen. reveals the ways in which a community functions quite as clearly as how its members fight, play, spar and train for combat. This is not a particularly new insight, but it is one that is frequently neglected. Late 19th and early 20th century social scientists undertook a number of studies of combative behavior in their quest to understand human culture. Some of these studies contributed to the creation of “Hoplology.” That banner was again taken up by Donn F. Draeger and his followers in the post-WWII period as they sought to explore and catalogue the fighting systems of East Asia (often with a special emphasis on feudal Japan). Yet Hoplology, most simply defined as the study of human combative behavior, has a knack for being forgotten. After a brief flowering of interest in the early 20th century, most Western readers lost interest in the subject following the First World War. While Donn F. Draeger’s attempted revival generated a fair degree of popular interest, he died before his dream of establishing Hoplology as a legitimate field of academic study could be accomplished. Despite some ongoing popular interest, the project never found a foothold in the university. There are no academic institutes for the study of Hoplology or scholarly, peer-reviewed, journals dedicated to its research. Instead, we have recently seen the birth of a much wider interdisciplinary project termed “Martial Arts Studies.” It has brought together scholars from fields like history, Benji the caretaker and guardian of Trinianthropology, sociology and media studies, all of whom are united by a common inter- dad and Tobago’s martial culture.. est in understanding the role that the martial arts play within society. Within the last decade we have seen the creation of conferences, peer reviewed journals and even the awarding of research grants seeking to advance the field. More scholarly books on the martial arts are being published now than ever before. Increasingly young scholars are discovering innovative ways of bringing together the time that they spend in the library and training hall. In a very real sense, the growth of Martial Arts Studies is the fulfillment of Draeger’s dream, even if it is not the sort of field that he initially envisioned. This new literature is much broader in scope than the experiments in Hoplology that came earlier in the 20th century. Studies are being published examining fighting systems from many regions and time periods. Further, researchers are bringing a wide variety of theoretical perspectives to these questions. Yet while most of this work is inspired by actual martial arts practice, it tends to focus on the interaction of these fighting systems with other social, cultural, economic or political factors. Detailed explorations, or comparative studies, of actual techniques, or even the material culture that surrounds a martial art (e.g., weapons, training gear) are much rarer. This led me, in a recent essay, to wonder if perhaps there might be space for a “New Hoplology” within the growing Martial Arts Studies literature? Biggard the voice of old world wisdom. Martial Arts Masters 7 A SPECIAL ISSUE Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology It seems likely that the moment has arrived. Yet we must also frankly acknowledge that much has changed since Draeger’s time. Any attempt to create a New Hoplology will have to be grounded in the most recent theoretical and methodological innovations. It must also move beyond simple attempts to catalogue “traditional” practices, or a single-minded focus on only one area of the world. While studies of the recent or distant past are valuable, it should be obvious to all that interpersonal combative behavior shows no sign of becoming obsolete. Rather, it evolves and changes as the global system bring together new ideas, technologies and groups of people. We are enriched by this process, but it also generates new sources of identity and therefore social tensions. Indeed, the social history of the Caribbean, and the fighting systems it gave rise to, is an almost ideal case study of this process. One might be tempted to dismiss Hoplology as a quaint 19th century term. And it is all too easy see the ways in which its earliest incarnations were deeply rooted in the colonialism of that century. Yet the rise of new identities, tensions and conflicts in the current moment make the systematic study of combative behavior, understood within a specific cultural context, more relevant than ever. Keegan Music producer and champion Bois- man. A recent research expedition to the island of Barbados, undertaken by the Immersion Labs Foundation (ILF), has brought back not only exciting accounts of the region’s little-known styles of machete, stick and whip fighting, but also important insights as to what the New Hoplology may have to offer all students of the martial arts. Within the pages of this special issue you will read about the experiences of nine individuals as they traveled from across North America and the Caribbean to meet the masters of several styles, some never before documented. This culminated in an exchange of information geared towards preserving the region’s intangible cultural heritage. The ILF expedition called upon local practitioners, professional martial arts instructors and academics in an attempt to both document these practices and discover the underlying social conditions that led to their rise, fall and transformation within the modern era. What follows are a few of the articles, accounts and interviews generated during the course of this expeditions. Each of these items was selected because it introduces readers to a new set of practices, concepts and historical narratives which, when combined, paint a remarkable picture of the traditional Caribbean fighting arts. Yet this picture is still not complete. The expedition is best understood as a pilot project meant to pave the way for additional, long-term, fieldwork in the coming years. Michael Ryan anthropologist, rock climber, scholar of Latin American martial arts. 8 SPRING 2019 Still, the research presented here suggests fruitful directions for future research. Much of the initial work conducted to date has focused on questions of masculinity and martial performance in the Caribbean. Yet some of these systems were also practiced by women, and all of them required the support of female community members to survive for as long as they did. Future research is necessary to recover the perspectives of both female participants and spectators alike. It should also be noted that the exploratory research conducted to date has focused almost exclusively on describing the oldest layers of “traditional” practice that are still available to researchers. Sadly, many of these practices are in decline, hence efforts must be made to preserve this cultural heritage and make it more widely available to the next generation. Still, several questions remain as to why local forms of combat declined in popularity at exactly the same time that other knife and stick methods (such as the Filipino martial arts) began to thrive in the region. Many aspects of the modern practice, transformation and hybridization of these fighting systems are touched on in the interviews below, but these questions require much more research. Lastly, some of these fighting systems, much like their better known cousin Capoeira, are associated with unique musical traditions which would benefit from additional detailed study. Future field-work in the area (especially in Trinidad and Tobago) might benefit from the presence of an ethnomusicologist. Yet the ILF’s research in the area is clearly off to a strong start. The following issue begins with two important articles by Dr. Michael J. Ryan. They set the stage for everything that follows by introducing the basic concepts and systems discussed throughout the rest of this issue. The first of these is a day-by-day account of the ILF’s investigation of Caribbean martial culture during their recent expedition to Barbados. This essay opens a window onto the process of conducting this sort of fieldwork and introduces readers to the practitioners and researchers who will reappear in Philip Musician Bajan sticklicker and subsequent interviews. scholar. Equally important is his next essay titled “Hoplology: The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts.” This piece provides readers with a basic introduction to the concept of Hoplology, as well as a historical review of its development from the late 19th century to the present. Ryan’s discussion is particularly important as it begins the work of establishing the New Hoplology’s mission within the quickly expanding field of Martial Arts Studies. We are then introduced to Dr. Philip Forde, a local practitioner of stick fighting and a historical researcher who recently completed his doctoral training at the University of the West Indies. He provides a detailed introduction to “Sticklicking” as it developed on the island of Barbados and a review of the major styles of the art still practiced today. His discussion also provides important context which helps to situate some of the following interviews with local practitioners. Wayne Quintyne (a professional martial artist) has authored an autobiographical article titled “Going Away to Find One’s Roots.” This account traces Quintyne’s journey from being a student of various globally popular martial arts to a renewed focus on the unique forms of stick fighting that are indigenous to Barbados. Likewise, the following interview with Rondel Benjamin (who teaches at the Bois Academy) examines Ronald drawing back a curtain on the many similar themes, this time in relation to an entire family of fighting arts known Indo- Afro Trinidadian JabJab. as “Kalinda,” which are found only in Trinidad and Tobago. Benjamin’s account is particularly relevant to those attempting to understand the current practice of these arts as it touches on the importance of modern forms of social media, popular culture and community programs in the perpetuation of local culture. Rondel Benjamin then provides readers with an interview of Keegan Taylor, one of his top students and another instructor of Kalinda. Taylor elaborates on a number of points which help us to further understand Trinidad and Tobago’s martial culture. His discussion of traditional music, and how his martial and musical training have influenced one another, are also significant. Following these discussions readers return to “Memories of Old Time Barbados” with David “Biggard” Hinds. His family has been deeply involved with Sticklicking for generations and he was originally instructed in the art by his grandfather. Biggard provides readers with vivid accounts of the stick fighting culture which dominated the area during the mid 20th century. Next Ronald Alfred introduces readers to the world of “Jab Jab Devils.” This local tradition from Trinidad combines public performance, ritual practice and a whip-based TJ shining a light on the elusive scholar of combat system in what is probably the most unique, and least understood, martial system African and African-American martial outlined in this issue. The account provided here is a stark reminder of the diversity of arts. Martial Arts Masters 9 A SPECIAL ISSUE Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology human combative behavior, and what might be lost if steps are not taken to document and preserve these practices now. The issue then concludes with pieces by a number of the ILF’s core expedition members. In the first Vincent Tamer, who served as both the cameraman and site coordinator for the expedition, reflects on his journey of personal discovery and the ways in which it has been enriched by both the martial arts and his recent involvement with Hoplological research. Dr. Michael J. Ryan then introduces readers to the unique forms of stick and machete fighting that have developed in Venezuela. This discussion begins to pull together the pieces necessary for a true comparative study. Vincent the go-to man, film maker and student of the combative arts. Prof. T. J. Desch-Obi, a noted historian of African and Afro-Caribbean martial arts, takes readers on a detailed journey through the complex systems of “Grima,” or machete and stick fighting, that have become deeply entwined with Columbia’s political and social history. Readers may be surprised by the size and complexity of the martial culture which he describes. Finally, Mahipal Lunia, the expedition’s leader, reflects on his experiences within the martial arts and those factors that led him to develop a passion for the comparative study of traditional fighting systems. This special issue hopes to share with readers a genuine journey of discovery. The research of the ILF team, while still in its preliminary stages, is revealing important information about a little-known group of traditional combat practices that arose within the Western hemisphere. Just as importantly, they are illustrating what can be accomplished when the technical and scholarly study of the martial arts are brought together. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED About the Author Wayne the professional martial artist. Benjamin N. Judkins holds a doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University and is currently a Visiting Scholar with the Cornell University East Asia Program. He is the co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Martial Arts Studies. [1] With Jon Nielson he is the co-author of The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (SUNY Press, 2015). [2] He also curates “Kung Fu Tea: Martial Arts History, Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Arts,” a popular blog dedicated to the scholarly study of the martial arts. [3] [1] www.mas.cardiffuniversitypress.org [2] www.amazon.com/Creation-Wing-Chun-History-Southern [3] www.chinesemartialstudies.com 10 SPRING 2019 ILF CARIBBEAN The Jab Jab Devils. 12 SPRING 2019 ILF CARIBBEAN The Hoplology Expedition to Barbados By Michael J. Ryan Ph.D. Martial Arts Masters 13 ILF CARIBBEAN ARTICLE TITLE T “Kalinda is a way of life… It is a way of life that shapes your every movement…To become a master of the ‘stick science’ one must discover their own way to move attack and defend.” Three generations of sticklickers. 14 SPRING 2019 wo men from Trinidad, each armed with two short bladed machetes are chanting a tune, bodies swaying, reeling and rocking back and forth alternately attacking, parrying and countering the slashes, thrusts and cuts of the other. T.J. Desch (friends and fellow university professor) and I are standing in a parking lot in Farley Hill National Park in Barbados, serving as the expedition’s designated gophers as everyone else searches for a good spot for the morning shoot. Twenty minutes earlier I had just finished an 11-hour commute from my classroom in upstate New York, and I was already mesmerized by an art form I never knew existed. “Whew!” I said to myself, “This is getting serious really quick. It is going to be an amazing trip!” These first impressions were not wrong, the sense of wonder and awe continued non-stop for the rest of the week as we were introduced to several Caribbean combative traditions, a couple of which I had only heard of and two of which I had no idea existed. Such was the excitement shared by all of us who took part in this reconnaissance, or exploratory hoplological expedition to Barbados. Hoplology is a social science discipline that began in the mid 19th century. It sought to understand the different types of weapons that explorers and soldiers would come across as they conquered new territories. Why did some tribes prefer fighting with spears while, in the next valley over, another tribe preferred fighting with bows and arrows? Why is there such a great diversity in the shapes, sizes and weights of swords? Later on, professional scholars began to look at the evolutionary development of aggression, asking such questions such as how universal patterns of aggression might shape the development of local martial art traditions. Currently hoplology is open to a variety of approaches. For example, some hoplologists are interested in the connections between martial art traditions from the Old and New Worlds. Another branch of hoplology is interested in how different cultures using the same type of weapon developed such different ways of using a similar technology. Another approach to hoplology examines how martial arts change in communities that are under societal pressure from modernization. NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: These are some of the many questions that led nine people from all around North America and the Caribbean to meet on the island of Barbados for 11 days. While there we sought to document a number of martial art traditions before they disappeared forever. Due to teaching responsibilities, I arrived a few days later then everybody else. In fact, as the cab dropped me off at the house where we would be staying, Mahipal Lunia, the expedition leader, came outside to greet me saying “Welcome to Barbados, I hope you had a nice trip. Put your bags in this room and be ready to leave in five minutes.” Sweaty, tired and hungry, but full of nervous energy, I said “OK,” threw my suitcase in the room, grabbed my Venezuelan fighting sticks and hopped in one of the two rental cars. History Revisited My head was still swimming as our group drove along the Atlantic coast line. We gazed over miles and miles of blindingly white sand, blue waters and crashing waves, all underneath a clear sunny sky. After a few minutes of driving the land changed from a James flat coastal beach to hilly bluffs. We watched By as the sandy Herndon beaches gave way to rocky limestone coves and massive boulders. The cars then turned away from the beach to head up into the hills of Barbados. One must keep in mind the hills in Barbados are no more than a couple hundred feet above sea level and that the island is so small that one you its ever wanted to discover the origins of there a little-known martial art, or can driveave around entire coastline in 45 minutes when is no traffic. practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issuethe of Our scenic drive ended in a parking lot. Mahipal, the cameraman Vincent and Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine driver of the second car, David ‘Biggard’ Hinds, jumped out and took off up a hill with theold practical and scholarly of global systems newhungry and innovative an grey stone building study on top. I wasfighting thinking about in how I was, andways. the Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages devellarge trunk that needed to carried to the top of the hill, when I heard thewas sounds of oped here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the men chanting. I turned, looked and was struck by what I saw. One of the men, Rondel Caribbean. (or Benji as he liked to be called) was a kind looking man in his mid-40’s, about 5’10” H I met and215 trained withThe “Mr.B.” to 1971, when we in were members of and about pounds. otherfrom man,1969 Keegan, looked to be his both mid-30’s around United Air pounds. Force; heBoth was were stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and was 6the feet and aStates solid 225 big men, but with a pair of machetes in Ieach stationed Robinswith AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We both recently stateside hand theyatmoved a grace and a lightness thathad bespoke of many returned years of training. from our overseas It was about a two-hour drive from my all base Suddenly, hearing adeployments. holler from somewhere up the hill telling us to hurry, fourtoofhis; us and I made weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually runand by Ben Mooney in grabbed the frequent trunks full of camera equipment, machetes, and sticks began to follow downtown the voice. Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he wasWe a Godan in and Shito-ryu, I felt wasequipment worth my at time and effortonce to get to know stopped dumped all itthe a mansion featured inhim the and old learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial 1957 movie “Island In The Sun”. Due to a fire in 1965, and subsequent years of neglect, arts media. it was now an old crumbling roofless building. Its interior walls were covered with moss Playing Gilpin on the beach. With firsthand this article I will review the background context of and vines crawledknowledge, up and out in where the windows must have been. Whatand once was the the development of theforest National Karate and (NKJU), founded by floor was now a small of saplings andJujitsu ferns. Union Feeling good, enjoying theRichard sunny Baillargeon in and 1974. Mysky, viewpoints maythe notequipment be shared down, by others. OK.letI warm weather clear both T.J.may and or I laid stoodThat’s back and onlyaction know unfold. what I know through my own began eyes and experiences, and through conversathe Mahipal and Vincent to set up the cameras on the rough-cut tionspaving with many the once people whom I will name below.ofFirst, some background and grey stonesofthat served as the front entrance the building. context. While they were occupied with this, Benji and Keegan pulled out their Kalinda sticks. These sticks are fairly big, 49 inches long and a little over an inch in diameter. Gripping Training in Japan these sticks on either end with both hands they began to weave and hop, swerve and Whiletowards stationed at other Johnson Air Force near Sayama, scutter each weaving theirBase sticks around theirSaitama bodies Prefecture, until, with Japan, a sudbetween 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin den explosion, they clashed like two big rams, blocking countering, and dodging rapid Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered Osaka. powerful strikes, until by mutual consent they stopped. With smiles and hugs, in both men Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during backed off and began again. After a few minutes of this Keegan and Benji grabbed T.J. WWII. Kyoshin Kayo member of the Japan Self-Defense and blasted was assigned and Mahipal saying “Letwas us ateach you Kalinda.” A small portableForces, CD player some to Iruma/Johnson. The style karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by Soca music and Keegan beganofteaching a number of basic long and close-range strikes. When he got close to his opponent, Keegan would let his stick slide halfway down his hand, to better strike close in targets such as the collarbone or the back of the skull. Martial MartialArts ArtsMasters Masters 15 ILF CARIBBEAN Benji then took center stage and taught over 20 different footwork patterns, to confuse, intimidate, and sneakily bring the Kalinda man close enough to his opponent to launch an attack. Benji went on to explain how, Kalinda is much more then a set of techniques one memorizes. Instead, in order to master the art, one must as he said, “Listen to the music and then find the music within yourself.” Kalinda, he went on, is not just a competitive martial art that one does during Carnival season and then the sticks are put away until next year. No! It is a way of life that shapes your every thought and movement. To become a master of the “stick science,” as he called Kalinda, one must discover their own ways to move, attack and defend. Thoroughly exhausted after a couple of hours of shooting and training, Mahipal asked T.J. and I to demonstrate Capoeira Angola as part of an effort to showcase another combative art that, like Kalinda, possess strong West-Central African roots. Although neither of us had played in years, we played a slow, low to the ground game, until we were tired. Excited by what he saw, and gaining a second wind, Keegan jumped in and played a similar type of Capoeira game with T.J. All of us by that time were exhausted and so we all sat against a wall out of the way of the tropical sun and listened as Benji with a recently cut stick he had brought from Trinidad advised us how to pick and cut a proper Kalinda stick. Let me tell you a little more about Benji. A passion for Caribbean martial arts led this man to a study of Kalinda, Rope-Jab and Capoeira Angola. An equally strong interest in practical combat led to a study of BJJ, Catch Wrestling, Sambo, Piper knife and a number of others. I found him extremely well-read, open-minded and generous with his knowledge and time. It was a real pleasure to meet him. Sitting against a wall of the former mansion and scraping the stick with a broken beer bottle, Benji showed us how to shape and clean the stick up. After a long lunch, we continued interviewing these two men and then filmed Keegan doing freestyle Gilpin, or double machete movements. By that time Philip Forde, a Sticklicker from Barbados and one of the main participants responsible for bringing us all together, showed up in the late afternoon to continue our investigations. He brought with him 91-year-old Courtnay ‘Cherry-boy’ Medford. An old time Sticklicker, whom the group had interviewed at length on Monday, he provided us with fascinating information which I will return to later. We then packed up, found a restaurant, ate and went back to the house where we talked about Caribbean and South American martial arts until 3:00 in the morning. The Guiding Light and the Anchor. Listening to everybody talk, I heard how the expedition had begun in earnest Sunday morning when, the North American group, and the Barbadians, Philip, Wayne and the driver Biggard set off for a plantation museum outside of the capital city of Bridgetown. There, in an old small wooden shack, Wayne demonstrated how the Queensbury style of Sticklicking was taught and practiced. Using Biggard as a partner, Wayne demonstated how training in confined spaces as found in these types of living conditions shaped the tight and economical movements that characterize the system. After a long day of filming, the North American group went to the airport to pick up another group of Trinidadian martial artists. The wealth of information being recorded was amazing. Lying down to sleep I kept thinking of the great film footage shot and the many interesting stories recorded. Waking up a few hours later, to the sounds of Mahipal’s voice, we forced ourselves up, swallowed a few bites of whatever food we could find and by 7:30 A.M. were in the cars and out on the road for day two. This time we drove further down the Atlantic coast and then up into the hills to a former plantation where we were introduced to the art of Ronald, the “Jab-Jab King.” A big man at about 6’4’ and 275 pounds, Ronald had not 16 SPRING 2019 NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited By James Herndon H ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean. I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. was about a two-hour fromall mycurious base toabout his; said much up to this point, just aItquiet and gentle man, sodrive we were and made weekend drives to visit hisRonald dojo (actually by Ben Mooney in him Iand his frequent art. While the camera crew set up, and Benjirun donned their carnival downtown Valdosta, not on base).or Although Shodan inthemselves Shorin-ryu, he mas, or costumes, known as the Jab-Jab, the devils.I was Thea costumes areand quite was a Godan Shito-ryu, I felt itofwas worth colored my timesatin and effort to cloth get to decorated know himwith and colorful madeinout of a numbered different and silk learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial intricate beadings, bells and decorative trims. On his chest the Jab-Jab devil will wear arts media. a heart-shaped cloth decorated with sequins, rhinestones and small mirrors. Sandals areWith wornfirsthand on the feet and a padded with two the devilish horns and facemask knowledge, in this headpiece article I will review background andacontext of completes the head covering. the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpointsatmay may not shared by festival others. of That’s OK. isI A little background is necessary this or point. Thebepre-Lenten Carnival only know all what I know through my ownoreyes and experiences, and through conversacelebrated around catholic countries former catholic colonies. North American tions with many of the people whom I will background and readers might recognize this celebration as name Mardi below. Gras inFirst, Newsome Orleans. As it took context. shape in Trinidad and Tobago, the enslaved African populations were once forbidden to celebrate Carnival. After slavery was abolished in 1833, the Afro-Trinidadians began to Training in Japan take to the streets on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Lent dressed up in a number of While stationed at Johnson Air Force nearand Sayama, Saitama Prefecture,Calypso Japan, extravagant costumes. Accompanying theBase masked costumed merrymakers, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin bands would parade up and down the streets with revelers dancing, drinking, eating and Kayo, was with havoc the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered Osaka. causingwho a lot of affiliated good-natured and some not-so-good-natured trouble.in Usually Johnson was formerly Iruma Air gather Base when it wastounder Japanese control during bands of AFB neighbors or villages would together parade, and with the Jab-Jab WWII. Kyoshin Kayo waswhips a member of the Self-Defense Forces,they and was assigned devils armed with hemp leading theJapan dancers and musicians, would playto Iruma/Johnson. The style karate they practiced Shito-ryu, as being refined by fully threaten onlookers with of a lashing if not offered awas drink or a handful of change. If the Jab-Jab devils leading a parade met another parading group, both groups of Jab-Jab devils would fight it out with whips to see who had the right-of-way. What is interesting about this these ‘whip-jab’ contests was that it is directly related to the immigration of South Asians from India in the mid-19th century. Brought to Trinidad as agricultural Exotic locations, crazy adventures, and plenty of hard work. Wild at heart and focused of mind sums up the spirit of the trip. “. . . dressed in their costumes and armed with 12 foot long hemp whips, the Jab Jab danced shook and bounced down the road snapping their whips and warning everybody the devil is coming. . .” Martial Arts Masters 17 ILF CARIBBEAN laborers, Indians, contributed their own styles of music, food, and religion to Trinidadian culture. What interested us in particular was a deep knowledge of a variety of whips once used to drive animals and that could also act as very sophisticated weapons Dressed in their costumes and armed with 12-foot hemp whips with wooden handles, Ronald and Benji danced and shook and bounced down the road snapping their whips and chanting. Singing songs that warned everybody within hearing that the devil is coming and that any other devils better run and hide, or they will suffer being beaten badly, if not killed, by the lashes of the Jab-Jab King. Watching Ronald and Benji snap their whips was spell-binding. A number of us swear we saw sparks fly from Ronald’s whip when he snapped it. Counter ambush training in sugarcane fields. After showing us how the Jab-Jab Kings would lead his troupe, Ronald then began to explain how the different rope-whips and cable whips were made. He showed us how these weapons could be controlled to such an extent that an expert could not only send his whip around and behind another Jab-Jab man, but up to his face to rip off his mask and take out an eye. It turns out blinding the other Jab-Jab King was one of the main goals in a Jab-Jab duel. A JabJab man could also rip the flesh off an opponent, while leaving the clothes intact. He could whip the heart shaped cloth the Jab-Jab devils wear on their chest, symbolically taking his heart. They could cut all the seams in a man’s costume leaving him naked in the street. When in extreme close-range, the wooden handles could be used to pummel the opposing devils skull. Ronald also brought shorter cable whips made out of steel cable, and covered with fibers taken from a cactus, Ronald told us these whips could break bones and rupture internal organs while leaving the clothes or the skin of the man intact. Ronald then showed us how he trained for power by whipping trees. We would then mark individual leaves on a tree and Ronald would strike them with his whip 10 feet away with incredible accuracy and just obliterate the leaf we picked out! Finally, he told us a little how the Jab-Jab devils also undergo strict purification practices involving, prayer, meditations, ritual baths, and herbal medicines hinting at a deep hidden knowledge that these men possessed. From here we moved to another side of the former plantation and in small clearing in the forest that had taken over the land, Keegan and Benji taught Mahipal and myself Gilpin. The double machetes, or Gilpin, comes out of the same cultural and historical environment as Kalinda. Much like Kalinda, the oppressive colonial rule in Trinidad once forced many people to become bandits, robbers or smugglers to survive. These men are often remembered as Robin-Hood types protected by local villagers and, at times, shared the wealth with the poor villagers. It was among the former bandits, now turned criminals, that the art of the double machetes, or Gilpin, was practiced and taught to Benji and Keegan. After long and careful deliberation, they decided to bring it out into the open to keep it from dying out. The machetes are short bladed about 20 inches or less and often had hooks on the end showing their origins as agricultural tools. Keegan is a great teacher and a top 18 SPRING 2019 Kalinda Champion. In addition, he is the co-founder of ‘BadJohn Productions’, one of the top producers of Soca music today. Here too, it was stressed how the movements of Gilpin are found in the everyday life of the farmer, the fisherman and the laborer. The same footwork and body movement that shapes Kalinda also influences Gilpin. What is different is that the two hands can move independently one high or one low when attacking, or they can attack or defend in pairs trapping the other machetes while allowing the other to disengage one of his own machetes and attack before his opponent can free his own machetes. From here we finally went down to the beach where I brought out a pair of Dog Brothers padded sticks. Here we had a chance to strike each other as hard as we could and try out our own fighting skills against each other. A lot of laughter ensued, and a fun time was had by all after a couple days of hard work. Again, after dinner at the same restaurant we all went back to the house and talk revolved around Ronald and the JabJab rituals, training, history and other stories of martial art traditions until 2:30-3:00 in the morning. Thursday saw us once again up early at the sound of Mahipal’s voice, reminding us we have to be out of the house and on the road by 7:30 A.M. This time we drove up to one of the oldest churches in Barbados where everyone spent the day demonstrating their arts. Ronald showed the cable whip and how it would work against stick attacks, Benji and Keegan demonstrated Kalinda and Gilpin again and T.J. demonstrated Colombian Grima. The Rouges Gallery. Martial Arts Masters 19 ILF CARIBBEAN Cherry boy shows Mahipal old school cuts. A late addition to the group, T.J. Desch-Obi is a tall and slender, yet deceptively strong, history professor from New York City. He is the author of the book Fighting For Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic (University of South Carolina Press, 2008). TJ spent the last 20 years traveling through Africa and the Americas learning a number of martial art traditions from Brazilian Capoeira and Brazilian JiuJitsu to Nigerian side-hold wrestling and Grima, although he is so quiet and low-key no one would ever guess. Once he became comfortable and began to open up, he proved to be an invaluable resource for locating all these arts within a set of historical connections between West-Central Africa and Americas. He also demonstrated Grima. Grima is a general term which refers to approximately 30 (or more) styles of Afro-Colombian styles of fighting with a walking sized stick in one hand and a machete in the other. After T.J.’s demonstration it was my turn. I gave a brief demonstration of the Palo Sangriento or ‘Bloody Stick’ style of Venezuelan garrote as it is practiced in the city of Barquisimeto. Finally, after a brief rain storm had forced a small break, Wayne a practioner of the Queensberry style of Sticklicking demonstrated the basic attacks and defenses of his art accompanied by Biggard. Wayne and Benji were the only two professional martial artists in our group. Of medium height and looking to be in good shape, Wayne studied Sticklicking under three different teachers. He has also invested a lot of time and money training with a number of martial art systems such as Savate, JKD, Shoot-Wrestling and several others taught by teachers under the banner of Dan Inosanto’s system. Biggard was such a helpful man. Appearing to be in his late 50’s’s, Biggard was quite a ‘rouge’ in his younger days as he gleefully told us one night, and enjoyed drinking, gambling and fighting with sticks. However, he married, settled down and raised a family and put his roguish ways behind him. An accident crippled him for years, through sheer strength of will he forced himself to walk and move around again. Although still not fully recovered, Biggard drove a number of us in his van and showed us his own highly skilled style of stick fighting which he had learned from his grandfather. Biggard was still 20 SPRING 2019 a bold and curious man and pulled us all to the side, at one time or another, during the week so he could test his skills against all of us, sparring with us with great control and care. Biggard was an unexpected treasure and we both learned much from the man and enjoyed his company. That night proved to be a memorable occasion. After Ronald had trained us with the rope-whip, and in order to show his appreciation, he invited Mahipal to be initiated into the rope-whip art. Unsure, what to expect yet humbled and excited at the unexpected gift, Mahipal was told to stand still about 10 feet away. The leader of the group, Mahipal at about 5’11 and 185 pounds, appeared a bit nervous. Nevertheless, willing to endure an unknown level of promised of pain, Ronald swung the hemp rope at him “gently” as he emphasized. I guess it was “gentle.” I heard a crack as the rope-whip wrapped around Mahipal’s lower chest then up between his arm and chest and struck him in the face. Ronald then gifted him with a rope-whip to continue his practice. Congratulating him we saw the whip had left a welt along Manipal’s inner arm and bloodied his lower lip. And this was a gentle strike! It was then Vincent turn to be initiated. Vincent, a tall lean man in his mid-20’s was the cameraman, the location manager, tech-guy and a long-term student of Mahipal. Where Mahipal was the low-key leader of the group gently encouraging us towards a common goal, Vincent was the anchor of the group who we all relied on for everything. Ronald gave him a gentle lash as well that forced an involuntary shriek from the recipi- Martial Arts Masters 21 ILF CARIBBEAN The hoplological laboratory in action. ent of the gift “served with love” as Benji would say. Ronald then presented Vincent with a whip too. We all clapped in delight, and appreciation, of all the work Mahipal and Vincent put in to make this expedition happen. The Trinidadian contingent departed early Friday morning and with them left a definite energy. They were missed as they added so much to the overall feel and energy of the group. Still, the expedition must continue. Again, waking up and grabbing a quick bite to eat, we were soon off again. This time our destination was a rum-shop located in the working-class suburbs of Bridgetown. Here we met Phillip and his son. Phillip, who recently completed his Ph.D. dissertation on Sticklicking at the University of the West Indies, told us that he likes to come here for a drink every once in a while, to escape the stiffness and formality of Academia. A music teacher by profession, Phillip is a 6-foottall, well-built man with a quiet, understated way. He also possesses a wicked sense of humor combined with a sharp mind and a nefarious skill with the Bajan fighting stick. About 39” inches long the Bajan fighting stick is a fearsome weapon that once earned Barbadian men a reputation through the Caribbean and South America as people not to be trifled with lightly. The Rum-shop was just a simple wooden building behind a big house on stilts where people took refuge from the blazing sun by setting up lawn chairs underneath the house to sit around talk and relax. Simple rough-cut unpainted lumber made up the bar, and sheets of unpainted plywood made up the walls, with a wooden bench of unfinished wood going around three sides of the room for people to sit and drink. Scattered around the bar were also a few plastic chairs. Mahipal was feeling in an especially good mood this day and began demonstrating a number of Japanese battlefield arts, Internal Chinese arts and Filipino weapon forms he had studied over the years, entertaining the crowd of locals and expedition members. As an anthropologist, I was more interested in the local culture and wandered over to the bar and had a few shots of the local rum to get me in the proper spirit of things. I am 22 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 23 ILF CARIBBEAN “When going to a rum-shop or a party. Men would hide their sticks outside near the place where they were going so when trouble was brewing, they could quickly retrieve their sticks.” an older, tall, lean Cultural Anthropologist who teaches in the African and Latino Studies program at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York. In addition to writing the book Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts (Lexington, 2016), I have a background in Capoeira, Monkey Kung Fu, Pentjak Silat, Venezuelan Garrote and Italian martial arts. Headed towards the bar, I remembered hearing from Philip that in the past when going to a rum-shop or a party, men would hide their sticks outside near the place where they were going so when trouble was brewing, they could quickly retrieve their sticks. To my way of thinking, this meant I had to have a couple of drinks to understand how these men would feel when facing trouble and wielding a stick. During our time with Philip and Biggard one thing we noticed about Sticklicking was the sense of ethics and fair-play surrounding the art. While fights might begin inside a rum-shop or a party, those concerned would always take it outside to settle conclusions so as not to show any disrespect to the owners. When Philip and I crossed sticks, I would at times turn my back towards him to try to bait him to come close. However, he would just lean back and lower his stick a bit waiting for me to face him and begin again. Very different from the “hit the man any way you can” attitude seen in Kalinda or other arts. Back to the rum-shop though. Once Mahipal and I both finished with our respective projects, Philip took us outside and began to show us the different characteristics that made up the art of Bajan Sticklicking. While Wayne leaned more towards the selfdefense oriented “Queensbury” style, Philip was drawn to a more sporting type of stick fighting called the “Johnson” style. Of the three active sticklicker instructors left on the island of Barbados, these two are the only ones left of the many others that once existed. One interesting distinction between Kalinda and Sticklicking was the music, or lack of it. Kalinda was, and is still, done with Calypso and Soca music accompanying This is what our lunch breaks were like, everyday. You give some you get some. Ryan and Lunia in an all out sparring session. 24 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 25 ILF CARIBBEAN the fighters, making music key to developing one’s skill. Up until the 1930’s sticklickers once fought to the sounds of a “Tuk” band. The previous day, while wandering around the church grounds, I met the groundskeeper who told me his father was a Sticklicker and a musician. Just down the hill from the church, Tuk bands would play nonstop on the weekends in the evenings until the sun came up. People would drink and dance all night long interspersed with bouts of Sticklicking when the men got a little too excited. “What these techniques revealed to us is how Sticklicking was once a very well thought out art that drew on a range of possible tactics to ensure victory or at least survival.” Learning Sticklicking was different from learning Kalinda as well. Kalinda was taught with a free-flowing, feel the music, attitude. Sticklicking by contrast, was organized by “cuts.” A cut is a series of two-man drills. Of the seven cuts in Sticklicking Philip had learned five in the Johnson style. In the Queensberry style Wayne had been taught four cuts while Philip, from another teacher, had learned five. Biggard had also learned three cuts from the Johnson style. In addition, Wayne had learned some of the ‘Donnelly’ style through a former Sticklicking teacher by the name of Darnnell “Stormy Weather’ Lovell. The same man also taught him a piece of a what he referred to as the “Sword” , which contrary to what you may assume was another fighting style done with the single stick Philip, his son and Biggard gave us an in-depth three-hour class on the Johnson style of Sticklicking. The Johnson style is seen more as a sport-oriented form of sticklicking where men competed with champions from different villages. Held in semiformal or informal arenas, an open space would be set aside for the competitors and the event would be kept in in order by a referee and one or more judges. Many times, winners were awarded a cash prize Learning the Johnson style we began with circling. Traditionally men would lay their two sticks on the ground in the shape of a cross and begin walking in a circle around them. When a referee or elder said to “go” the idea was to pick up your own stick while keeping the other man from picking up his stick, by stepping on it or flicking it away. This meant there were tricks to grabbing your weapon while depriving the opponent of his weapons depending on if your stick was on the top or the bottom of the cross. We then moved on to the footwork patterns, which we quite simple, and finally the cuts. The cuts were a powerful set of 5- 21 attacks combined with strong blocks, parries and counter attacks, grouped together in a very organized and rational manner. I found the system to be an extremely powerful and effective art. The North Americans contingent guessed that one reason Sticklicking became so organized is when the men stopped playing with a musical accompaniment, a British educational system of organizing and classifying knowledge began to shape how the system was taught. With the sun beating down on us we took a break, ate lunch and enjoyed some sightseeing in the mahogany forests of the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. Most of the animals roam free and visitors can get up very close and watch them, especially during feeding time. In addition to several types birds, we saw number of Green Monkeys (who regularly hop the walls and wander around the neighborhood), Iguanas, Turtles, Tortoises, and non-native animals such as Agouti, Brockett deer, caimans, rabbits and peacocks. On Saturday it was back to Farley National Park and the mahogany forest where Philip, Biggard and Wayne took us deep into the forest to show us how they find the proper tree limbs to make a good fighting stick. After cutting a few sticks we went down to the bottom of the hill for more Sticklicking demonstrations. What stands out the most from this afternoon was the demonstration of techniques to deal with unique situations a man 26 SPRING 2019 might run up against in the course of everyday life. For example, in a country where much of the land was dedicated to sugar cane cultivation, Philip showed us how to defend oneself against someone ambushing you when you are walking down a path in a sugar cane plantation. Or when two men are attacked by four to five guys how the two men would put themselves back to back and fend off their attackers. Wayne then showed some low kicks, slaps and headbutting techniques a sticklicker would use in serious fights. What these techniques revealed to us is how Sticklicking was once a very well thought out art that drew on a range of possible tactics to ensure ensure victory, or at least survival, in a wide variety of situations. The idea that the art has changed over the years, with a number of systems and sub-systems disappearing, was illustrated by the fact that neither Philip or Wayne knew all seven cuts of the two styles they had practiced. Cherry-boy, whom I introduced earlier, also shed light on this situation. He demonstrated a several variations of the first three cuts from the Johnson style no one had seen before. He remembered that during his youth a number of Sticklickers would hold their The next generation claiming its heritage. sticks in both hands at either end, as the Kalinda practitioners do today. When he saw the whips that Ronald had brought, he began to relive his skills with the whip. These alternative ways of doing the cuts, holding the fighting stick and using the whip are important because they suggested an older form of combat that might have once existed all around the Caribbean. Yet it changed in the case of Barbados, died-out all together in other Caribbean islands, or persisted in places such as Trinidad and Tobago. Both Philip and Wayne were amazed at what Cherry-boy was showing and asked him why he never showed them these moves. “You never asked,” came the simple reply. This exchange shows the benefits of bringing together trained “cultural outsiders” who can ask specific types of (often very basic) questions, that even local experts might consider too obvious and thus miss out on important pieces of the puzzle. Overall, this was an amazingly productive day. Rewarding ourselves after a week of hard work we took a long swim in the ocean for a few hours relaxing and trying to understand all that we had, been taught, saw, and heard. Sunday, we packed up early and drove around the island taking in the Animal Flower Cave overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Carved out of the limestone cliffs over thousands of years, the cave is filled with natural rock pools filled with sea anemones. From here back to the airport where, 20 feet from dropping off the car, Mahipal ran through a stop sign that almost led to a big truck engine resting on my lap. After a near death experience that led the entire week to flash before my eyes, we headed to the terminal and waited for our flights. While waiting for our flights we worked on moves we learned and reflected on what we saw. Martial Arts Masters 27 ILF CARIBBEAN “An upcoming generation of young people’s ears will prick up hearing the sounds of sticks clashing, machetes clanking of whips snapping... and demand to be given their birthright.” One image that struck me was while wandering through the Animal Flower Cave. Looking at the limestone tidal pools filled with sea creatures and imagining how the ocean at high-tide would come into the cave bringing in other creatures and mixing everything up all willy-nilly. Thinking of this, led me to think about the many waves of peoples to the Caribbean islands who were washed -up on the shores so-to speak under very harsh conditions and forced to survive. With them they brought their own forms of combat that were soon tested in countless ways, at innumerable places by who knows how many people. Over time, out of these conflicts ideas of how best to fight developed. Questions such as what was the most effective length and size of a stick or machete? What was the most efficient way to hold and swing a stick or a machete developed differently in different areas. These stylistic differences highlight the fact that there is no one best way to fight. The best way is the way that one person can make work every time in a number of different situations. Out of these waves of people who over the centuries came to the islands either unwillingly or seeking a better life emerged a wealth of combative systems that we are still uncovering. Interviewing a number of elders during this all-too short trip, we got a glimpse of the diverse ways men used to fight both in serious all-out, ritualized and recreational types of combat. We learned a little how these arts were used by people in their everyday life. Then, as the low-tide would come upon us if we stayed longer and we watched , the waters would retreat, and the pools become silent and still. At present, there is a lot less commotion in the Caribbean today. There has been a settling down and a disinterest in the once accepted wild brawls with machetes and rough sports such as stick or whip fighting that would take place most every weekend. There is a lot less crime committed by men with machetes and knives. Instead, people have turned their attention to more modern safe activities as Cricket, Baseball, Futball, Mixed, Martial Arts or Tae-KwonDo. With introduction of these new activities, the interest in the traditional combat arts have declined. However, due to the men you are about to meet; men such as Ronald, Benji, Keegan, Phillip Wayne, and Biggard act as guardians of these traditions. They know in time the tide will come in again, crashing in on the rocks, filling up the pools and causing a commotion. An upcoming generation of young people’s ears will prick-up hearing the sound of stick, clashing, of machetes clanking, of whips snapping Feeling these sounds and hearing the rhythms of combat deep within their soul, they will search out and find these few men left on the islands and demand to be given their birth right. They will claim their heritage of resistance to oppression, the joy that comes out of a hard fought but fair combat with a friend, as well as an appreciation of a deep, profound and ancient knowledge that can show a young person how to navigate the troubles of life with honor, with one’s head held high and a stick in ones hand ready to face any challenge life may bring. Now we are beginning to think about, organize and write up all the information we had collected and plan more formal, long term, research projects. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 28 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 29 HOPLOLOGY 30 SPRING 2019 HOPLOLOGY: The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts By Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D. O n the small Caribbean island of Barbados nine men gathered for eleven days, swinging sticks and machetes, and even lashing each other with whips. Why would a group of men come from all over North America and the Caribbean just to fight, socialize and study regional combat systems when there are numerous martial art schools, amateur competitions and bars in their own neighborhoods? This exercise was different, very different. We had come together to document and record a number of dying traditions that once flourished in the Caribbean and South America Up until recently, most every man carried weapons when stepping out of their home in rural areas of the Caribbean and Latin America. It could have been a simple tool like a machete, ubiquitous among those who worked in the sugarcane fields. Or it could have been a knife if you were a butcher, a fisherman or a tailor. On the other hand, if someone was going to a party, a dance or to share a drink with friends at a local rumshop, you would probably carry a heavy walking stick. Upon arriving at the destination, you would stash your stick in some nearby bushes, behind a tree, or in the eaves of a roof. If there was trouble you could easily retrieve your weapon and deal with the situation. Time has the power to change all things. By the 1950s and 1960s sports such as baseball, cricket, Judo and Karate had captured people’s attention. The older practices of stick, machete and knife fighting, which had once been the passion of young men, began to die out. These arts came to be seen as something old-fashioned, brutal and slightly embarrassing. They were done only by old men, drunks and criminals. While in the past most every man knew at least a little stick fighting, today there are only three active “Sticklicking” teachers left on the island of Barbados, 35 Kalinda “bois-men” left on the Island of Trinidad, and only a handful of “Whip-Jab” masters on the Island of Tobago. Of the 30 “Grima” (paired machete and stick) styles in Colombia perhaps three are likely to continue after the old teachers die off, while to the east there is a slow fading of Venezuelan “Garrote” (stick fighting). The danger of these magnificent arts withering away is what led to the first serious Hoplology reconnaissance expedition to the region in over 35 years. Hoplology itself is a term that is rarely encountered. It first emerged around the same time as Anthropology (the study of human culture, often focusing on the observation of primitive or tribal peoples) and was once quite popular. So, what is Hoplology? Stated simply, Hoplology is the study of how different peoples, around the world, fight with offensive and defensive weapons. Martial Arts Masters 31 HOPLOLOGY The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts Richard F. Burton and the Invention of Hoplology “The queen of the weapons” Capitan Sir Richard Francis Burton said of the sword, and the weapon that is “paramount between man and man.” By 1850, Richard Burton had returned from a number of years in India as a soldier and intelligence officer. In his mid-30s and out of shape due to a long illness, Burton recovered by undergoing an intense apprenticeship with the sword. This was a weapon that was disappearing from the daily experience of both soldiers and civilians in western Europe. Through intense training Burton achieved a high level of skill. One result of this experience was that Burton wrote a number of instructional manuals for the British army such as A Complete System of Bayonet Exercises (1863), and A New System of Sword Exercises for Infantry (1876). Following this, in order to create a more organized way of learning and comparing different sword and weapon systems, Burton invented the discipline of Hoplology, which he called “the science of arms and weapons of offense and defense, human and bestial” (1884:6). His writings came out in two books, The Sentiments of the Sword: A Country House Dialogue (1911), and the classic Book of the Sword (1884). Around the same time Burton also organized the Royal Anthropological Society in order to publish his studies of sexual activity, sex stories and sex manuals which he found in his travels around the Middle East and India. He continued to write a number of studies on both fighting and sex, two of his favorite subjects. Following his death in 1884 his wife burned his remaining unpublished writings. Other Scholars-Other Hoplologies Captain Sir R.F. Burton, Hoplologist, scholar and explorer. Several pioneering Anthropologists were also contributing to the field of Hoplology while Burton was active. A retired military officer who fought in the Crimean War, A.H.L. Pitt-Rivers developed a now outdated view of human evolution. Cultures, he concluded, evolved through time from technologically simpler societies to technologically complex societies. In other words, progress is an integral aspect of human history. For example, in his book Primitive Warfare (1868), Pitt-Rivers stated that one of the first weapons used by early man was a short stick. Over time, he believed other tribes would change or improve it to suit their needs. Some peoples would lengthen the stick and sharpen one or both ends and turn it into a spear. Or they would flatten it and turn it into a Taiaha. Others might bend it a little, turning it into a throwing stick. And still others would bend it much more to create a boomerang. In his “Note on the Use of the New Zealand Mere” (The Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, 1870), Pitt-Rivers describes a unique war-club. While most clubs are used in downward ax-like chopping motions, the mere was deployed instead in sharp jabbing and twisting motions meant to penetrate the body and open gaping wounds. What all these examples have in common, according to Pitt-Rivers, is the continual progression and improvement of weaponry, and all other features of a culture. Working in the Trobiand Islands (just off Australia) around the time of WWI, the renowned Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski also delved into the field of Hoplology. In a 1920 article Malinowski wrote about the different use of a sword-club, called a “Spatulate,” which was employed when men from the same village fought in local brawls. In contrast, when fighting men from other villages, Malinowski noted that 32 SPRING 2019 Trobriander Islanders preferred spears and shields. In this way he showed there was a social division of weapon use based on norms associated with different types of combat. In a village brawl over water rights, or accusations of greediness, lying or being a bad neighbor, the Trobriand Islanders sought to minimize injuries (or death) through the use of a less lethal fighting club. However, when fighting men from another area, Trobriand Islanders armed themselves with both defensive oriented shields and offensive spears to minimize their own causalities while maximizing the casualty rate of the opposing side. Still, these two scholars approached the understanding of weapons and combative traditions primarily by collecting pieces for museum study. More recently, working with Basil Richardson of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Roald Knutsen has acquired extensive training in the actual practice of a number of Japanese armed traditions. His book, Japanese Spear: Polearms and Their Use in Old Japan (1963), discusses the construction and variety of different polearms during the medieval period of Japanese history. His work was unique in that, rather than just describing the length, weight and shape of these weapons, Knutsen explored how they were used by different schools or “ryu.” The mass slaughter of the First World War, and then the even greater destruction unleashed a generation later during World War II, shocked the world. Many liberal Western scholars turned away from the study of personal violence, and the field of Hoplology fell in to disfavor. By the 1950s it was left to a retired World War II veteran by the name of Donn F. Draeger to once again take up the flag. Draeger’s Hoplology After serving in the marines during WWII, Draeger moved to Japan in the mid 1950s. He studied a number of modern martial arts (including Judo, Karate, Aikido and Kendo), and then began to explore Japan’s more traditional armed combat arts. Draeger applied and was accepted into the Kobudo Shinko Kai society, which was dedicated to the preservation of old Japanese battlefield arts from the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Draeger Don Draeger and Hunter Armstrong training. trained fiercely and wrote extensively on a number of Japanese and South East Asian martial arts. His best-known work remains the three-volume set Martial Arts and Ways of Japan (1973). Draeger also co-authored Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (1969) with Robert W. Smith. He then founded the journals Martial Arts International and Hoplos, and created the International Hoplology Research Center. His passionate interest in Japanese battlefield arts led Draeger to revive the discipline of Hoplology. In the first issue of his newsletter Hoplos (Vol. 1. #1), he explained what Hoplology meant to him. This was a more expansive understanding of the field. “Hoplology is the systematic study of man’s combative culture in all ages….” (1979:4). Nevertheless, Draeger’s vision of the field still emerged from an understanding of the origin and history of weapons and their classification. For example, was it a hacking, drawing or percussive weapon? What is its shape, its weight, and how was it intended to be used in particular types of combat? One might enquire, for instance, about the differences Martial Arts Masters 33 HOPLOLOGY The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts between a Napoleonic French infantry sword versus a cavalry sword, and how these battlefield weapon differed from French epeé used in civilian duels. Drawing on ideas from Biology’s General Systems Theory, Draeger sought to create an objective, rigorous and scientific method of martial arts research that could be treated as a legitimate scholarly field. Yet Draeger himself was not formally trained at the graduate level in any academic discipline. Tools of the Trinidadian and Tobagan warriors. “QUOTE” Men such as Quintin Chambers and Liam Keeley, who came to Japan for their own martial art goals, soon met up with Draeger and also began studying in the old ryu. Others came to Japan expressly to meet Draeger, and then found their own way to a number of Koryo traditions such as the Kurama or Tatsumi ryu’s school of swordsmanship, the Todo-Ha Buko ryu school of the naginata or the Araki or Tenjin Shinyo ryu school of close quarter grappling, among many others. While in one case it was one of these younger men (H. Armstrong), who introduced Don Draeger to the Tatsumi ryu. A number of these individuals became part of the next wave of Hoplologists contributing articles, writing books or opening schools around the world. A classic example of the post-Draeger generation of writing and analysis would be the three-volume set Koryo Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan (1997), edited by Diane Skoss. Others, such as Dave Lowry, explored more unique paths. He underwent an intense apprenticeship in 1960’s Missouri with the Yagyu ryu and has written numerous studies of Japanese Hoplology and culture. A limitation of this era was its narrow focus, studying only Japanese “battlefield systems” that originated before or during the early Tokugawa period (1601-1680). After that time the Shogun was finally able to bring an enforced peace to Japan, and warfare ceased to rock the country for the next two centuries. One element I find valuable in this wide range of writings is that each author’s unique training experiences are often quite different from other writers approaching the same subject. Their sometimes-contrasting views providing a wonderful example of the richness and profundity that comes out of training in these systems which reflected the complexity of everyday life in feudal Japan. The Rise of the International Hoplology Society Donn F. Draeger died in 1982. Hunter Armstrong, who during his time in Japan earned a teaching license in Shinkage Ryu kenjutsu and Owari Kan Ryu sojutsu, took the reins of the International Hoplological Society (IHS). Under his leadership a number of Hoplological expeditions were undertaken throughout South East Asia focusing on the exploration and identification of what they saw as the distinction between “military” or battlefield arts and weapons-based civilian combative systems. In addition to these empirical driven goals, they also drew on findings from Evolutionary Psychology 34 SPRING 2019 and Socio-Biology regarding the role of aggression to understand how different cultures have prepared young men to engage in battle. Although a great deal of work came out of this approach, it proved too narrow in its scope, and its theoretical base has not kept up with advances in the field of physical, psychological or the social sciences. Only two Hoplogical expeditions have been undertaken by the HIS in the last 35 years and very little of their findings have been released to the public. However, in other parts of the world (such as China) there have been academically based (and often government funded) investigations into several folk combat traditions beginning in the 1970’s. One drawback to many of these works is that they have yet to be translated in English, limiting the exposure of their findings. In other cases, they were inspired by ethno-nationalist or ideological considerations and no real effort has been made to engage with the growing international literature on Martial Arts Studies. Contributions from Other Fields Although not strictly Hoplologists, from the 1980’s onward a number of scholars have subjected themselves to long-periods of training in older martial art traditions and have written excellent and informative works on a wide range of hand combat practices. Historians, such as Karl Friday (Heavenly Warriors: The evolution of Japan’s military, 500-1300 (1992), have published a number of important works. Matthias Assunção’s Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian martial art (2005), gave readers an important study of a increasingly popular New World tradition. Christopher Amberger’s Secret History of the Sword: Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts (1996), also helped to bring attention to nonAsian combative traditions. The 21st century also saw the rise of a new field called Martial Arts Studies led by a number of university scholars who underwent long periods of training in several martial arts. These apprenticeships might involve grueling training regimes, suffering injuries and actually competing or fighting according to rules of the groups they were writing about. Loïc Wacquant’s now classic Body and Soul: Note- Armed with sticks, full of rum, and ready books of an Apprentice boxer (2004), showed readers what it was like to learn to box in to rumble. the ghettos of Southside Chicago during the 1980s. Greg Downey’s Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art (2005) introduced a new generation of students to the practice of Capoeira Angola. Likewise, Michael Ryan learned how to swing a fighting stick in rural midwestern Venezuela in his Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts (2016). Just as relevant to the current issue of Master’s magazine is Philip Forde’s recently completed doctoral dissertation “Blocking both Hand and Foot: An Examination of Bajan Sticklicking” (2018). A number of other works deserve mention. Avron Boretz’s Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters: Ritual Violence, Martial Arts and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society (2011) describes Kung Fu training with working-class men and petty criminals in rural Taiwan. Pentjak Silat on the island of Java was explored by Lee Wilson in Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Indonesia (2015). Likewise, D.S. Farrer opened a critical Martial Arts Masters 35 HOPLOLOGY The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts “The New Hoplology takes as its subject the unique intersections of historical activities such as conquest, colonization, slavery, large-scale immigration, modernization the rise of inexpensive travel and the internet with changes in how combat is taught and expressed at the local level” Ronald Initiating Mahipal into the Rope Jab brotherhood. window onto practice in Malaysia with Shadows of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism (2009). These joined other well-researched histories on a surprisingly wide range of subjects. Among the most influential have been Meir Shahar’s The Shaolin Temple: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts (2008) and T.J. Desch-Obi’s Fighting For Honor: The History of Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (2008) which described links between West-Central African martial arts and Afro-American martial arts. Irish traditions were documented in John Hurley’s Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick (2007) and Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson’s The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (2015) reconstructed the development and subsequent globalization of one of the most widely practiced Chinese martial arts systems. These scholarly works, and many others, are greatly expanding our knowledge of the social environments in which combative systems have developed. Donn F. Draeger’s dream of a serious and sustained academic engagement with the martial arts has been realized during the last decade, though perhaps not in the way that he had initially planned. The Emergence of a ‘New Hoplology’ Although not writing as Hoplologists, many of these authors helped to test the field’s foundational hypothesis that undergoing long-term training can allow for a deeper and more profound understanding how people prepared to meet the challenges that they encounter in their lives. The varieties of combat that were examined ranged from informal to formal recreational activities, self-defense between individuals or clashes between groups of people. In some cases, even small-scale battles between clans, villages or tribes 36 SPRING 2019 were described. Having read a number of these works over the years, and undergoing long term apprenticeship in several martial art traditions, members of the ILF decided to meet in Barbados for an 11 day Hoplological expedition to document the training, philosophies and oral histories of those Caribbean arts which are slowly disappearing due to a general lack of interest. This expedition had a couple of goals. The first was a salvage mission. We sought to record as much information about these arts as was possible. Many of us felt that collecting this data might help to ensure their survival for another generation. The three university professors also hoped to gain greater insight into the breadth and variety of combative arts found throughout the Caribbean and Northern Latin America. More specifically, they are searching for connections and differences in how weapons are used and how people fight within different combative systems. Additionally, the ongoing blending of different systems to meet the needs of people today suggests a number of important research questions. Nor has the intellectual adventure ended with the conclusion of the expedition. T.J. Desch-Obi, Philip Forde, myself and Rondell Benjamin (as a lay-Hoplologist) are continuing to research combative traditions in this part of the world. I plan to continue my training in Barbadian Sticklicking, Trinidadian Kalinda and Gilpin. Mahipal Lunia and Vincent Tamer were initiated into the Whip-Jab school of Ronald Alfred, while Rondel Benjamin is immersing himself in a long-term apprenticeship in the Whip-Jab. Training and research in these arts continues at both an academic and personal level. These efforts have given birth to a “New Hoplology” which seeks, as Burton did, to search out highly skilled practitioners of these dying arts who are open to talking to Blazing a new path forward, beginning the exploration of the New World. Left to right V Tamer, M.Lunia, T.J. Obi and M. Ryan. Martial Arts Masters 37 HOPLOLOGY The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts outsiders and willing to share the deep structures of their art. Out of this long-term training, a practitioner might gain insight into the ways in which training shapes the body and mind, thus better evaluating combative actions occurring with or without weapons and armor. In other words, the New Hoplology takes as its subject the unique intersections of historical activities such as conquest, colonization, slavery, large-scale immigration, modernization, the rise of inexpensive travel and the internet with changes in how combat is taught and expressed at the local level. If you have come this far you can understand that Hoplology has never been just one way of thinking about, or studying, martial arts systems. It never had a single set of concepts to guide its investigations. Nor did it possess a unified body of technical theories suggesting what was critical, and what could be ignored, in a system of martial practice. Hoplology was always an open-ended exploration into how people actually fought. Its students often look at different aspects of a combative system and their insights may contradict one another. That is the reality of combat. Stressing this variety of approaches and attitudes is important, as is understanding the ambiguity and seeming contradictions of everyday life in which combat takes place. However, one trait that many of the best Hoplological works share is that the authors have all immersed themselves deeply into the practices of a martial art and seek to address the questions that arise directly from its practice. This perspective informs their investigations of the origins and social realities of these practices. It is with this understanding that we have begun a new Hoplology to investigate, document, describe and popularize critical arts that have failed to attract large audiences but still have much to offer. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Weapons of the Caribbean Warrior. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Hunter ‘Chip’ Armstrong of the International Hoplogical Society (HIS) for looking over portions of this article and providing much appreciated advice and insights. For further information on this group visit www.hoplology.com Selected References Burton, Richard F. (1884) The Book of the Sword. London Chatto & Windus. Draeger Donn F. (1979) “An Introduction to Hoplology” Part I of II in Hoplos. Tokyo, Japan: International Hoplological Research Center.y 38 SPRING 2019 Stickman Escrima Products “They’re fast and they last!” Designed by a martial artist for martial artists Those were lines from my Black Belt Magazine ads in the early 1990’s. In 1986 I began making fire-hardened rattan for escrimadors in Stockton, California. When I would show up with an old rice bag full of rattan they’d say “The stick man is here!” and the name stuck. In 1989, after returning from the Philippines as a championship member of the 1st USA National Eskrima Team, I became the first to successfully market hi-impact plastic escrima sticks. My original clear hollow HITS (Hi-Impact Training Sticks) weigh only 7oz at 28 inches; as light as thin rattan, they can last for years! I offer a unique and time-tested line-up of hollow and solid synthetic sticks in custom lengths, thickness and weights, from palm sticks to staffs In 2006 I got into CNC, allowing me to produce “sparring grade” training knives and swords which look and feel like wood. My personal goal was to be able to train with designs similar to live blades, especially the exotic weaponry of Southeast Asia. Clients include a long list of top escrimadors, and they’ve been seen in live action on ESPN’s Disney martial art expo. www.stickman-escrima.com https://www.facebook.com/StickmanEscrimaProducts Martial Arts Masters 39 PHILIP FORDE PROFESSOR, MUSIC TEACHER AND STICKLICKER: 40 SPRING 2019 An Interview with Philip Forde By Mahipal Lunia Martial Arts Masters 41 PHILIP FORDE Professor, Music Teacher and Sticklicker A music teacher by profession, Philip has been practicing Sticklicking since the age of 14. His love of the art led him all over the island of Barbados relentlessly searching for others who could teach him more about this gradually disappearing art. Pursuing a Ph.D. (University of the West Indies) to further his understanding of this once popular practice, Philip expanded his investigations by travelling across the Caribbean where Barbadian men had lived, worked and fought. He looked at other stick fighting methods to understand how they are similar to, or different from, the traditions he learned at home. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. What is Sticklicking? ML: What is this Bajan stick fighting, what is Sticklicking? PF: I would say Sticklicking is the recreational martial art of the Barbadian men. I believe we can trace it back to the days of slavery. Of course, it has changed over the years as society has developed. I also believe that what we practice now evolved from a more complete, well-rounded, martial art to one focusing on the stick alone as it became more of a sport. Historically speaking, I believe it is a combination of several different African stick fighting art forms with some British military influence. ML: How was Sticklicking practiced in the past? PF: It was the main form of recreation among the formerly enslaved men and a means of self-defense against animals and other people. My grandfather was a postman and one of the things he had to fight or guard against were dogs, especially on the plantations. So being a stick fighter helped him considerably. It turned out that it was very useful against dogs and against people who would want to attack you. While in the past it was very popular, there were probably only a few who could be considered masters. Still, many people did practice it on some level. After the 50s and 60s, especially with the rising popularity of cricket, there was a decline in Sticklicking. It is not very popular now, and many young people don’t know of its existence. And even if they do know of its existence, they have probably never seen it played or practiced. It is in a low place right now, but we hope to change that gradually. 42 SPRING 2019 ML: How many active Sticklickers are left on the island? PF: I would say about three people that presently teach. There are several students still learning, but they are not at the stage where they can teach yet. I would say no more than 20, my son included. Hopefully they will pass it on. All the old men that were actually Sticklickers have died already. So, my generation are the oldest ones who are practicing it right now. The Styles ML: How many Sticklicking styles are there and what makes them different? PF: There is Queensberry and Johnson, those are the ones that are still around. They were around when I was learning myself, but we heard of Mapps, Donnelly, Square, Diamond, Creole-all different styles. There was one called St. Francis or Sir Francis, or Francis. It went by variations of the same name. Forde and Biggard in a sticklicking game of chess. Sir Francis was an unarmed striking art. It is possible that originally they were all part of one martial art with various techniques, un-armed and armed techniques, and that somewhere along the line they became separated. Some people specialize in the unarmed techniques. Not so long ago you could still see some of these unarmed techniques. Getting back to the different styles, the biggest differences between Queensberry and Johnson is in the philosophy of fighting. Queensberry is very fluid. It has a lot of movement, and is very dance-like, which is typical of African derived martial arts because most of them are done to music. The Johnson style has moved away from the dance-like quality and is more of a static form. The movement are not as great or elaborate as the Queensberry style. That is the main difference. Other differences include how it is taught. For example, both styles have seven “cuts,” but they are composed of different strikes and different blocks. I mean both styles have the same kind of blocks, but in the Queensberry, we tend to do a different kind of block more so than the Johnsons. So there are several differences, but basically they are compatible. Martial Arts Masters 43 PHILIP FORDE Professor, Music Teacher and Sticklicker Learning Sticklicking ML: So if a new student said to you, I want to learn Sticklicking, what would the journey to mastery look like? How would you take them through it? PF: First we teach the blocks and the strikes. When I was learning, we would do the first cuts until you mastered them, which will take a little while. Before you master those strikes, I may introduce some of the other cuts to keep things moving forward but keep going back to the first strikes. When students are blocking fairly well we introduce some drills to gradually simulate what the actual Sticklicking fight would be like. When they have learned to handle themselves well in the fighting drill we start to do some free play and make it real. ML How many cuts are there in the Johnson style? PF: Seven strokes or strikes, but the first three are the most important because those are the basics of the art. When you master the third cut then you can fight and defend yourself against another stick fighter. ML: How many do blocks you have? PF: There are two kinds of blocks. I have never heard of a formal name for them. You basically try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground, so you cover his stick or keep it away from your body. The other type of block is one where you kind of slip the lash or let the strike slide along your stick. Basically those are the two blocks. I mentioned before that the different styles tend to do, or prefer, different blocks. We find Johnson’s fighters traditionally would use the blocks where they try to stop your stick and knock it to the ground. The Queensberry blocks try to slip Forde showing Lunia one of the unorthodox cuts. • Old school dueling methods being shown. 44 SPRING 2019 his stick off yours, and then step in and strike. That is generally what the situation looks like. In the first cut in Johnson you learn the blocks where you try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground. The first cut of the Queensberry is learning the other types of blocking, so it shows their preference for the kind of blocks they like. That is reflective of both of the systems which I have taught. ML: You also talked about different positions? PF: Right, before each stage or cut there are different positions to hold your stick in. Some of these positions are very defensive and some are more offensive. It’s very much a matter of personal taste which ones you will adopt. In my opinion, these positions help you control or attempt to control what your opponent is doing. That’s how you use the position. I will hold up a position and try to influence where my opponent can attack. And according to what position he holds, I would adopt my position to suit. If for example, he holds a position where he could easily strike me to the head, downward straight to your head, I might assume a position that would block that off the initial strike, so he would have to do something else to strike me. What I found, though, is that the defensive positions are not always the best. It is useful that the opponent feels comfortable enough to be careless of his own openings, so that he leaves himself open to be hit. ML: Can you describe the system’s footwork? PF: It is very much dependent on who teaches you. My main tutor, McDonald, taught me the whole concept of the “square and the diamond.” You either work on the sides of a square or step on the sides of the diamond. My cousin George Fowler, when I asked him about foot positions replied “You are walking down the road and a man attacked you with a stick. You don’t have time to worry about where your foot is, you got to defend yourself.” So he didn’t have any particular way of stepping or moving his feet. Forde teaching Ryan some stick licking cuts. We had other tutors who taught me how to move my feet and where to put them and everything. So it very much depends who taught you. My main teacher of the Johnson style taught me the square and the diamond in terms of stepping forward and blocking. I don’t think there are any set patterns of footwork in either style for retreating. Sport or Self-Defense ML: We have talked about two forms of Sticklicking, a sporting and a self-defense version of the art. Can you tell us about how the sportive type of Sticklicking? PF In the past the men had very little free time, except on Sundays and public holidays. We would practice on Sundays mainly. But when the public holidays came along, people would travel to different districts and have organized competitions. People from their neighborhoods would follow them. Sometimes they would rent a truck and the truck would take a whole set of spectators to support their local champions. That’s how it was organized. Martial Arts Masters 45 PHILIP FORDE Professor, Music Teacher and Sticklicker Forde showing his new friends the church where he is the organist. 46 SPRING 2019 It was the public holiday thing to do, move from one district to the next to watch the stick fighting contests. Many times, in order to accommodate the crowds, the bouts would be held in open areas. But there were also competitions that took place inside casinos and places like that where money could be charged for entry and the fighters could receive some of the proceeds. It was very popular. Often a Tuk band would be there to play with the fighters or just entertain the crowd in between bouts. It was a very festive atmosphere. ML: And the self-defense style? The sport of sticklicking was point sparring, so the emphasis was only on stick techniques for sport. There was an emphasis on not letting the opponent hit you, which is very much a Johnson style thing. What I found is that the Queensberry style doesn’t mind taking lash if it would give them an advantage in the fight. In this way you are truly going to lash each other. A Queensberry fighter might take a lash on his buttock, but when he does that, he’s going to move in at the same time and try to finish you off with the butt of the stick or something like that. I never learned to take lashes in the Johnson style. That is what made me feel the Queensberry style is more self-defense oriented, because the object is to get close and finish. If you are taking the lash on your buttock or your arm, so be it. Whereas in Johnsons, we never practiced taking a lash at all. Choosing and Preparing a Stick ML: Where do people get their stick from? PF: The popular sticks were Guava and Lode wood. These two are the most popular, But we also use Black Sage, Black Willow and Bay Leaf. Bay Leaf is a very hard stick, but they are oily, and if your hands sweat, it can be an issue. We also had a stick called Yellow Hercules, that was the most common stick back in the day. To choose a stick, you would go down to a gully and try to select a piece of wood as straight as possible. Then you cut it a little longer then you need it. After that one sets the sticks over an open fire until the bark cracks, then you know it is cured. Finally, cut it to its right length. The other technique was to bury it in a cow pen in the manure for like two weeks. Then when it came back, the bark had fallen off and the stick was cured. “Sticklicking is one of my passions, actually it might be my only one, and whenever I have the opportunity to share it with people, I just welcome the opportunity. It doesn’t matter who they are or what the situation is.” STICKMATA ML: You are one of the featured teachers at the upcoming STICKMATA event. What are you looking forward to and what do you plan on showing everybody? PF: Sticklicking is one of my passions, actually it might be the only one, and whenever I have the opportunity to share it with people, I just welcome the opportunity. It doesn’t matter who they are or what the situation is. For those who come to STICKMATA, what I teach will represent the art of Sticklicking in its purest form so to speak. I’ll be teaching them the strikes, blocks and footwork that are essential to the style, as well as the counters to those things. That is all fundamental to the style, so when they leave they will have a good idea of what Bajan Sticklicking actually is. They will be able to apply it if they have to. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 47 48 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 49 WAYNE QUINTYNE GOING AWAY TO FIND ONES ROOTS By Wayne Quintyne A professional martial artist with his own school in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, Wayne Quintyne has undergone a long and storied journey in his quest for martial arts mastery. A student of the Queensberry, Tom Johnson, Johnson and Donnelly styles of sticklicking, Wayne helped us understand the broad and complex martial culture that existed in Barbados during the latter half of the last century. Additionally, Wayne’s pursuit of combat effectiveness contributed to our understanding of the pragmatic, efficient, and effective nature of Bajan martial culture. This is part of his story. First Steps of a Martial Arts Journey In August of 1985, I went to the Martial Arts Expo in Barbados looking for a new instructor. It had been six years since I began my study of martial arts and, unhappy with what I had been learning, I went in order to find a new teacher. It was the first time that I saw a close-up demonstration of Bajan Sticklicking, Filipino martial arts and Kenpo/Kempo weaponry. Yet it was the Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino Kali that spoke to me. The Bajan Sticklicking demonstration was my first exposure to Philip Forde and David Hinds, two of the more accomplished “science men” of this time period. At first I thought their practice was brutal because there was no explanation of what was going on. I settled on the combination of Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali offered by the person who would become my teacher and mentor, Sifu Dwight Woods. Much of what he said resonated with me, paralleling the philosophy and attitudes towards combat that I had uncovered for myself. Over the next five years, I immersed myself completely in Jeet Kune Do and its associated disciplines such as Kali, Muay Thai, Savate, Wing Chun and Pentjak Silat. However, every so often I would encounter someone who mistook my practice of Kali for Bajan Sticklicking. What would ever make them think that what I was doing could in any way compare to the brutish style I had witnessed years prior? True, I had once seen a demonstration of Sticklicking on television between a gentleman and his grandson that piqued my interest. That had been years before and what I had witnessed at the Expo did not reflected the grace I noticed then. 50 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 51 WAYNE QUINTYNE Going Away to Find Ones Roots This caused me to reflect on Ed Parker asking his student, Dan Inosanto, whether he knew anything about the Filipino martial arts, which were part of his own cultural background. Parker went on to insist that he research these arts. He said, “How can you be involved in so many fighting arts and not know anything about, or value, that which is your own?” Reflecting upon that I was motivated to find out more about the indigenous martial art of Barbados. This was not because I expected to uncover a long overlooked but highly effective fighting system. Rather, I just wanted to be able to say that I had some knowledge of what it was all about. To me, the Filipino martial arts had already proved be the ultimate training method for a weapon-based system and nothing else I encountered could ever compare. I was very skeptical that I would find much value in Bajan Sticklicking. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening! Teachers Wayne demonstrates headbutts in the Science of Sticklicking. My first “science teacher” was Darnley “Stormy Weathers” Lovell. He would mention to me from time to time, rather matter-of-factly, that his father was “one of the island’s best.” Stormy was already in his 70’s when I met him. He was short in stature but stood tall when he held a stick in his hand. As a young man he worked with the U.S. Farm Labor Program (FLP) and travelled around the Southeastern United States. I believe this was in the 1940s and 1950s and he traveled in regions that would be termed the “Deep South.” Indeed, Stormy had many a story to tell about his experiences in the U.S. both with white overseers and the other islanders (Trinidadian and Jamaicans), who worked under the FLP. Wayne closing the distance and taking the man down. Photo. Courtesy of Wielding the Stick Productions. 52 SPRING 2019 I learned the sword and Queensberry methods of Sticklicking from Stormy. He was a very technical teacher and spent much of his time ensuring that I developed correct footwork and body positioning. His stick play was geared toward combat. I’m not certain if he even served in the military, but he would often relate his techniques and tactics to experience in the “Great World Wars.” For example, he would mention that many of the “Negro soldiers” serving in Europe during WWI were not allowed to carry firearms. They therefore had to rely on their wits and knowledge of “the science.” Stormy’s approach to teaching stick science was very specific, and much of it was based on using the Queensberry method to counter the sword style. There were four positions or cuts that he taught in Queensberry, each with their own specific strikes and defenses. Although he asserted that the Queensberry method had a total of seven positions, Stormy’s attitude was that if you knew the first four positions, you could “handle yourself against anybody.” The latter positions, as he once demonstrated to me, were used primarily for attacks by drawing, something that a skilled opponent would not fall for. I remember him saying “Wayne, if you want to learn the science you must watch the old Errol Flynn movies.” He also emphasized the importance of being equally skilled with both hands and being able to use the stick in both standard and reverse grip. Infighting was also taught so that one developed the ability to rip and tear with the stick (similar to using a bayonet at close-quarters). Stormy was also the first person whom I saw demonstrate throws with the stick, using the quarter-end. This was emphasized as an Wayne and Forde showing upclose & personal sticklicking. important skill to develop. Joseph ‘Sonie’ Greaves was my second science teacher. He was a fighter. Someone once told me that he raised his children “off the money he earned Sticklicking.” I believe Sonie served in the Army. He also had many a story to tell about his exploits as a night watchman and as an honorary police constable. Apparently, whenever members of the Royal Police had to serve an arrest warrant on a “Bad John” (or vagabond), they would first swing by his house to have him accompany them. Sonie taught me his version of the “Johnson,” “Tom Johnson” and “Donnelly” methods. He taught me Johnson up to the third position. I gained much tactical knowledge from Sonie, and his understanding of combat went well beyond the use of the stick. He taught me empty hand skills as well as throws and disarming techniques for situations when you are unarmed. Sonie also taught me traditions and tactics of “the game” or Sticklicking as a sporting activity. Sonie was also in his seventies when I began learning from him. “ I was very skeptical that I would find much value in Bajan sticklicking, Boy, was I in for an awakening!” The Schools of Science There are three main styles of Bajan Sticklicking taught today. These are Queensberry, Johnson and what was often termed “a mixed-up science,” but which I personally prefer to call Setous. Though the techniques in all the methods are quite similar, it is the application and tactics that differentiate the styles. Queensberry is believed to be reflective of the influence of the Marquis de Queensberry rules of Boxing. It is meant to be a more refined and graceful expression of stick play. Johnson is more indicative of the old toe-to-toe style brawling that was common among bare-knuckle prize-fighters. Indeed, a Johnson man is more flat-footed in his play. He does not believe in wasted motion. He will hold his position and look for the opportunity to score the one powerful blow that will incapacitate his opponent. Martial Arts Masters 53 WAYNE QUINTYNE Going Away to Find Ones Roots The stick of a Queensberry man, on the other hand, is in constant motion as he transitions from position to position. This perpetual motion of the stick makes his attacks less telegraphic and his blows are percussive in nature. He favors attacks to the joints and is equal adept at both hands. The best analogy to explaining the difference between the Johnson and Queensberry methods was given to me by Sonie. He referred to the boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Baer. Wayne doing French La Canne. Photo courtesy of UMAA Productions. As he pointed out, Joe Louis ran into trouble in the latter part of the first round when Max Baer pressured him onto the ropes. Up until that point, Louis was fighting in the Queensberry style, keeping distance and striking form the outside. However, he switched to the Johnson style in answer to Baer’s pressured attack and almost knocked Baer out. It was Sonie’s contention that if Louis had stayed in the Johnson style, he would have knocked Baer out in the second round. Louis, however, switched back to the Queensberry style using a combination of precision striking from the outside and fancy footwork to dominate the third round. It wasn’t until the fourth round that the accumulation of punches took their toll on Baer and he went down for the final count. Most of the local stick fighters interacted with each other outside of competitions and there was a natural cross-pollination of skills and tactics. They would often meet for friendly play and this would provide opportunities to share ideas and test theories. For this reason, during the 1950s and 1960s many of the top fighter no longer played a pure game but developed what they termed a “mixed-up science.” I have termed this method Setous after the name given to a formal competition amongst two combatants. Setous may very well be a corruption of the French term “c’est tout” or “everything” or “that is all,” implying that within the game everything is allowed. This includes striking with the stick, the limbs and wrestling. Alternatively, there was also a sense of completeness to the ritual of play, satisfying in its mental, spiritual, emotional and physical components. The ILF Caribbean Expedition Recently, I was invited to participate in the Immersion Labs Foundation’s (ILF) hoplological expedition to Barbados. I was one of the exponents of Barbadian Sticklicking who joined in the cultural exchange. David Hinds and Philip Forde were the other two Barbadians involved. We also had the opportunity to interact, share and compare our martial experiences with practitioners of Trinidadian Kalinda and Jab-Jab, Venezuelan Garrote sand Colombian Grima. These stick, whip, and blade arts, while originating 54 SPRING 2019 Wayne closing the distance and taking the man down. Photo courtesy of UMAA Productions. from various regions of the Caribbean and South America, all share a common origin and process of evolution. Most, if not all, of these methods have their roots in African martial arts systems and were then infused with the experiences of the indigenous peoples of the region. [Editor’s Note: Midwestern Venezuelan Garrote is an exception to this generalization. However, this statement may be accurate for coastal systems of Garrote.] In some cases this knowledge was also mixed with that of the colonizers, or their indentured workers who migrated from Scotland and Ireland. Slavery and colonization had a profound influence on the development of these arts, and in the case of Bajan Sticklicking, the influence of British martial arts is undeniable. Indeed, it would be safe to say that the many fighting systems of the region represent different chapters of the same story. It is only when all these chapters are brought together that we can we truly appreciate the depth of this book, which speaks both to the wealth of African martial culture, and to the ingenuity of people who worked to disguise, adapt and develop these practices in order to preserve that which was intrinsically their own. “Joseph ‘Sonie ‘Greaves was my second teacher… Apparently when the members of the Royal Police had to serve an arrest warrant on a ‘Bad John’ (vagabond), they would first swing by his house to have him accompany them.” © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 55 TUHON MEL TORTAL 56 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 57 RONDEL BENJAMIN RONDEL BENJAMIN: Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer By Jon White 58 SPRING 2019 I am very pleased to present this interview with Rondel Benjamin. Rondel has been a pioneer in the revitalization of the Afro-Caribbean martial traditions that collectively fall under the group of practices knowns as Kalinda. The Bois Academy of Trinidad & Tobago, an organization that Rondel co-founded, has been essential to the revitalization of these arts, actively working to create opportunities for people to experience the restorative power that lies at the core of these martial forms. The wide range of opportunities they have created includes programs designed to use Kalinda in restorative justice and gender based violence initiatives. The art has been employed in a number of other institutional settings including Creative Art Entrepreneurship, Debating & Position Defense for University Students, Kalinda as a New Pedagogy in Youth Education, At Risk Youth Engagement and Propagation of Kalinda as a Lifestyle. The critical work of protecting these dying art forms through multimedia platforms, especially in the pop culture area, is one of the hallmarks of the Bois Academy, and has resulted in three documentaries, three music albums and several plays. After immersing themselves in this artform for over a decade, Rondel and his team have achieved victories in the National Stickfighting Competition and amassed several 2nd place awards. Their dedicated campaign to win recognition for Kalinda as the national martial art, and tireless focus on honoring the living elders of the form, is a powerful example of the role of ancestral veneration in African spiritual traditions. Kalinda has been a critical tool in helping the displaced Africans in Trinidad & Tobago recover their cultural identity and is a perfect example how enslaved Africans resisted their oppressors through cultural retention. Kalinda encompasses Gilpin (blade/cutlass combat), Bois (stick fighting) and Rope Jab (a flexible weapon and whip-based form). Rondel specializes in Gilpin and Bois. He has been exposed to multiple martial forms including Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Kali, Muy Thai, Kung Fu, Karate and Boxing. Additionally, he has been an avid seeker in the realm of martial combatives, being an early adopter of systems like the SPEAR, Defence Lab, Piper Knife & Systema. This has allowed him to create a unique teaching style and gain deep insights into the interconnected nature of his traditions and their martial application. Benji shows the traps of Kalinda Stick. Martial Arts Masters 59 AONDEL R RTICLE B TITLE ENJAMIN Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer Beginnings JW: Thanks for sharing you story with us Rondel. How long have been involved in Kalinda? RB: It depends on what you define as the beginning. It may have been when my mom found me walking at 10 months, arguing with a bench and mumbling my first word “fighting.” It might be the fact that my DNA profile comes from the famous, little know, Merkin clans in Marouga Trinidad. Six companies of Colonial Marines - free Africans who fought against the Americans in Virginia during the US War of Independence in 1812. They were fierce guerilla units that settled Trinidad in one of the most inhospitable regions, Marouga. Or it could have been my first attempt to locate and access research on Kalinda when I was 18, which included the most critical conversation I had in my development as a young martial artist. It was with a local luminary and historian Dr. Gordon Rolher. I asked him to point me to the research on Kalinda in the local University regarding its past and history. His answer was simple, “There is none and it is on you to fix that.” Most likely though, it was me getting a job in Marouga 13 years ago, meeting and being mentored by three of the greatest elder in the regional pantheon of Kalinda gods: King Kali, Congo Barra and Stokely. I also received mentorship and brotherhood form one of the more iconic active Kings, David Brown. Benji the philosopher warrior. 60 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 61 AONDEL R RTICLE B TITLE ENJAMIN Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer Benji teaching Lunia and Obi some of the Kalinda footwork patterns in an old plantation. Current Projects and the ILF Expedition JW: Can you share with us the latest developments in your martial research, and what has been the most impactful development in Kalinda in the last year? RB: I had the pleasure of taking part in a Hoplological expedition to Barbados focusing on Pan-American martial traditions. The research was centered around the Southern Caribbean and Northern South America. It encompassed Colombian Grima, Venezuelan Garrote, Bajan (Barbadian) Sticklicking and Trinidad & Tobago’s Kalinda suite (stick fighting/Bois, Rope Jab & Gilpin). The Expedition was organized by Mahipal Lunia of the Immersion Lab Foundation. It was mind blowing and, in some respects, life altering. I have for years had certain suspicions regarding the interrelation of Caribbean martial traditions, on why Kalinda in its form and expression was so distinct from other Caribbean and South American practices. Many of the rumors regarding Kalinda’s origins and development were confirmed. We now have a clear picture of where we need to focus our efforts as we unravel the puzzle of Kalinda’s history and origin. The links between Rope Jab and Kalinda, and the influences of both the African and Indian diasporas on its development, was probably the biggest single revelation. I expect that this connection will lead us to more clearly locate our point of origin. Let’s just say Haiti and Martinique, here we come! 62 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 63 AONDEL R RTICLE B TITLE ENJAMIN Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer For us being able to spend time with other regional researchers, academics and practitioners of these forms gave us unprecedented access. Within the group it was super fun watching the arts pitted against each other, all in the name of science. Of course, whacking people with sticks and whips is a unique brand of fun that many never experience, but it’s one of the most amazing feelings on earth. One Man’s Understandings of Kalinda JW Can you give us some insight into what makes the Kalinda so unique among other regional martial arts? RB: Kalinda isn’t a marital art. For me it is a lifestyle and better described as a martial tradition. Kalinda encompasses an approach to spiritual development, strategic thought, healing traditions, diet and performance science, music/ritual/dance and the development of martial skill. It is, in many ways, one of the primary social structures through which enslaved communities kept the rituals of warriorhood and initiation alive. It has always been an equal opportunity event with both male and female historical figures participating fully in its expression. Some of the songs seem to date back at least 200 years. To this day, fighters determine success on the “first blood” principle. Kalinda in Trinidad is still a dueling art. Thus its effectiveness and efficacy has been maintained through that rigorous crucible known as “battle.” Kalinda shares many elements that seem to identify it with other Central and West African traditions of combat. It shares many common elements with Mayole from Martinique, Jogo de Pau from the North of Portugal (in its Afro-Brazilian expression) and Capoeira Angola from Salvador Brazil. Its two hand (ambidextrous) stance (with its preference for butting and tripping), focus on agility and continuous movement, giving it a character that is best suited for close quarter combat. It is a very expressive art and its practitioners are known for aggressively closing the gap, lending to its reputation as a brutally effective method in melee and multiple assailant combat. Benj and Ronald bringing traditions together. 64 SPRING 2019 JW: Where do you see Kalinda in 10 years? Hopes and Dreams RB: Kalinda will be a key component in the revitalization of the Caribbean male and the wider African/Indo-Trinidadian diaspora. As Budo is to the Japanese, so Kalinda will become to the people of the Caribbean. Kalinda can be a key element in the process of developing self-awareness, especially in the Caribbean context. Self-awareness, we have found, leads to self-actualization, a necessary attribute of all warriors. This self-actualization is critical in helping us recover and reconstruct our identity as a people. Self-identity then leads to one recognizing his or her place in the wider community. This community consciousness leads to that selfless space, to a kind of harmony with the fullness. The harmony that we seek is found in the gayelle [ring of combat], with the ancestral, the spiritual, the communal, a oneness with the life force we all share. We know Benji teaching the double gilpin to Ryan and Lunia. it as Ase, that Africa word we use to describe that force that binds us all. It is somewhat like “the Force” in Start Wars…right? One of the objectives of Kalinda has always been assisting its participants in achieving a state we describe as “stalwart,” a kind of stoic transcendence, a momentary enlightenment. It is a reaching past the temporal in to a dimension of completeness. I often imagine that the enslaved Africans’ ability to access this state was elemental in their ability to resist the horrors of their time, and find in themselves that beauty and creativity that Caribbean men and women are known for. This is what it took to create their own way, to imagine their way to liberation. I my humble opinion that is one of the greatest stories of humanity’s ability to overcome. I strongly believe Kalinda, and its presence in all the territories where resistance was greatest, was a critical factor in fostering this state of being. JW: Thanks for your time. Where can people reach you if they have questions, or want to access training? RB: We have Facebook and Instagram pages called “Bois Academy of Trinidad & Tobago” or Bois Academy TT. We have two documentaries available, No Bois man No fraid (2013) and Our Souls Turned Inside Out (2015). I am excited about some of the upcoming video and online instructional material with Immersion Labs. We also take interns in Trinidad and have a distance learning program. You can email me at [email protected]. Ase O and Vibes like Sand. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 65 CARRYING THE TRADITIONS CARRYING THE TRADITIONS INTO THE FUTURE: Keegan, Chantwell and Bois Man By Rondell Benjamin H earing the call of the of the warrior path as a young teenager, Keegan plunged headlong into this journey first studying Aiki-Jitsu, Shotokan Karate and Simba-Ryu. After a number of years of study, Kegan turned to the grappling arts of Judo, Systema, BJJ. Continuing to heed the call of the warrior, Keegan continued to study Kali, Escrima, Muay-Thai and Scott Sonnon’s body-flow project to expand and deepen his understanding of combat. Much like the African warrior/ griot of old, Keegan also continued to explore his love of music looking backwards to the rhythms of Africa, and African diasporic musical expressions of resistance but also forward blending these traditional rhythmic ideas with the emerging musical ideas coming out of the creative impulses of young Caribbean musicians today. After discovering Kalinda Keegan began an intensive apprenticeship under the master practitioner Rondel Benjamin, eventually becoming his senior student. Kalinda is a stick fighting artform that is native to Trinidad and Tobago. In essence it is a blood sport fought between two opponents each wielding four foot hardwood staffs in an effort to strike the opponent about the body with the purpose of drawing first blood. Keegan quickly became enthralled by the very essence of the game. The combination of music and combat with just enough pain proved to be addictive. Keegan has since become an avid student of Kalinda, embracing all its customs, traditions and practices. He continues to train in Judo and Jiu Jitsu, with elements of striking from the Defence Lab syllabus alongside Kalinda. 66 SPRING 2019 Keegan & Benji - the philosopher kings of Kalinda. Martial Arts Masters 67 AARRYING C RTICLE TITLE THE TRADITIONS Keegan, Chantwell and Bois Man First Steps RB: What got you interested in Kalinda and why do you still play the game? KT: I found Kalinda, I like to think, but I know the truth. Kalinda actually found me. I am an artist in that I write and produce music, so that artistic energy is always upon me. However, the warrior spirit resides in me too, and I have always been seeking a way to feed these two wolves inside me without giving favor to one over the other. [Laughs]. Many years ago, on my way to perform at a show, I heard the sound of the African drums thundering into the night. Abandoning my initial quest, I was captivated by the spectacle of a stick fighting competition. Seeing the men compete so gallantly with their wooden “sabers,” fighting to the beat of drums and the chorus of the singers chanting in their old Afro-Caribbean melodies, that was enough to convert me to the tradition of Kalinda I now belong. Truth be told, had it not been for the enigmatic and charismatic teachers I learned from, I am not sure that I would still be with the art today. The way these instructors live and practice is so unlike the ways of other traditional teachers. Their relaxed everyday manner seemed to fit my own artistry and allowed me to learn from them more easily. I was able to assimilate their teachings mainly because it was like second nature to me, almost like breathing. More importantly, I enjoyed every moment of it, including the pain. Keegan & Lunia conversing with live blades. Finding Ones Stride RB: Do you find Kalinda to be an effective martial art? Is it a combat form you have found to be useful in the modern world of Functional Martial Combatives? KT: As a matter of fact, I do. I consider Kalinda to be an operating system that once infused into one’s body, informs the practitioner’s movements, strategy, tactics and execution across all martial platforms. It teaches rhythm, timing and even mindset. It allows fighters to out-wit, outlast and defeat any opponent. Once he or she is able to assimilate the teachings and apply the philosophy of the art, it is less about the stick you wield and more about understanding your own movement and body. It took me a very long time to understand this concept but as I have grown and explored the artform over time, I can now see how much Kalinda has transformed me into the fighter I am today. For instance, in my Judo practice, I have found that when I apply my Kalinda footwork, it opens up my throws much more then when I try to suppress it or leave it out completely. I have even seen and heard of the same thing happening with other Kalinda players who practice other fighting arts, so I am very confident in its power as a combat system. 68 SPRING 2019 Moving into the Future RB: Where do you see Kalinda in the near or even distant future? KT: Kalinda, for me, is a treasure trove of opportunity, resources and ancient knowledge that has been passed down to us. We can cross-pollinate it with many other arts. For instance, I have been working on various sounds in my musical practice that integrate the energy of the stick fight drumming and creating new works unlike any mainstream sound that one can produce today. In the martial arts, I am continuously exploring the infusion of Kalinda into the combat applications of other fighting styles, like boxing and grappling, with significant success. I am excited about the future recognition of Kalinda as an OS [Operating system]. I think it is a very good teaching tool and an even better one for personal development and self-discovery, not only as a martial artist but as an individual as a whole. RB: How has Kalinda impacted your music and artistry? KT: Kalinda allows me to explore my voice and become confident in using it to control fighters, to influence their mood and their state of mind. I’m sure you can imagine how important and impactful that would be. I am in the process of making music for the masses. To be able to create a sound that can move people and change their state of mind through song is a highly elusive skill that is not easily taught amongst the chantwelles. Raising a storm at the edge of the blade. Martial Arts Masters 69 AARRYING C RTICLE TITLE THE TRADITIONS Keegan, Chantwell and Bois Man Chantwelles are the singers that guide the fighters in the ring accompanied by the drummers. I have been around these men studying their skills. I have also been infused with the power of the drum. Just being around it and playing it, learning its language, has done things to me I still cannot explain. It affects the way I see and hear music now. I guess it is up to the people to decide if they like what it has produced. So far, the feedback has been very encouraging and positive. So now it is for me to apply my own creativity to the existing structure and see how it feeds into my creative process. Keegan ready to rumble Kalinda style. 70 SPRING 2019 Violence and Reality RB: Kalinda is a very violent game. It has resulted in the loss of life and limb. What makes you play it after knowing all this? KT: As a martial artist, I have always wanted to test my strength, my skill, my ability in the most real way that I could, amongst skilled and dangerous men. Call it foolish if you will, but I think many fighters who train for self-defense have always wanted to know how their skills match up on the streets. And while stick fighting is more organized and less chaotic than the streets, in some ways the emotional, psychological and physical impact can outweigh real life challenges. Having gone to war in the gayelles [competition spaces] for so many years has changed me into a more well-rounded and capable warrior than I would’ve ever dreamed possible. The rituals and preparations have seeped into my everyday life and, as I continue its practice, I know that it continues to feed my development as a warrior. RB: This unique blend of Kalinda and music is quite intriguing. Where can we find your continuing works on marital arts and music? KT: The research is on-going at the moment, but we will make the music and even the training methods public as soon as we have tested and troubleshot the mechanics of the martial arts aspect. We should begin releasing our findings in the combat arena within the coming year and, as it relates to the music, log on to Tenartistry.com to hear some of our new concepts. I can be reached at k33gantaylor@ gmail.com, or simply refer to the Bois Academy of Trinidad and Tobago for further details. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Keegan, the Lion of Trinadad. Martial Arts Masters 71 OLD-TIME BARBADOS MEMORIES OF OLD-TIME BARBADOS with David “Biggard” Hinds By Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D. D avid “Biggard” Hinds is a retired carpenter who we brought on board as a driver for the ILF field team. During the first day it came out that in his youth Biggard was an accomplished Sticklicker and still possessed a high degree of skill, a willingness to engage with us, and a desire to test his talents. He became an integral member of the ILF team, both as source of Sticklicking information, a driver and as a friend. Saulud, my good friend! hope to see you again soon. Fortunately, Biggard was already known to a local scholar researching Sticklicking traditions. Here is a collection of excerpts taken from interviews done by Philip Forde in 2015, where Biggard talks about his early memories of stick fighting in the 1960s. The interviews have been edited and re-written for clarity, consistency and easy reading. Biggard opening the closed doors of old world sticklicking. 72 SPRING 2019 NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited By James Herndon H ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean. I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media. With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context. Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka. Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by Martial Arts Masters 73 ALD O RTICLE -TIME TITLE BARBADOS David “Biggard” Hinds Early Years “Only certain fellows would teach you. It wasn’t taught openly, because fellows would get scared of getting hit. It was always only the brave ones would do it.. So, you got to have the love for it.” DBH: I was born in Hillaby, raised up in Hillaby, used to go to church at Hillaby Nazarene Church. And after church was done on Sundays, I would run down to Farm Path just to watch Sticklicking, because they would play in our yard, practically every Sunday. Learning how to use the stick PF: So did fellows fight with two hands or one hand on the stick? DBH: Mostly you begin with one hand on the stick, but sometimes, fellows did “bar” the stick, they used to call it “barring the stick,” they used to hold it with two hands, in that way you could strike out with either the right or left hand. PF: Sticklicking was something anybody could learn or was it very secretive? DBH: Only certain fellows would teach you. It wasn’t taught openly, because fellows would get scared of getting hit. It was always only the brave ones would do it because people get scared of getting hit and so on. So, you got to have the love for it. PF: But even back then you had to find somebody to teach you. DBH: Right…everybody didn’t want to teach you and people keep it as a secret, that’s why it is dying out now because people hold it back too much. PF: Why would people hold it back so much? DBH: I don’t know why…. You had many people that used to come and watch because people wanted to see the real art of it, what it was really like, so there were Biggard and Forde play while Cherry boy advises. 74 SPRING 2019 Biggard and Wayne demonstrating traditional methods of instruction. Fighting from an enclosed place. crowds coming to watch it. I figure then, that is why they held back, because if too many people learn, you are not going to get the crowds to come. PF: How about stick throwing? DBH: …I never saw it, but I heard of it. I heard of a watchman at Apes Hill Plantation. I heard people say there was a time that this guy had went to carry away some fruits and things and my grandfather came and the guy was running, and my grandfather throw the stick and twirl it and it went between the man’s legs and trip him up. PF: Some people used to call the stick, the sword. DBH: Some people used to call the stick the sword and the way they used to walk with it and hold it. Some used to walk with it under their arms, some used to walk with it behind their back, some walked with it over their heads, across their shoulders, all ways. Preparing the Stick PF: What were the types of wood they would make sticks from? DBH: Most of the sticks they made from Guava, Baywood, Black sage, hard woods, you know, Rod wood. PF: How would they prepare the sticks? DBH: They would cut the sticks and hold them over a fire, smoke them, cure them over the fire, until the bark comes off. Then they soak them in oil and put them out to dry. Martial Arts Masters 75 OLD-TIME BARBADOS David “Biggard” Hinds Sticklicking Activities DBH: A Sticklicker named Abraham Rock who played in the Johnson style and my grandfather “Bugga” Smith who played in the Queensbury style. PF: How would they begin matches in those days? DBH: They would lay the sticks on the ground crosswise and start by going around in a circle. There would be a referee standing by who would count down, [then], they grab their sticks and begin to play. The only time I saw fire flash from sticks was in our yard in Hillaby. It was my grandfather versus Rock. They were playing, and Rock had my grandfather in a corner. Another old guy, I don’t remember his name, at one point tells my grandfather “Move from there” and Rock put a head lash-and then my grandfather break [block] and come out a flash of fire from the sticks and they stop the contest then. PF: They used to play on Sundays? DBH: Mainly on Sundays because I remember going to church and running from Hillaby to get home then to see the fellows playing stick. So actually, every Sunday evening they used to play stick in our yard… Other fellas used to come from different areas and play but the Sunday that Rock and my grandfather played, that was one of the biggest things you had, because you had fellows from all around to come see that duel that Sunday. People played till you stop you understand, then you play for 20-25 minutes or so and you stop and two more would go and play, that sort of way. Biggard plays sticklicking chess with Forde. 76 SPRING 2019 PF: How did people see these Sticklickers? Biggard taking his stick to the whip. DBH: They looked upon them as champions…. My grandfather, once he got a stick, water couldn’t touch him! He and Rock were it, the fellows used to look up to Abraham. Every time you look [people would yell out], “Rocky, Rocky.” He was the Champion down. PF: In that area? [Hillaby] DBH: In the area. [Hillaby] Then they had another guy in Barker Corner, Sonny, a short guy in Barker Corner. PF: What year was this? DBH: Back in the 1960s. PF: And these men would travel around? DBH: Yeah, my grandfather would go out and play all over the place. Orange Hill, Mile and a Quarter, Four Hill, and people would go with him. They would go in groups. Someone would have a truck-the truck would pick up a load of fellas and they would go. PF: And people would eat and drink at these gatherings? DBH: After yes, they would have some drinks but not during. My grandmother used to cook when they would play in our yard, she would cook big pots of food. PF: And they would fight only with sticks? DBH: Yes, only the stick. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 77 RONALD ALFRED RONALD ALFRED Guardian of Martial Tradition, Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer By Rondel Benjamin I t is my pleasure to present the enigmatic Ronald Alfred. Ronald is the last of the Whip Masters. Trinidad Masqueraders of yesteryear all have stories of large bands of “Jab Jabs” meeting on the roads and engaging in duel-style battles. The victors left with arms raised and the losers deflated, bloodied and broken. This is the environment in which Ronald came to manhood, acclaim and prominence as one of the “hardest hitters” that the art has ever seen. He is the guardian of the very secretive, time honored, art of Rope Jab or Trinidad Jab Jab. His work in education and the dissemination of this sacred Caribbean martial form may have singlehandedly brought it back from the edge of extinction. The Alfred family is now in its fourth generation of active Rope Jab Players. [Editors Note: This interview presumes one has some previous knowledge of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. Ronald mentions the masked and costumed characters that appear during the Carnival parades. Of the many characters one is called the “Jab-Jab”, or the devil. The word “Jab” is a slang for the French word for devil, “Diable.” Another character is the “Jab-Jab Molassie,” or the Molasses Devil. The Jab-Jab Molassie smears himself with oil, or lard mixed with colored dyes. He then jumps and leaps about like a wild man, threatening to smear molasses on onlookers unless they pay them off with spare change. Other time he parades chained up. The colored bodies and the chains are supposed to represent the slaves of old who were chained, mistreated and exploited for centuries on the sugar cane plantations of the country where molasses was produced and then refined in to sugar.] 78 SPRING 2019 RB: Ronald, talk to me, help us get some insight into this unknown martial form. RA: Hi Benjie. Too most Jab Jab/Rope Jab is a ‘Mas’ [a form a Masquerade]. They see the costume and the colors. They watch us chipping [dancing] down the road, Martial Arts Masters 79 AONALD R RTICLE T AITLE LFRED Guardian of Martial Tradition they hear us singing our Lavway’s to the rhythm of the willows [ankle bracelets covered with bells] in our scared procession. What they don’t know is what lies beneath. When we are marching through the towns and villages, we bring woes and sorrow to any of our kind that we meet. It’s a dance to challenging any Jab man who dares to face us in combat. The Jab man also be seen as the devil incarnate. I forget occasionally and call it a “mas” cause we have always know that it is our martial art. To our family, to those in the know, it was always more than mas, even than a battle. For us it is a way of life. It is our form of self-defense yes, but way more. What you see is my religion, that space where my soul could “float,” where we can become whole. Jab has given me everything I have, everything you could ever need. But the thing is it that it takes as much as it gives. We have had to give up a lot to keep it alive. It is hard to provide for the hundreds of people that depend on us to make costumes, to get transport for the bands, to provide whips and gear for all the kids in the village so that they can participate in our annual procession. RB: What is the history of Rope Jab? Where did it come from? RA: The history and origins of Rope Jab are shrouded in the past. My grandfather was Alfred Bachu. He was the “King of Diego Martin” and passed the tradition to my father Winston Alfred The “King of Central.” The tradition then fell to my older brother, Rodney Alfred, and myself. You can find mentions of Jab Jab/Jab Molasie as early as the 1830s. You hear of men covered in black paint crack the costumes tail, whipping and being whipped. By the 1930s, the Jab Molasie, Black skin painted and the Rope Jab Jab Jab Duel, photo courtesy Maria Nunes. 80 SPRING 2019 Jab, begin to appear as two different characters. One symbolizing the pain and Jab Jab’s out in full force during Carnistruggle of the enslaved soul returning for retribution, and the other reenacting val. Photo courtesy of Maria Nunes. the rites of passage or initiation seen in many African and Indian Cultures. These are rites that measure, that test a man, rites of warriorhood, rites of battle. By the 1940s, we can see strong influence from the whipping traditions of Kali Puju Rites [a cult of Hindu worship tradition brought from India by indentured labors who arrived in Trinidad as early as 1845, initially from the region of Chota Nagpur] on the Rope Jabs practitioners of East Indian decent. RB: What is the primary mission of the Original Whipmasters, or Jab-Jab men? RA: To spread the tradition of Trinidad Rope Jab. When I hear the stories from my father’s time, there were stories of Rope Jab bands from all over Trinidad battling for supremacy. You see, we fight full contact with whips but no protective gear. Our only protecting is our heart and skill. The man who quit first, or who falls, will lose. We are one of the last active bands. We want to spread the art, to help it return to its former glory. Let me share my dream with you. What I want is to take it to the world, face the best they have and see how we measure up. I want to see what there is out there to learn, because I believe we have plenty to teach. RB: Is there anything you want the world to know about you and your journey in Rope Jab? RA: People always ask me why I play Jab. They ask me why I persevere in spite of the tribulation, lack of support and financial disappointments. Sometimes I don’t Martial Arts Masters 81 AONALD R RTICLE T AITLE LFRED Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer Ronald at hard play. “The art itself provides for me, it lifts my spirit and guides me to a new level of understanding. I want everyone to experience the peace it brings. To float on her wings, to be carried to a place I can’t describe.” 82 SPRING 2019 even know how we are going to get the support to put the band out, buy the materials and cover our basic costs. I wanted to give up so many times but the truth is, “I didn’t choose this, it chose me.” Every time I believe the load is too much to bear, that the mission is a failure, the art itself provides for me. It lifts my spirit, guides me to a new level of understanding. I want everyone to experience the peace it gives. To float on her wings, to be carried to a place I can’t describe. RB: I want to say thank you again for sharing your amazing art with us. This is a unique experience to sit with a real master and receive such a deep look into the core of this rare and unknown Martial Tradition. RA: ( Laughter ), Nah man, thank you. Sometimes my elders, uncles and other family members, quarrel with me for breaking the tradition and opening up our family secrets to the public. I do it with an open heart because I believe this is the moment, the time for world to know what we have preserved. I want it to spread to grow. RB: Ronald, I hear you and the band jokingly refer to the Whipmaster space as “Deh Jab Jab Hospital.” Why ? RA: That’s because that beautiful space is the place that our Jumbi [a word used in Trinidad which came to mean muse or spirit guide] resides, a space where the Martial Arts Masters 83 AONALD R RTICLE T AITLE LFRED Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer spirit that guides me resides. The plants that we use in our rituals of purification, to bath with before battle, are all there. The plants we use to heal our bodies with when the price we paid for the battle was higher than expected, are also found in that holist of spaces. Long ago it would have been called a yard. A yard is like a living dojo wrapped in nature, in spirit and is a manifestation of Jab itself. For us Jab is a spiritual thing, a connection to something that essentially avoids description. The words escape me sometimes because the feeling of it is so proud that even trying to describe it is diminishing. AD HERE RB: In closing can you share any tips or tricks to improve my skill in Jab? RA: Benji, practice real important. I train my body, my mind and my spirit everyday. 40 days before the carnival I begin fasting and praying. Purification is critical. To enter into battle with a pure heart is essential. The truth though is that when everything lines up and your Jumbie land [when you enter a trance state], something else does take over. I have been able to do and see things that to this day I can’t explain, and I am not interested in ever trying too. You see Jab is about experiencing life. There is not a video or a book that could help you with that. RB: Tell me one experience in the Jab Jab journey that blew your expectations? RA: I never expected to go to Barbados with Immersion Lab Foundation! To meet martial arts researchers that could shed light on, even have knowledge of some of the traditions rituals that we practice. Seeing the big picture, seeing how intertwined our traditions are with both their African and Indian Heritage. I am excited about that kind of thing. I want to carry it to India and Africa. Watching it being exposed to the globe because of the Immersion Lab efforts is my life’s dream coming true. Ronald demonstrates Cable Whip against Kalinda Sticks. RB: How can we get in contact with you? RA: We are on Facebook at Ronald Alfred. We also have a webpage and Facebook presence: The Original Whip Masters-Jab Jab. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 84 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 85 86 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 87 MICHAEL J. RYAN Michael int. Training Mande Muda Silat with Leslie Buck, 1997. 88 SPRING 2019 THE FIGHTING STICK AND MACHETE IN VENEZUELAN GARROTE: An Interview with Michael J. Ryan By Mahipal Lunia M ichael J. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Binghamton University. Much of his professional research focuses on the study and documentation of lesser known traditional fighting systems. His extensive fieldwork in South America is documented in a scholarly volume titled Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts (Lexington Books, 2016). Michael remembers how his journey into Anthropology and Hoplology began early in life reading National Geographic about the Indians in the Amazon and watching Bruce Lee in the ‘Green Hornet’, seeing Sean Connery/ Donn Draeger in James Bond’s ‘You Only Live Twice” and Tom Laughlin/Bong Soo Han in “Billy Jack”. These two passions Anthropology and martial arts drove Michael for much of his life. Hitchhiking around the world for six years prepared him to be a good Anthropologist. Pursuing this career path led him to the door of a number of unique martial artists who recognized his passion for their knowledge and accepted him as a student. Probably more out of the idea of trying to keep him out of trouble then any innate skill he possessed. In one of lifes strange twists Michael switched from a study of Amazonian riverine peoples to Venezuelan stickfighters. A few years and a few phone calls later Michael ended up as a core member of the ILF expedition to Barbados. The following interview, conducted by Mahipal Lunia, examines the rise, decline and recent transformation of the various styles of stick and knife fighting that collectively comprise Venezuelan Garrote. The evolution and origin of these systems provides an important comparative case study for individuals interested in the development of New World combat systems. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. ML: Can you tell us a little bit about Garrote, what it is and where it comes from? MJR: It has been the object of my research for many years. Most simply, a Garrote is a braided hardwood tapered stick, about walking length, that was once carried as a part of a man’s daily dress in Venezuela from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. After that it started disappearing along the coastal areas. Actually, during the 1920’s it became uncommon in some rural areas. I would say that it was gone in some Martial Arts Masters 89 ARTICLE M ICHAELTJ. ITLE RYAN The Fighting Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote Back at SUNY Oneonta. of the more extremely rural areas by the late 1950’s. In other places it lasted through the 1970’s. A braided handled walking stick was primarily a self-defense tool used against animals in the rural areas, but it was also a symbol of manhood. It represented notions of elite masculinity, signaling that the man who carried this was willing to uphold his honor and protect this property at all costs. Of course, something similar was also a symbol of manhood among Western Europeans. We are familiar with it as the riding crop of the colonialist in old Tarzan films or French Foreign Legion movies. The gentlemen’s walking stick was a symbol of elite status among white men in Venezuela where the population was predominantly a mixture of detribalized Indians and Africans who were placed in a strict racial hierarchy. So, a nonwhite man carrying a stick is basically proclaiming that he too is a man of equal worth and is willing to defend this claim in a way that other elite males would see as normal and right. He was asserting a type of status and equality that had always been denied. In certain hands the Garrote was thus a symbol of resistance to oppression. Where did it came from? My guess is that it ultimately went back to the circaMediterranean region. Within Venezuela it seems to have been centered in the rural areas and was connected with the herding cultures of the Midwest and the Llanos, which makes sense. People riding mules, horses or oxcarts would need these to keep the animals going and everything in line. That might possibly be traced back to the southern Spanish herding cultures of Andalusia. There is a possible North African connection which I’m trying to explore but have yet to gather really strong evidence for this connection. Specifically, an Algerian stick fighting art is practiced among the Berbers of North Africa. They use a longer sticks, 38 or 39 inches, but it also has a braided handle. Its footwork follows a diamond pattern. The footwork in Venezuela is a bit more elaborate, but it has interesting parallels. The problem is that in southern Spain people herded cows and the North 90 SPRING 2019 Africa it was predominantly sheep. Hopefully future research can uncover some conclusive evidence. ML: Are you saying Spain is the connection, between Algeria and Venezuela? MJR: Possibly. So much of the architecture, food and dress in southern Spain comes directly from North Africa. And that culture was also transposed to the New World. There isn’t strong enough evidence so I can’t say with certainty that a certain stick fighting art came directly from a specific spot or had some well-defined influence. Other evidence comes directly from the Southern Spanish herding cultures where a lot of herders used occupational tools, knives, goad spears or cattle prods, not only to herd their cattle but also to protect themselves against bandits or rival ranches. There were also urban/rural tensions when herders came to the city to sell their goods and might be attacked, or when city people raided the countryside to rob these herders. There seems to be more direct evidence of that link. A professor from the University of La Laguna in the Canary Islands claims that there is a direct link between what they call the “Palo Chico,” or the “small stick,” and the walking sticks used in Louisiana, Cuba and Venezuela. The way I saw the “Palo Canario” used in Venezuela was that people grabbed it from the middle and swung it at each other, mirroring each other, in figure eight patterns. To both T.J. Obi and myself, this suggested a fighting system that has now become a style of folk performance. Of course, Canary Islanders made great contributions to Venezuela throughout the years. There are stick fighting genealogies that trace their way back to Canary Island immigrants. Top: Discovering a tradition of garrote This link can be seen in Juan Yépez, a renowned stick fighter who learned from still exists in central Venezuela. Guaribe, Temaré Pacheco, and León Valera, whose father was from the Canary Islands. 2013. It is said that León Valera taught his son the Spanish military sabre and Ca- Bottom: Danys Burgos , Andrés Yépez, nary Islands stick fighting when they were merchants. While traveling to Lake Snyder Ramos, author, Saul Teran. El Maracaibo they supposedly met an Englishman and, as a favor for saving him Papelon, Venezuela, 2005. from drowning, he taught them something called, “Palo Ingles,” English Stick. You stand up straight facing the opponent in profile and thrust the stick at his face or throat. I have only seen it performed once and was unable to record it at the time. When León Valera came back in the late teens, or early twenties, he picked up some local styles from around the Tocuyo valley where he lived. In 1923, he blended all these systems together and performed his art in public. That was the birth of one particular style. Informants like José-Felipe Alvarado, and the other chroniclers of the mid 19th century, made distinctions between military sabre, local Venezuelans stick arts, and Canary Islands practices. This suggests diverse genealogies, or lineages, that had been kept separate but could be blended into a whole range of practical combative activities. Martial Arts Masters 91 ARTICLE M ICHAELTJ. ITLE RYAN The Fighting Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote MJR: We are talking about the old days. That was a time of a weak state control, a time of feudalistic economic and social conditions in the rural areas where up through the1940’s, sugar cane was milled through wood fueled technology that had not changed since the middle ages. Hacienda owners had an iron grip on their workers and held them in debt servitude, which was really a form of economic slavery. They were not paid in cash, but rather in the company’s script. The workers would have to buy their goods at the company store, where the prices were greatly marked up. If people tried running away the foreman of the Hacienda would grab some workers and they would go off into the hills and bring them back. At the local level, the Hacienda owners wielded extreme power. But up in the hills and mountain there were still detribalized Indians. There were also small farmers and escaped African slave communities. They resisted being reduced to abject labors all the way into the 1920’s. Garrote ties back to the time of the Guapos. That is when you would find these men, elbows out, wide brim straw hats, and big mustaches. They had big thick sticks just walking along, thinking that they were the best thing ever to walk the streets. And, if anybody looked at them wrong, they would challenge them to a fight. My historical research suggests that Garrote (as a practice) is probably best understood as developing sometime in the late 19th century, after the walking stick became a popular item of dress for the elite. And it initially had many strands including the military sabre, Spanish stick fighting, Canary Islands stick fighting, possibly even Spanish civilian stick fighting stemming from regional herding cultures. Maybe even Berber or Irish stick fighting traditions. These traditions enveloped all of Venezuela. Garrote developed in unique ways in different pockets of the countryside. As political unrest and civil wars occurred in different parts of Venezuela, and more waves of immigrants came, it all blended together to create various local forms of Garrote. There were also different forms and levels of transmission. Everybody carried a stick, but most people were not great stick fighters. Not everybody will develop equal skill even if they put in an equal time. Not everybody wanted to be great. Not everybody liked to fight. All you really need is two or three solid techniques to get through life. Why would you learn any more when what you really want is to make money or to be a family man? MRyan. Figure. Training Apulian Sheppard stick and Stiletto with Gregory Vuvolo, Italy 2013. Other people might be extremely passionate about this art, and they would visit different teachers and train with different people and challenge masters. They ended up with a complex, sophisticated art. Occasionally that complexity and sophistication was passed down, and added upon, up until the present time. ML: Is Garrote just sticks or were there other weapons as well? MJR: During my fieldwork I always heard that it could be used with a machete. All of my teachers throughout Midwestern Venezuela would say, “Yes, the stick can be used as a machete.” They would, if there was a machete laying around, show me how to use some techniques. And if you can swing a stick and a machete, 92 SPRING 2019 then using the knife is very similar. One man, Díman Guitterez from Bobare who lived in Barquisimeto, was known for using a six-foot lance, which for me evokes the idea of a cattle prod being used as a weapon of self-defense. Another man who just died was named Adrian Pérez. He said that as a youth he used to see cart drivers with something called an “Mandador.” It was a stick with a couple of leather straps a little over three feet long. Basically it was something that mule train drivers would use. He developed a series of 10 or 12 techniques using them as a weapon, both alone and with a knife. There was also the Palos Sangriento style, which was taught by Félix García Ryan and Lunia in the middle of the who just died last year at age 101. He taught a series of two-man stick drills. He forest. also taught a stick and knife method, and the machete, which he approached differently than many other people. Sticks teachers always remind practitioners that the stick is just a substitute for the blade and that means that you can’t just block, but you have to avoid the blows. ML: What are some of the key principles, concepts, techniques within the art? MJR: What is interesting to me as a social scientist is how material technology shapes different combative traditions. If you’re wearing shoes, if you go barefoot, you’re wearing tight or loose pants, it can all constrain and shape how you move your body. The same is true with sticks. The length of the sticks and its weight shapes how people move their bodies in combative situations. A garrote is heavily tapered. It’s not all one diameter. It is like swinging a pool cue from the thin end which means that you can snap it in ways you can’t snap a Filipino rattan stick. I am not saying that one is superior to another, rather they can be used differently. The weapon’s taper really gives it some unique possibilities that other traditions maybe decided not to exploit. The other thing about Garrote that makes it unique is the complex geometric footwork. This might originate in some Spanish systems which include footwork patterns going to the right and to the left and circling. It all seems a lot more complex than other styles that are more linear, or maybe offer a type of triangle. These are all excellent methods, and they can serve you well. But, for some reason the Venezuelans preferred more elaborate geometric patterns. Another difference can be seen in their general posture and high body carriage. The chest is open, the chin is up, as if to say “Hey, what do you want from me?” It’s a different way of expressing machismo than what you see in other combative traditions. ML: What is “Tamunangue” and how did it come to have a relationship with Garrote? MJR: Sometime during the early 20th century villages in Midwestern Venezuala would drink, eat and pay their respects of Saint Anthony. Interestingly, the fights that Martial Arts Masters 93 ARTICLE M ICHAELTJ. ITLE RYAN The Fighting Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote would break out among young men were somehow incorporated into this festival. You would have a group of musicians playing introductory instrumental songs. Someone would gather everybody around saying the rituals were about to begin. And then two men would engage in a dual for a while, refereed by a man named the Capitan Mayor. He would keep everything going. Then, depending on the village, there were five to seven different types of dances involving both men and women, some in pairs and other being group events. “Garrote ties back to the time of the Guapos. Walking down the street, elbows out, wide brim straw hats, and big mustaches. They had big thick sticks. thinking that they were the best thing ever to walk the streets. And, if anybody looked at them wrong, they would challenge them to a fight.” Sometime in the 20th century, duals started to be incorporated into this dancing. I was told that these were real fights where blood could flow. Young guys will get pissed off at each other. People got a little drunk and started hitting each other harder and things escalated. You run into somebody who stole your girl at a party a few months ago, so you invite him to get your payback. It was the same situation if somebody was messing with your sheep or coffee. And it wasn’t just sticks. Machetes or knives were commonly seen. Or it could start out with sticks and then people would start pulling machetes and knives out of their pants and socks. Sometimes groups would go somewhere else and stage massive brawls involving sticks, machetes, knives, bricks, bottles or anything else they can get their hands on. Violence was much more acceptable back then. Grievous injuries or the occasional death were mourned. And all of this could have legal ramifications. But death was much more common. Between malnutrition, malaria, dysentery, and other diseases, life expectancies were much lower. In the 1940’s Venezuela finally had a modern army that imposed order across the country. Eventually the military dictatorship was overthrown. There was a democratically elected government and they wanted to bring everybody under an umbrella where all Venezuelans were the same. There was a conscious effort to create the notion that we all share the same history, goals and identity, rather than simply being isolated communities. To promote feelings of national unity they popularized and promoted the Fiesta de San Antonio. As part of that folklorization process, “La Batalla” [the older form of celebration and fighting] was change from being a real dual to a performance art. In fact, it was taken on the road and promoted not only within Venezuela but around the world to show the beauty of Venezuelan culture. Sometime in the 1940’s it was renamed the “Tamunangue” after the six-footlong Tamunangue drum which are played in performances. And that is how most people know Garrote today. The Tamunangue is a dance often performed by women and children. Needless to say, the old guys who are still alive look at this say “Hmm…Garrote came first.” They tell me “Garrote came first and Tamunangue came afterwards. Don’t forget that, Garrote is an art of the Pueblo, an art of self-defense. It is not a dance.” ML: What is it like learning Garrote in Venezuela today? And how might individuals in the Americas or Europe go about studying these systems? MJR: Nobody in the United States is openly teaching this material, and anyone who says that they are is lying to you. Within Venezuela, over the last two decades people have moved to Caracas and taken the art with them. So, there are some 94 SPRING 2019 classes in the parks in downtown Caracas and around the city. In the rural areas, up to 2015, there were a few public schools. These might meet in someone’s shoe shop, where you would have to move the equipment before the class could start. Or maybe someone had a little rum shop. You would clear the tables and that’s the school. There have been schools at this level of organization throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, most of those had died out by the 1990s. The people I studied with in 2005, said that they trained their last students in the late 1990’s. That was really the end of this generation of schools. By the time I was doing my research, the older generation of teachers was dying out and that last generation of students, men in their forties, were saying “Garrote is mine, I’m not teaching this to anybody. This is my art.” Obviously if they don’t change their attitude Garrote is to die. A few of these guys have started opening up and teaching publicly. Manuel Rodríguez and David Gonzales have been holding regular classes open to the public for the last few years. Sau Téran, one of my instructors and another student of Félix García, like Manuel and David, is teaching Garrote again in the back of his Kung Fu school. Eduardo had students, even though he died last year. He had a long history of teaching Garrote openly in his backyard. Those men are very open and very friendly and that’s about it. Everything else is BS. ML: Last question. You will be coming to Stickmata and leading a demonstration. Will this be the first time that Garrote has been shown in the United States? Sticks, blades and cats - the holy trinity for Ryan. MJR: No, but this will be the first time that authentic Garrote will be shown. Or maybe I should say that it will be the first time that you’ll see a pale reflection of the real Garrote. To be honest my skills they’re pretty weak. I’m not that good in Garrote, but I can demonstrate some of the system’s authentic content. I will try to replicate the environment, the context, that it is practiced in. Hopefully the people I’m showing this to can understand it, and feel it, the same way I felt it. After that people can draw their own conclusions as to what Garrote might have to offer. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 95 96 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 97 HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING FINDING AN ANCHOR IN HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING By Vincent Tamer A longtime student of Mahipal’s dojo, and with a degree in filmmaking, Vincent put in countless hours of prep-work for this project, pouring over Google maps and searching for the perfect shooting locations. He was also in charge of locating markets to feed all of us, securing cars, renting a house with Wi-Fi and creating a shooting schedule that kept us on track and moving forward. His days began before ours and for the first half of the trip lasted well after we all went to bed. The long hours began to wear on him and it showed. However, because of his organizational skill the team was able to take up the slack, while Vincent fielded all our questions and resolved issues with cameras, computers and other recording equipment. He was the anchor we could all turn to when we needed help. He was he guy who knew where we had to be and who we needed to talk to. In spite of all these responsibilities, Vincent still had some time to get involved in the training. Question: Sensei, how did you start practicing martial arts? This project has been an adventure full of revelations, reversals and unexpected surprises. I can truly attest to the existence of a guiding spirit, for to have found myself on this path feels like a story out of some sort of book. Some background may be necessary to understand the personal significance of this expedition. I have been making films since I was fourteen years old, and it was that long-standing passion that drove me to film school in my early 20’s. It was there that I became burnt out with the process of filmmaking and, after a failed film, turned my gaze towards spirituality. It was also during this time that I took a fateful Introductory to Anthropology course which was a subject I had been interested in for some time. 98 SPRING 2019 NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited By James Herndon H ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean. I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media. With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context. Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka. Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by Martial Arts Masters 99 H AOPLOLOGICAL RTICLE TITLE FILMMAKING Our professor was eager to leave the textbook behind and offered his own personal approach to Anthropology. I recall the first day of class in which Werner Herzog’s documentary “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” was shown. I was struck with its curious presentation of the French cave paintings and deep interest in the human condition. Yet rather than tying this new found interests together with my background in filmmaking, I left school. Looking back, it is clear that I had no idea how to marry these passions in an authentic manner. What I lacked was perspective. All of my filmmaking up until that point had been through the lens of someone who deeply desired to “make it” in the industry. After leaving film school I found myself following my former Anthropology professor to Peru on a pilgrimage. I returned from the trek with more questions than answers and as the next few years went by, I explored many different avenues of spirituality, although nothing felt right. Completely abandoning cinematography I convinced myself that I would never make another film. It was my rediscovery of the martial arts that rekindled both my spirituality and passion for film making. Searching for a Teacher After a brief stint studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I found myself longing for a true dojo, a place that not only instills martial ability but also offers a pathway to one’s authentic self. It is rare to find a place that still upholds that latter mission, so I count myself as fortunate for finding Mountain View Aiki Arts. Our dojo is a small and tightly knit family that regularly trains three times a week. However, our training also consists of quarterly Shugyos, which was a major incentive to join as I am a lover of nature. Shugyos are mini-expeditions into the wilderness to conduct and test our training. These seasonal trips also serve as a bonding experience for the dojo and as a way to get in touch with our spiritual side. It was these adventures that laid the ground work for our future expedition. The Immersion Labs Foundation (ILF) grew out of this little dojo as a means to promote a unique approach to learning and a focus on the overarching principles that unite various martial arts and styles. From the birth of ILF and our first seminar, Legacy of the Blade, which featured blade arts from around the world, it was only natural that we would progress towards Hoplology. In short, it was martial arts and the guidance from Mahipal Lunia Sensei that brought me to where I am now. Martial arts also provided the proper context for me to begin examining spirituality as well as reapproaching filmmaking with an authentic purpose, something that was missing throughout film school. This alone is a true testament to the value of practice. Vincent with Sensei, a lot more than just martial arts. ILF Barbados The expedition with the ILF was a watershed moment for me; the strange novelty of returning to filmmaking, beginning the study of Hoplology and witnessing rare martial arts and the culture that birthed them. I am always inspired when I see how martial arts are woven throughout people’s lives and culture. They were something that I imagined happened in only one of two ways, as a sport or as means of self-defense. Witnessing the 100 SPRING 2019 Martial MartialArts ArtsMasters Masters 101 HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING Vincent Tamer with Wayne and Biggard. approach of Caribbean masters opened my eyes to how integrated these practices were within their culture. They served not solely as a means of self-defense, sport, amusement and play but also as a spiritual practice, with songs and dancing woven into them. This multi-faceted quality brings the art of combat to greater heights as it serves the individual by first becoming a means of communication and then coaxing out more and more authentic expressions of the self . There is no doubt that this quality is alive in each martial art, but it is the prevalence and visibility of that quality within these Caribbean arts that is so inspiring. There is something fascinating about an art that can exist in so many modes: game, dance, combat, ritual, with the only difference being the intention that the fighters bring. The spirituality imbued in these arts is something deeply fascinating. To engage another in ritual combat as a means to fortify one’s spirit is something that touches upon a deep need in Western civilization, a desired connection to the divine. Many in the West go to church to be with God, but who battles to invoke a god? It was within the Trinidadian arts of Kalinda, Rope Jab and Gilpin that I found this spiritual aspect and it is something I have taken home with me for contemplation. How can I venerate my gods and ancestors with my actions? How can I connect to the mythic spirit of battle in a meaningful way in this modern age? What appears on the outside as sport, or a pastime, blurs the lines between mundane training and a true act of ritual. The stick as a weapon became very interesting to me during this expedition. The old Barbadian Sticklicking tales of men who died after duels is suggestive of their brutal efficacy. All of this is guiding me towards a deeper exploration of the stick’s many forms. There is a primal quality to it, seen across cultures as a weapon and a tool of travel. Indeed, all children experience an instinctive admiration for the stick when they first swing one in the woods. 102 SPRING 2019 NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: Another momentous aspect to the expedition was that it was my first full-fledged filmmaking endeavor in over five years. This homecoming was enlivening and a little intimidating. I feel as though I’ve come full circle; I had been so enmeshed in filmmaking that I became jaded to the process. I abandoned it in pursuit of meaning, only to find myself returning to the beginning. However, this time multiple disciplines are being united, from visual arts to the martial arts, theology, Anthropology and even ritual magic. While still a part of who I am, film is less something I will be obsessing over than a medium for the discovery of other things. This return to filmmaking will benefit many and not just myself. The goal is now more than just self-expression. It is cultural preservation through the study of the human story, of which combat is most certainly a major part. History Revisited The expedition left little time for self-reflection as there was rarely a still moment in my days. There was always something to be filmed, footage to download or gear to organize for the next shoot. We often rose at 6 AM and were ready to arrive at our location by 8. There may even have been a podcastBy or interview to record during those early James Herndon morning hours. H We filmed at a new location each day. Chosen locales were rural villages, national parks, beaches, plantations and a church. We filmed a different martial artist at each site ave present you evertheir wanted to discover origins a little-known art, or They would system and thenthe teach it to of Lunia Sensei and martial Prof. Michael machete and stick on awas distant This Ryan andpractice Prof. T.J. Obi. Some kind fighting of free play oftenshore? presented at special issue of Masters magazine will introduce youWe to set a group the end to show the art in its most fluid state. aside of an individuals entire day who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new innovative ways. (which just so happened to be Thanksgiving) as a free play day.and Each Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was develmartial artist would present their system and then they would try them oped here, ineach the Western hemisphere, reflects the complicated social history of the out against other, which proved and to be incredibly exciting! After Caribbean. wrapping up filming at our location we would break for lunch, take an hour to and rest and thenwith begin filming again. was during thiswe time that I met trained “Mr.B.” from 1969It to 1971, when were both members of we conducted our interviews with the artists in which they would share the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was history and theirWarner time training. addition to that, were stationed at stories RobinsofAFB, Robins,InGA. We had bothstories recently returned stateside always told between shots and in our short rests. There truly was not from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from amy base to his; dull Imoment during the expedition! and made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, on the base). Although I was aMichael Shodan and in Shorin-ryu, and he I can recall retiringnot to bed at 11 one night and seeing TJ was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and still sharing their past and present findings in their studies of history and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial martial arts. We spent eight days like this, filming all the way up to the arts media. security gate at the airport. It was fascinating but also a great deal of hard work. cameknowledge, easy at the in end of article some days. somethe nights I found and context of WithSleep firsthand this I willYet review background myself lying in bed, my mind still buzzing from the day’s revelations. the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974.how My well viewpoints may orwent may not beasshared by others. It was surprising the logistics as far schedules and That’s OK. I only knowwere whatconcerned. I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversalocations I had never been to Barbados so my planning tions withfor many of thepart. people will name below. First, some was blind the most Yet whom we hadIno issues with our shooting loca-background and context. tions and the weather cooperated surprisingly well in spite of it being the wet season. Co-directing this project with Lunia Sensei went smoothly. Training in Japan Sensei approached directing from a martial arts angle, prompting quesWhile at Johnson ForceofBase near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, tions thatstationed were informed by hisAir decades training. between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Post-Game Kayo, who wasAnalysis affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka. Johnson AFB wasthis formerly Air Base when was and under The fact that is onlyIruma the beginning for theit ILF theJapanese Hoplo- control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a memberIofhope the that JapanweSelf-Defense Forces, and was assigned logical Expeditions is awe-inspiring. can revive older and to The style karateaccepted they practiced wasinShito-ryu, as being refined by lessIruma/Johnson. well-known martial arts asofwidely practices local regions where they are diminishing. Yet it would also be amazing to take such a specific subject, such as Hoplology, and bring it to the masses (outside of a martial arts context). I have also gained further insight into my own investment in martial arts during this expedition. While the primary purpose of martial arts is self-defense, I have Vincent powering his passion with state of art equipment. Martial Arts Masters 103 HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING Filming at Legacy of the Blade. “Martial arts provided the proper context for me to begin examining spirituality as well as reapproaching filmmaking with an authentic purpose, something that was missing throughout film school. This alone is a true testament to the value of practice.” 104 SPRING 2019 found that it is the cultural and spiritual aspects that truly fascinate me. It is precisely those two aspects which can motivate potential students to take up these traditional combat systems. I am hopeful that I can bring more of these aspects into my own training so that I may discover my own personal expression and find my own beat. For those interested in the study and archiving of fighting traditions, I would suggest first getting to know the martial arts in one’s own town. Every culture has created some kind of fighting style to address threats, create bonds and entertain the village. I am constantly surprised when I discover new fighting styles existing in countries I could never have thought of visiting. Lo and behold, a legitimate stick fighting style still exists on the margins, entertaining small groups while the rest of the town watches television. Joining a small or traditional school may also help to bring exposure to martial arts that have not been divorced from spirituality. Larger dojos and gyms in the martial arts business most likely don’t have time for this. It is the smaller schools operating out of garages, or with classes held in public parks, that often hold the keys to the old ways. There are also opportunities to intern with the ILF on some upcoming expeditions. Feel free to get in touch and be ready to work! While I am still discovering what will come of this marriage of film, Anthropology and martial arts, I know that there is great value in documenting these ongoing journeys of self-expression and discovery. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 105 106 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 107 T.J. DESCH-OBI 108 SPRING 2019 AN INTERVIEW WITH T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African and Afro-American Combative Arts By Mahipal Lunia is a historian and martial artist who has trained intensively in a number of systems over the years. He is also so low-key you could pass him in the street and never know that this quiet man spent years training both Nigerian sidehold wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first with Helio Gracie, then Rickson Gracie and finally John Danaher (head coach of the Danaher Death Squad). After some coaching with longtime friend and martial artist Mark Cheng, TJ entered a Shuai Jiao (traditional Chinese wrestling) tournament in Paris, France and medaled in his weight class. TJ In addition to his recreational activities, TJ has spent decades wandering through Africa, the Caribbean and South America searching out African, or African descended, martial art traditions. Back in the 1980’s and 90’s civil wars were flaring up throughout Southern Africa. He was repeatedly caught in the middle of quickly shifting lines of control as government and rebel offensives moved back and forth. Once TJ was stuck in a village (with an ever-diminishing supply of food) for a few months. Eventually, he and a few others were able to take advantage of a break in the fighting to escape by boat across a river. From there he made his way back to government held lines and safety. In Colombia, TJ found himself once again caught between government and rebel forces as he searched for a renowned teacher of a local system of Grima. In New York City, where he is a professor at Baruch College, he spent a great deal of time raining with the legendary Angoleiro from Bahia João Grande. Both of us consider ourselves very lucky that we are able to combine our passion for research with our other love of martial arts. Here is sampling of his story. This interview has been edited for clarity and re-written in parts for ease of reading Martial Arts Masters 109 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar An Explanation of Grima ML Let’s get right to it, what is Grima? TJ: Grima is an umbrella term for a wide range of predominantly stick and machete fighting arts coming out of Columbia. When we talk about Grima, we’re kind of describing a bird’s eye view of them all. But they’re all really different from each other because some of them specialize in different weapons, different ranges, different tactics. What unifies them is they’re all coming out of a particular social geographical context in Colombia. ML: So, is there a specific region in Colombia where this is found, or I can just walk into any street and that will be Grima being practiced there? TJ: Grima can be found throughout Colombia, but of the 35 styles or so that I’ve seen personally, all of these styles have come from a particular place which is called the Cauca. So, if you can imagine, we’ve got roughly a rectangular country and then splitting it into separate parts are two rivers. We have the river Caquetá and the river Magdalena. These were the main transportation routes through the country and in between these rivers, we have mountain ranges. We have these very steep and deep valleys in between these mountain ranges. So basically we’ve got a coast mountain range, valley mountain range, etcetera. As we go farther east, the elevations are going up and we’re talking about being up in the Andes where it gets very cold. For example, Bogota, the capitol city, is one place you really want to wear a jacket. As we go west towards the Pacific Coast, nobody wears jackets, they would be sweating bullets. It keeps getting hotter and hotter. Does that make sense? ML: Yeah. TJ: As we go down, the elevation is also going down but there are these mountain ranges and river separating the country. Continuing going west down into the western third of the country we are getting near the Pacific coast which we consider the Pacific region. Colombia has two coasts. The pacific coast in the west and the Caribbean in the north. All of the Grima styles that I’ve seen and been able to trace their lineages come from the southwestern or Pacific coast area of Colombia ML: You studied quite a few different styles of Grima but also other martial arts through your life, right? What is it about Grima that attracted you. TJ: When I first went to Colombia, I was studying the Haitian art of machete fighting. I had completed my third trip to Haiti. Then I had heard about these Colombian arts from a garrote teacher I met in Venezuela and a Haitian machete master who spoke very highly of Colombian Grima. When an opportunity arose for me to visit Colombia, I went thinking that this is going to be a just a side project, because I was really into Haitian machete fighting. After seeing it in person though, I became hooked. What fascinated me about Grima was really two things. First of all, they had a very clear teaching structure. In Haiti, it was much more of a loose intuitive kind of training. You know, “here’s how to strike to the temple,” “here’s how 110 SPRING 2019 to block the temple,” and you figure out how to put it together by yourself by watching other people fence or “play machete.” I really enjoyed the fact that there was this clear teaching structure, and, in a way, it was like watching a kung Fu movie from back in the1970’s. You know those old Hong Kong Shaw Brothers films we all grew up on. It’s like a story where Mahipal beats me using this style so, to get revenge, I find a master of this other style to come back and defeat him. That’s how duels operated in Colombia. You had all these different rival martial art academies and people would be like “if you beat me, and I was using the Grenadino style when you were using another style, I would go out and learn this other style which can take advantage of the weaknesses of your style and defeat you.” So, there was that kind of thing that I always associate with Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. This thing, where there are challenge matches between academies and then, to avenge, themselves the masters have to learn another style and on and on like that. One of the other things that really caught my attention was the number of approaches that you could find in the same area of the country. And the third thing that struck me was that as a historian I could pursue these different styles of Grima back in time. With Haitian machete fighting, it is very difficult to push anything back before the Haitian revolution at the end of the 18th century. In Colombia it was different, because there was a variety of different styles. I could look these styles as if they were layers in a rock, in what geologists call stratigraphic layers. I ended up examining the language these Grimadores used to identify techniques and styles and combined this with the different way these masters moved to follow the development and spread of Grima back in time. TJ with the tools of his trade. Martial Arts Masters 111 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar ML: Is it mainly men who practice it? TJ: One of the fascinating things about this art was that it was not just a masculine practice. There wasn’t a lot of aggressive machismo among practioners as you would expect to see among rural, rough, machete fighters. There were all these women also who were really good practitioners of this art. I would have to say, though, that when you have so many arts and so many masters, it’s usually really hard to choose your favorite. But as far as my favorite masters, there’s no question, it was Master Sarturia. I interviewed her in January at 104 years old. Her father was, without a doubt, the most respected master in this region where she lived in Caponera, and she was his “Contra-Maestro,” (which is like your assistant instructor) since she was a young teenager. When people came to the academy, they had to “touch” sticks with her first before the teacher. She was the one people had to go through first, she was the gatekeeper, which says a lot. I interviewed guys and they were like “Aggghhhh! Saturia beat me with a horse spur,” you know the spur you’d have in the back of the thing. “She just had a horse spur and I had a stick and machete and she still beat me.” For men in that kind of a culture to admit that, well it was eye-opening and-- TJ’s Grima against Keegan’s Gilpin. ML: Yeah, you touched sticks with her? TJ: I did, but you know I first met her on her something like her 96th birthday or something and she was such a sweetheart. At that point, she was a great, great, great, great grandmother, so she wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. She was very happy to kind of teach me and tell me what she knew but, she wasn’t trying to hurt people at that point. She had the heart of gold. It was evident, it was evident you know even… Just when she was talking, the comfort in how she was holding the machete. She’d be singing and swinging a machete and using it to accent her songs. It was clear she was quite impressive in her younger years. Looking back at all the masters I met or heard about, she was probably the most prolific master in all of Colombia. This guy named Tuerto, even him, I got the impression from a number of guys that his wife even outshone him. So, I met a number of guys who said, “Yeah, I started with him, but I finished my training with his wife who was better.” I was like “Wow man!” this is really different. In the other places I had been prior to Colombia, machete was just a masculine thing. On top of that, there were these women in many areas who were enforcers. If a husband was beating his wife in public or something like that, one of these women would come and say “Hey, back off!” or for example “If you want to fight a woman, fight me,” and she would teach the guy a lesson. It is really different than other places I’ve looked at in the African diaspora where there’s a really strong female presence and then on the, let’s say the spiritual side, there was 112 SPRING 2019 an idea of the Virgin Mary as a type Warrior-Goddess. But this was more along the lines of an African-Columbian Virgin Mary which was not necessarily the traditional Catholic view of the Virgin Mary. A Brief History of Grima ML: What about the social status of the Grimadores? Are we talking about everybody being working men and women, or were they held in high esteem? What was that like? TJ: Let’s go back to the time of slavery where we can initially trace back the existence of classical Grima. First of all, people should know that when I am using the terms “classical,” “neo classical,” “modern,” these are the terms I invented to order and understand the styles. Practitioners wouldn’t say “I practice a classical Grima style.” They would just say the name of their style. But I have tried to put these styles into a historical context so, these classical styles have been around since the end slavery, about up to 1850. The year 1851, marks the formal end of slavery. Informally, it would go on for another few decades just because of the nature of the law. There was a law that said if you’re born before this year, you would be freed after a certain number of years of forced labor to your former master. So even though 1851 brought freedom to most people, there were still these people who had been born to slave parents where the old law kept some people under slave-like conditions for another few decades. As far as the practitioners in this time that we are talking about, the AfroColombians, they can be divided into three distinct social groups. First we’ve got enslaved people. Then there are “freed-blacks.” These were people who were able to take advantage of the law in Spanish speaking countries and saved up enough money to purchase their freedom. As a result, we had a significant number of freed-blacks, particularly in the Cauca. It was probably even higher in the Cauca than other places in Colombia. There were some sub-communities where we had a freed-black majority, or the highest percentage of the population was actually freed-black even before the abolition in 1850. Third, we had the Maroons. The Maroons were people who didn’t purchase their freedom. They had attacked their masters or ran away, and they formed communities in hard to reach areas and defended themselves by force of arms. “It’s like a story where Mahipal beats me using this style so, to get revenge, I find a master of this other style to come back and defeat him. That’s how duels operated in Colombia.” In the Cauca river valley, we had a number of famous Maroon settlements and also along the Polo River and the Valle de Patilla River. These settlements survived for centuries despite numerous assaults on them. This is the specific social class that the art of Grima was associated with in this early time period, but it would change as time went on. Grima was traditionally associated with Blacks and lower-class workers. But even that changed in the 20th century. At that point Grima started to spread out from these Black communities in a more systematic way and into the White or Mestizo (Mixed Indian-White) areas. This included the indigenous communities in neighboring areas such as Tolima, which is to the west, and north into the province of Antioquia. What happened was that there were masters of Grima who were traveling for work. They would go as migrant workers and set up schools of Grima in these Indigenous, Mestizo and White areas and the art really began to spread. Now there are communities, let’s say in Antioquia province, where all the practitioners are White or Indigenous. But when you trace the teacher’s lineage back, you eventually will get to a Black master. Martial Arts Masters 113 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar The Machateros ML: Who were the machateros? TJ Blocking a machete attack to the legs in Columbia. TJ: To continue my history lesson, the political parties that would dominate the country were formed before the slaves were freed. They became known as the Liberal and Conservative parties. Immediately after the freeing of the slaves, the Conservative Party started one of many civil wars and the Liberals, as a newly formed group, didn’t have an army. They were young and they were a younger party and they didn’t have a strong rural base of support of large landowners with many workers who supported the Conservative party. Wealthy plantation owners who had a large number of workers under their control would order their workers to gather their relatives together, pick up their machetes and instead of chopping sugar cane, begin chopping the enemies of the big landowner and the Conservative. Many countries in Latin America never had formal armies until recently. Instead, a number of large plantation owners and powerful merchants would order their workers and their relatives to support their political cause with force of arms against competing plantation owners and powerful merchants to see who was going to be president and control the government. In Colombia things worked out differently as the Liberal party formed these democratic societies where they tried to convince the Afro-Columbians to back their political cause and form private armies that would support them. After the ending of slavery, the Conservative party rose up, and it was the AfroColumbians who came to the defense of the Liberal Party, because the Conservatives were trying to reinstate slavery. In response to this Afro-Colombians, far beyond those who had been trained in any of these small-scale private armies, rose up en masse with their machetes. In the decades after this conflict, these guys were referred to as “Negroes Peneilleros,” or “Negroes Machateros,” because they were the Black men who would rise up and defend the liberal cause. During the second half of the 19th century, there was a long period of civil wars with new war breaking out once every seven years. And in all of these wars, it was the Liberal Party who relied on these Negro Machateros. These guys were the frontline fighters. They were frontline shock troops which in many other contexts would have made them cannon fodder. But Colombia, in this time period, didn’t have a lot of artillery or repeating rifles. They all had different calibers of rifles and it was hard to find ammunition for everybody’s rifles. This slapdash approach to war allowed “shock tactics” to be really powerful. And when you look at how these wars ended ,with the pro-slavery forces of the Conservative party defeated, they always have one re-occurring complaint regarding the “Negroes Machateros.” You would think that these machateros are just lining up to get mowed down, but the low quality of the rifles available allowed these guys to be effective all the way up into the last of the great 19th century battles which was the “War of a Thousand Days.” 114 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 115 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar This war was as epic as its name suggests. It actually lasted over a thousand days. It turned out to be a battle between the Liberals and Conservatives parties, and one of the bloodiest battles Colombia ever endured took place during this conflict. Many of these battles were settled by the sharp edge of a machete. “It [was]… one of the bloodiest battles Colombia ever endured took place during this conflict. Many of these battles were settled by the sharp edge of a machete.” Machete swinging Afro-Colombian peasants were still used as front-line shock troops as recently as the 1930’s, when Colombia fought a border war with Peru. At this time Peru was trying to take control over an area of the Amazon where the city of Leticia is located. The Colombian government recruited a battalion Afro-Colombian Machateros from the Cauca region known as “Machateros de Muerte” or the “Machete-Men of Death” and sent them against a trained and well-equipped modern army. Many a brave machateros lost his life in this conflict. However, during the battle of Tarapacá, for example, they were responsible for the few victories on the Colombian side, relying purely on the machete and a fighting tactic called the “Lastico de Sombra.” Basically they were trained in low-light conditions and would attack enemy encampments at night when they could get close enough to nullify the range of the Peruvian rifles. Techniques, Tactics and Styles of Grima ML: What are some principles, or concepts, that the diverse styles of Grima hold in common? TJ: Beginning with a look at the systems that were created in the last quarter of the 19th century, there were a large number of styles that had a distinct form of dueling which used what was called “Paradas” or guards. Not all styles used Paradas. For example, the during the time of slavery it was more common for two armed men to circle each other. Beginning around 1850, there was one mother style that took on this new approach to dueling. It was taken up by other Grimadores and incorporated into their own styles and this type of dueling became very popular and began to spread around the region. Among those who trained in these styles, the man who was being challenged would take a defensive stance called “The Parada.” They would take a pose and hold it. And the guy who was insulted, it was his job to enter. What ended up happening was that a ridiculous variety of different Paradas came about that looked, to an un-trained eye, as if they lacked any combative value. But that was the point! It wasn’t supposed to make sense. Because if I am mad at you, and you take a Parada I have never seen before, I’m angry, and you know when you’re in an emotionally charged state your ability to think rationally drops. So, if you take a regular Parada I am familiar with I’m going to attack you like a banshee, like a berserker, because I’m angry. However, if you take a position I have never seen before, now I have to stop and analyze. And think to myself, “OK, this is a trap,” because every position is a trap. A Parada tries to draw you in, to force you to make a mistake that can be capitalized on. In one Parada I’m showing this because I want you to attack here. The aggressor has to think to himself, “If I attack here, the invited opening, where 116 SPRING 2019 will the counter come from so, I can be ready to counter the counter.” This was a system to restrain violence because, “now I’m upset at you and you take this weird position. ‘Aggghhhh,’ now I have to take a second to cool down and look at this.” So, they do what they call “Grundiar” or circling. They have to analyze how to enter because if you just rush in “a Bobo,” like a fool, and just go to the obvious opening, there’s a trap waiting for you and you’re going to pay for it. Many of the styles, not all, but many styles, have that characteristic which I haven’t seen anywhere else. The closest thing I’ve seen is actually the Sticklicking where they had this battle of positions. But in these styles of Grima, it’s not really so much a battle of positions. Instead, one person takes a Parada and waits. The other guy’s job is to figure out that Parada or make him move out of the position with false attacks. I find these Paradas really unique. I haven’t seen these type of guards anywhere else. These Grima styles are so diverse, It’s difficult to make a generalization. ML: What make a great Grimador? TJ: The key characteristics are, for the classical style, flexibility and what they call “Destreza” or “Compas,” which would blend the skills of dexterity and timing together as the term Compas covers both of them. It’s both timing and dexterity. The key though is “Malicia.” The masters will say without Malicia there’s no Grima. Grima is fundamentally Malicia. I could be unarmed and if I’m in a bad situation, I’ve got to escape with force and Malicia. I’ve got to trick you. I’ve going to feign like I don’t want to fight and tell you, “Ahhhhh, no man, I don’t want to fight,” and then attack you. This is Malicia. It is the key because when you’ve got two guys who have good skill, it’s a battle of Malicia. Malicia is a very broad term. Within Malicia, there are all these subsets that get their own names. One of the interesting subsets is “Nyngassa.” It is where I sell an attack, but I negate my attack at the end to read your reaction. Now I know how you defend that strike and I can prepare my counter to your counter. You can use Nyngassa in both attack and defense. Many styles of Grima also emphasize precaution, and Malicia (in general) emphasizes precaution. In some styles, one of their primary forms of Malicia is to never enter with full strikes. This is because there are some other strong styles of Grima where they swing all the way through to the ground. As a result, Malicia demands these precautionary stops, you never cross the guys TJ & Ryan in what can best be called at the center line, so you go to the center line and that’s where your strike stops. Scholars Gone Fighting. It may have less power, but your precaution is that in cases where he didn’t have a counter in mind, you’re left in a good position. So there is precaution and deception, Nyngassa. There can also be larger “contextual Malicia” in terms of control of the terrain, or putting myself between you and the exit. There were elaborate tactics for Martial Arts Masters 117 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar TJ hanging out with his new adventure buddies, Tamer, Lunia & Ryan. how you enter a house. How do you exit a house? If you’re exiting a house or you think someone is going to attack and it’s a narrow opening, what strikes do you use to clear the doorway? There were strikes that they would use as they entered the doorway to clear the area. I can clear the left side of the doorway without exposing myself if I guessed wrong and he’s on the right side, then come back and clear the right side, and even get out in case the guy was actually on the roof. These types of precautions sound paranoid. They even think about how you should shake hands so that you can’t get caught in an armlock. How do you turn a corner, closer to the wall or wide? It depends on the style. I’ve heard both explanations. In the Spanish style, you never cross a corner close because if the guy is right around the corner with a knife, you’re not going to have time to read the attack and defend it. What is crazy is that most Grima practitioners, if you ask them directly, will deny knowing any of this. “I don’t know that. I have never heard of it,” they would explain. But if you watch them turn a corner, it is obvious! You already have a sense of which style he comes from just by the way he walks, the way he turns a corner, the way he’ll shake your hand. You already know that this guy “knows.” These are clear giveaways because a normal untrained person isn’t going to shake your hand at these angles so that you can’t put him in a wrist lock. These became the tells that then encouraged me to push guys to open-up. I could tell that at least he had been around Grima people, even if he wasn’t training. Within Grima, we have formal experts or exponents, but then we also had people who were “Cruzados,” meaning they took a few lessons, they got a strike they 118 SPRING 2019 Martial Arts Masters 119 T.J. DESCH-OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar didn’t like, and they dropped out. But they walked away with something. The masses will say it’s better to know nothing than to be a Cruzado because you’re overconfident…It’s better to know nothing and run. So when you see them turn the corner you know that at least he’s Cruzado. But is he really a Cruzado? It could be all Malicia, it’s almost all Malicia. Because there’s so many styles, the Malicias can be totally different. We have long range styles where the Malicia is really about getting you to enter, drawing you in an inch so that I can strike your weapon hand. If there’s one thing that unifies all Grima styles, it’s Malicia. “Grima is fundamentally Malicia. I could be unarmed and if I’m in a bad situation, I’ve got to escape with force and Malicia. I’ve got to trick you…” Training ML: What are their training methods like? TJ: As there are so many styles of Grima, there is no common answer. I can tell you about the styles that I’ve trained in. Some have had a clear pedagogy where they give you physical exercises. For example in the Spanish style, they start you out with preparatory exercises to prepare your body, and then you do these things without a stick before you can get to a stick. Finally, once you get to the stick there is a clear, well thought out pedagogy. And then in another style nothing prepares you for the next step. But then, there are styles like “Mariposa,” or the Butterfly, which are really brutal. You know what happens in the Mariposa style? The emphasis is on striking the guy’s hand. Strike the guy’s knuckles, finger and hand. And unfortunately, with that style, the only way to learn is to just to suck it up, take the pain. When I finished my training, my teacher told me “I’m certifying you to teach this, but if you teach, you have to teach the way I’m showed you. If their knuckles don’t bleed, they’re not going to understand. You’ve got to teach it with the same intensity.” I’m like “yeah, yeah, yeah” while thinking “I’m not teaching that to anybody because I’m not sadistic.” Again, there’s this complete range of teaching methodologies, but one thing that is consistent throughout is the concept of “Cruzas.” For those of you who are familiar with Japanese arts, they’re like two-man kata. So that stuff, the meat and potatoes of most (not all, but most) Grima styles, is taught through these Cruzas. So, across the styles, you’ve got Nyngassa, Cruzas, Paradas and educational Paradas, but they’re all variations on a theme. 120 SPRING 2019 ML: For people living here in the United States, North America and Europe, if they want to start learning Grima, what can they do? TJ: Great question. Unfortunately, many of the masters are dying and are not leaving disciples. It is a little tough but there are still a few active schools. So, there is still a chance to save this art. ML: In North America? TJ: No. There is no real school in North America. There are some guys in Southern California who’ve gone to Columbia and trained a little bit. They haven’t finished the system, they’re not (so far as I know) certified to teach yet in that system. Hopefully Immersion Labs is going to organize an event, maybe in 2021 or something like that, where they we’ll bring these masters to the United States and that will be a great opportunity to safely study these styles. Again, the problem with going to Columbia is the mirage of a post-peace situation. Go to the Pacific museum, go to Chocó and talk. Spend one day there and tell me if you see a functional postpeace process. I was in Chocó less than a year ago and the FARQ [a rebel group], is still fully armed in these regions. In the rural areas the ELN [another guerilla organization] has been filling the vacuum. So, all the territory that the FARQ used to have, now I’m going into these areas and I’m seeing graffiti that says “ELN Presente.” These guys are filling the void that was opened by the FARQ and FARQ hasn’t even fully demilitarized. Then in the urban areas, we have what’s called “invisible barriers,” where you can’t walk from one side of the street to the other. If you do, you’ll get shot, no questions asked. As a foreigner not knowing any of this, it’s really dangerous. I never walk in certain areas alone because you don’t know where those invisible barriers are and they’ll just…. ML: You just feel the bullet. TJ: You know, just die because walking from this side of the street to that is considered a challenge and everybody local knows that you have to go around, or circle the block and come up this way. It is a dangerous place, so your best chance is going to be Immersion Lab. ML: You’re going to be with other presenters of Immersion Labs Stickmata. In your 90-minute session, what can the people look forward to hearing from you and perhaps seeing? TJ: What I want to do is give a historical overview and explain some of the categorization of the styles of Grima so that people can get a sense of its range. Then, hopefully, introduce people to some basic Cruzas, time permitting. Maybe discuss two or three styles that have different approaches to arranging their tactics. Hopefully, Sombra, a linear style and a modern style. ML: Cool. All right my man, thank you. TJ: Thanks for having me. It’s been great. TJ learning Grima from one of the old masters in Columbia. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Martial Arts Masters 121 MAHIPAL LUNIA MAHIPAL LUNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force By Michael J. Ryan I n his autobiography entitled The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922), T. E. Lawrence, better known as “Lawrence of Arabia” wrote “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake up to find it was all vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” Mahipal Lunia, an accomplished martial artist who holds two Masters degrees and works in the field of artificial intelligence, is just such a dreamer. In the following interview we explore his personal journey through the martial arts as well as his passion for developing new and innovative ways to advance the comparative study of human combative behavior. The following interview has been edited for both length and clarity. MJR: Tell us about yourself and your martial arts background? Adventure, Martial Arts and Self Discovery have paved the way. ML: My dad has been training in martial arts since he was a little kid. I, on the other hand, was that little kid who was always ahead of the curve in some ways, the guy jumping grades. Just imagine someone really young acting like a grown-up. Naturally I had my ass handed to me many a time by the other kids and once it went too far. I had some bones in my face fractured, there was bleeding and it frightened everybody in my family. That was the start of my training in Indian Kushti wrestling. It is a style that my dad did when he was younger. I tried Kushti, but I was an asthmatic little kid. When all the Kushti masters gave up on me and I gave up on Kushti, I then turned to Shotokan Karate. I remember a time when the Sensei pointed to me and said loudly, of about 80 students, that if I ever made yellow belt, it would be 122 SPRING 2019 NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited By James Herndon H ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean. I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media. With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context. Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka. Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by Martial Arts Masters 123 ARTICLE M AHIPALTL ITLE UNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force an accomplishment of a lifetime. After that insult, or challenge, I resolved to use every brick they would throw at me to build the foundation of my body and mind. After leaving that school, I tried full-contact Karate, Eagle-Claw Kung Fu and a rarely seen style of Kempo for a bit. My Kempo friends ended up getting me into a lot of trouble. I was getting involved with a bad crowd and they were leading me down what I call the Left-hand path. One day our instructor asked us to do something. The four of us got into a car and we did it. We broke the law. I’m not going to go into detail on that. But it was a real wakeup call that forced me to say “Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? I probably won’t be able to get out of this.” I couldn’t sleep for a few nights because of my actions. Around the same time, I was getting ready for a move to Australia for my university studies when I heard about this one Jujutsu teacher from America. I went to the school where he was teaching to challenge him. I wanted to fight him and see how good he was. Here I was 17 or 18, getting ready to go to graduate school. I thought I was the smartest kid and the toughest fighter. You know, the usual youthful arrogance. I went to his school and said that I wanted to “feel him out.” You have to understand that when this is said in Asia, it has a very specific connotation. even though it’s polite, it’s not to be taken lightly. Sensei Sastri said, “Okay, don’t break the glass and don’t bleed on my floor or else I’ll mop it up with you.” I had a roundhouse kick that won me multiple championships. Right away I moved in with my roundhouse kick. He just moved with it, caught it and threw me to the floor, hard. I didn’t know north from south. I got up, wanting to fight him again. He put me down, shattering my arrogance. I knew that I had to learn this art. I actually gave up my plans to go to school in Australia. Half my family was shocked, and the other half was thankful that I was going to be closer to them. Life these days, exploring commonalities within arts - seen here teaching Sifu Doug Henry, an accomplished Tai Chi and Hsing-I player. That began my apprenticeship with Sastri Sensei in the early 1990s. He used to tell me that if I don’t believe something I should go out and test it. This was also his way of saying that if you find a better teacher than me, forget everything I taught you and go learn elsewhere. To this day, Sastri Sensei is one of my core teachers. I talk to him at least once a week. He’s trained over a 1,000 people and he’s issued only two full teaching certificates. I’m one of those two. When Sensei Sastri moved to the United States I decided that I hadn’t finished my training with him. I picked possible schools based on where he was. I applied to and was accepted into the graduate program I had chosen and came here just to continue my “education.” 124 SPRING 2019 New generation of Stockton - Mahipal Lunia & Chris Nalley work across systems under the watchful eyes of old timers. MJR: Let’s talk about your influences. What Martial art movies magazines or books, really stood out to you when you were growing up? ML: I would watch movies until the old VHS tapes wore out. I loved “Enter the Dragon,” “Blood Sport,” “Best of the Best,” and “Drunken Master” with Jackie Chan. Those are probably the kinds of films that made the biggest impression on me. My taste is books and magazines were different. I read books by authors like Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith. These pioneering authors made quite an impression on me. I still have those books with me today. Martial art magazines were expensive back then. But if I had any opportunity, I would devour anything that I could lay my hands on. Then, back in the 1990’s, I really fell for the Ninja craze. MJR: I understand you also study the Filipino martial arts. How did you meet Ron Saturno? ML I wanted to study Serrada Escrima and I started with an interesting guy by the name of Khaled Khan. He was homeless by choice and traveling around the country. Think of somebody like David Carradine’s Kwai Chang Caine in the old T.V. series, but in real life. I began to study with him for a while, but he moved on and I was like, “What do I do now?” Eventually I ended up in the San Francisco Bay area. I approached Khaled Khan, who does Serrada Escrima, and he told me to look up Ron Saturno, a senior Guru. So, I Googled him and thought, “Oh my God! How does he move like that?” Unfortunately, he had already retired from teaching. Rather than giving up I began to phone him. He would respond to me with “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll talk, we’ll talk.” He lived 120 miles from me. Then one day he called me and said, “Come on over and don’t be late.” “But then, there are styles like “Mariposa,” or the Butterfly, which are really brutal. You know what happens in the Mariposa style? The emphasis is on striking the guy’s hand. Strike the guy’s knuckles, finger and hand. And unfortunately, with that style, the only way to learn is to just to suck it up, take the pain.” It was all just classic. I showed up on time, but he was 45 minutes late. I was getting pissed, but he wanted to see how I’d react when I get angry. It turns out that he was standing in the far corner of the park watching what my reactions. I Martial Arts Masters 125 MAHIPAL LUNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force paced for a while, and then I just tried training by myself. When he saw that he walked up and introduced himself. After accepting me as a student he didn’t teach me anything for six months. I just went to get him tacos. That was the beginning of my journey with him. Now I am one of his indoor students. MJR: What drew you to the Filipino martial arts? ML: I would say their brutal efficiency. I love the Japanese arts, don’t get me wrong. But the Philippines was one of the few places where the Japanese army kept losing during WWII. There is that quote by General MacArthur, “If you give me 10,000 Filipinos, I can conquer the world.” I began to wonder what it was An apprentice to power - with Sastri Sensei who shaped a large part of Lunia’s life. about those arts was that made them so fierce. But it was also just watching Ron Saturno move. MJR: How did the Immersion Lab begin? And can you tell me a little more about its first project, “The Legacy of the Blade?” ML: I see something beautiful and deadly in so many arts. When I look at a martial art, I often see a crystallization of a truth. Not necessarily “The Truth”, but a truth. Due to geography, biology, social and cultural factors, different peoples came up with certain ways of doing things. At the end of the day, we all have two hands, two feet and one head. We are all affected by gravity in the same way. It is all just motion. Yet every culture seems to specialize in a different kind of motion. I think that people have often taken a very narrow approach to their study of the combative arts. When you do that, you end up with people who are overlycommitted to one type of system whether it be Chinese arts, Japanese arts, Filipino arts, French arts and so on. It’s all about someone from outside a culture falling in love with another culture and thinking that this one place, or practice, has all the answers. Maybe there was once a place for that kind of romanticism, but the world is rapidly shrinking. The rate of information transfer is expanding at a breakneck pace as well. In this environment last thing we need are more specialists. When I think about specialists, I always remember the quote from the sciencefiction writer Robert Heinlein’s who said, “specializations are for insects.” Ac- 126 SPRING 2019 cording to the architect, inventor and futurist Buckminster Fuller, becoming human is all about being a comprehensivist. With this in mind I decided to create something to explore a particular principal or subject in the abstract, rather than starting with the assumption that the Filipinos have all the answers, or the Japanese have all the answers, or the Chinese have all the answers. I wanted to bring them all together in one place and see the massive elephant, if you follow my metaphor. My idea was that if one were gathering all these partial perspectives and bring them together, we might be able to better describe and understand the whole animal, finding the greater truth as it relates to human combat. That was the initial crazy vision. Many of my friends shook their heads in disbelief when I told them about the idea, saying at the most basic level you could just never get all these people in one place at one time. I replied. “Has anybody tried it before?” Apparently not. I thought to myself, let’s give it a shot. MJR: How did it go? Did it work? ML: To tell you the truth, it was a massive pain. Nobody knew who I was, and they asked themselves “Who is this Indian guy with glasses?” Then there were people whose egos were way too big to work with. There were guys who agreed to participate, and signed contracts to appear, and the day before we were supposed to officially launch the event, they withdrew, meaning that we had to start over again. Finally, there was the issue of recruiting people to attend this event. Backyard studies continue to this day with Ron Saturno & Mark Mikita. I had never put on an event like this before. In fact, I had never promoted anything. It was pretty uncomfortable to go from being this low-key guy focused on his own training to suddenly learning how to interact with the public. It was a big transition for me. Nevertheless, when the event began it was wonderful to see all these teachers, many of them masters and grandmasters in their own arts, becoming students again when the other ambassadors were teaching. It was something beautiful to see. I hadn’t envisioned anything like that, but the way the environment was created, it just allowed for this natural flowering of events. Looking back now on the experience, we had participants from five different countries. The average experience of the participants was 19 years. It was quite a diverse range of people. MJR: Recently you invited me to take part in a Hoplological expedition to Barbados. What made you decide to take on another major project? ML: It was Burton Richardson who first pointed me out to the existence of Sticklicking. I began my search and had quite a few doors slammed in my face. Then I was talking to you about this and you said “Hey, I know this graduate student at the University of the West Indies who has been practicing Sticklicking since he was a teenager and is writing a doctoral dissertation on the science of the stick.” That got me thinking, “If this art is so rare and if somebody as persistent as myself is not able to open any doors, this is a great opportunity, lets go for it.” Martial Arts Masters 127 MAHIPAL LUNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force After that the outlines of the expedition began to quickly come together. You signed on to the idea after some initial thought. Then we enrolled the aid of Prof. T. J. Desch-Obi and recruited a director. We got the Kalinda guys from Trinidad and Ronald Alfred from the Rope-Jab tradition involved. I think this became one of the greatest adventures of my life. ML: How would you characterize the expedition and its results? MJR: Condensed insanity. Those are the words that come to mind when I think about it. Remembering, of course, that not all insanity is bad. We were working 16 hours a day during the expedition. Then there were months of pre-planning on Vincent’s end and my own. One of the major considerations for us was to ensure we did not exert too much control over the expedition. If you try to control the environment, you end up shaping the results. We wanted the findings to be emergent. It turned out beautifully. We looked at two styles of sticklicking; the Queensberry and Johnson styles. We had the Kalinda guys from Trinidad showing their art and its different attitudes towards the world of stick science. We looked at the Gilpin, which is a double machete style. Then, for the first time in generations, the Indo-Trinidadian tradition of the Rope-Jab was exposed to the outside world. I believe it was the first time that Ronald truly opened up to individuals from outside of his village, showing us how the system functioned. We also had Garrote from Venezuela and Grima from Colombia, and it was just wonderful to watch how these arts worked with each other and against each other. This gave us the data to begin thinking about common roots of Afro-Caribbean arts. I think I speak for everyone in the group when I say that we will be unpacking this for years to come. Dad a champion wrestler and a gentle encouraging mother laid the foundation of my own journey. MJR: No project is ever perfect. What would you do differently next time? ML: I think we should get a better camera. I’m already looking at getting 4.6 K cameras. They could potentially project on an IMAX screen. I think I would do a little more screening and give us more setup time. Maybe with future projects we could do some on-line pre-screening of potential teachers, just to get to know them before we show up and begin shooting. Finding people willing to sponsor or subsidize these types of projects would be great as well. Maybe, add a couple of interns so that the directors aren’t quite so sleep deprived! MJR: Your expedition ended up collecting a lot of information on several uncommon systems. Was that due to skill or luck? ML: 128 SPRING 2019 It was a combination of things. A kind of coherence builds up within any group after about 18 to 20 hours of working together. I think something magical can start to happen. Several of the participants also realized that this was an incredible “passport” for martial arts research, meaning that they were going to get to learn about things that were rare even in their own country. Do you remember the place on the side of the road where they were selling coconut water and we were talking about Sticklicking? Some of the locals looked at us like we were crazy. But then others would interject with something like “I had a grand uncle Martial Arts Masters 129 MAHIPAL LUNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force who did that a long time ago.” I think the guys who have their hearts in it realized that this is possibly the best chance to get their arts out there on a global stage. MJR: What else do you have planned? ML: “I had a roundhouse kick that won me multiple championships. Right away I moved in with my roundhouse kick. He just moved with it, caught it and threw me to the floor, hard. I didn’t know north from south…” This expedition was the beginning of what I’m calling “Hoplology: Immersion.” The project will be a very immersive study of combat in a systematic way. We hope to bring more brothers into this band, more peers, people with different points of view with specializations in different areas and different regions of the world. That will allow us to simultaneously gain a more local, and ultimately global, appreciation of how these arts add to the richness of a culture. MJR: Can you tell us about your upcoming STICKMATA event? ML: In “Legacy of the Blade,” we examined the blade from a comparative perspective. Now, we are going to be studying the stick, perhaps man’s oldest weapon, in the same way. We have Japanese, Russian, Filipino, Afro-Caribbean and an unusual Stockton-Americana Filipino style along with Italian and Portuguese stick expressions. All these teachers are coming together and each of them will share the essence of their art over a three-hour period with a bunch of masterful students. Can the whole art be shared in three hours? Nope. In three years? Still no. But that’s not the point. The idea is to look at how these arts come together. How did the geography, the environment and the specific culture impact the way the stick moves in one community. The idea is that the students will be able to see a variety of the patterns that are available, and each student will perhaps find a rhythm, a thread that says, “This feels like me.” In that case you’ll be able to make a conscious choice into the line of inquiry that you want to go down rather Breaking bread together before sticks, blades and fists are drawn. 130 SPRING 2019 Making techniques work on all terrain has been a hallmark of The Little School. than happenstance. Instead of just joining the nearest martial art school in your area. That’s STICKMATA! MJR: What would you like to see happen in the next 10 years with the project? ML: I hope people better than me come in, take over and help this project grow. I hope this sparks the imagination of others with very different points of view who say let’s look at this and let’s look at it from a different level. Instead of becoming a marketing strategy, I want it to become an object of deep study. I think we’re living in an age where a true renaissance of the arts is possible simply because we are exposed to so much information. Ten years from now with the growth in the media, the way that media is been shared, you might actually be able to learn something as rare as Whip-Jab through 52 lessons with a master who is living in Trinidad and Tobago. Something like that might actually be possible through the collaborative projects that the Immersion Labs is pursuing. This is just the beginning. I hope that those future projects outshine what we are doing now. I want to see new lines of inquiry emerge. It all makes for a richer, more enlightened world. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “My idea was that if one were gathering all these partial perspectives and bring them together, we might be able to better describe and understand the whole animal, finding the greater truth as it relates to human combat. That was the initial crazy vision.” Martial Arts Masters 131 132 SPRING 2019