Krabi Krabong: The "Other" Martial Art Offers Weapons and Empty-Hands Skills for Full-Contact Fighting
Krabi Krabong: The "Other" Martial Art Offers Weapons and Empty-Hands Skills for Full-Contact FightingBy Arlan "Salty Dog" Sanford / photos courtesy of The Dog Brothers |
When Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny showed up with some new grappling techniques at one of the early gatherings during the pre-Ultimate Fighting Championship era, it led to the wholesale adoption of Brazilian jujutsu by some. I was among those who were not fortunate enough to have access to the art. But, I thought, there had to be something that would allow me to grapple and still utilize my muay Thai training. Through Surachai “Chai” Sirisute, my muay Thai instructor, I had heard of a weapons art called krabi krabong, but I did not know much about it until I contacted Jason Webster, the first foreigner to graduate from the Buddhai Swan Sword Fighting Institute in Bangkok. I ended up training with Webster for several years and traveling to Thailand to spend time at Buddhai Swan. In 1996 I received my sixth-degree gold sash. To someone seeing krabi krabong for the first time, it seems simple—which in some ways it is. Dating back at least 700 years, it used to be a military art, and as such it was designed to train as many men as possible in as short a time as possible. It manages to combine power, speed and simplicity into one of the world’s most effective fighting systems. Muay Thai descended from its empty-hand skill set. The Buddhai Swan Institute existed for more than 400 years in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. A man named Sumai Masamarn (also spelled Samai Mashamana and Samai Mesamarn) established the current school in Bangkok in 1957. I began my training there in 1994 and continued every year until 1998. On my first day, I went through a ceremony that basically “welcomed” me back. It is thought that any foreigner who trains at Buddhai Swan was a Thai warrior in a previous life who just found his way home. After I presented Sumai with flowers and incense, he asked the spirits of former warriors to protect me from injury, then inducted me into the school. Training Time
Training encompasses nine weapons and various empty-hand techniques. Each weapon has unique attributes. Some are long-range devices, and others are short, sharp, blunt, pointed or shielding. In the beginning, a session involves two students who wield the same weapons, but as learning progresses, they are mixed and matched. The basic training for all of them is similar; it consists of line drills in various combinations of attack and defense. As skill levels rise, the movements become more free-form. The first thing you learn with each weapon is the wai kru, a routine designed to pay respect to your instructor and all those who have come before him. Next are the actual weapons techniques, which are taught via a series of drills. The eight-count drill teaches you how to change leads with each attack. The seven-count drill emphasizes footwork and starts mixing strikes. The three-count adds kicking and body positioning, and the nine-count focuses on footwork and aggressiveness.
Great emphasis is also placed on fighting multiple opponents. On the battlefield, you cannot assume you will face a single adversary. Consequently, many krabi krabong drills involve stepping, finishing, moving and finishing again—often using your foe as a shield against his comrades. In addition to footwork for stepping over, around or behind your opponent, it also teaches footwork for fending off several assailants, for chasing an assailant and for when one is chasing you. Lessons Learned
I had always been told that kicking in a stick fight was a bad thing, and after several tries, I tended to agree. Yet in the back of my mind, I knew something was there. What I found in krabi krabong was that timing and set-up made the difference. Kick when your opponent is elsewhere, either defending or attacking. Set up your kick so he has no say in the outcome. In that brief moment of space and time between largo (long range) and grappling, all the weapons of muay Thai come into play. The kicks, the knee thrusts, the elbow strikes and the clinch—I may be going down, but my opponent is going to pay. Mid-range need not be something to be avoided.
It gave me the tools to adjust my style of fighting against both stand-up and ground fighters. I felt more comfortable grappling because I knew I had more options on the way in and could control whether or not I even went to the ground. While I do not profess to be anything more than adequate in some aspects of krabi krabong, it has added a whole new depth and dimension to my fighting. Anyone looking to combine power, grace and utility with the ability to put an opponent’s lights out in a hurry would do well to give it a try. About the author: Arlan "Salty Dog" Sanford is one of the co-founders of the Dog Brothers, the eclectic group known for its full-contact stick fighting. For more information, visit www.dogbrothers.com.
A System of Styles One of the strengths of the Dog Brothers is that we freely mix the gene pools of different martial arts. We are mongrels. Because there are several clans within the organization, we have not become inbred from fighting the same suspects all the time. Similarly, there is the effect of our open-door Gathering of the Pack competitions, which were actually begun with exactly that thought in mind. This attitude toward mixing arts and skill is also found in our mottoes of “Smuggling Concepts Across the Frontiers of Style” and “A System of Many Styles.” When asked to describe Dog Brothers Martial Arts—which is not the same as the Dog Brothers—in more detail, my short answer is “an impure Filipino martial art system.” However, it would be more precise to say it is an “impure majapahit system.” As students of Dan Inosanto well know, the term comes from the Majapahit Empire of several centuries ago. It encompassed what is now the southern two-thirds of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma. The fighting systems from this part of the world tend to have common threads that make for a blend that is internally consistent and not just a hodge-podge of favorite techniques from random systems. With the exception of Machado jujutsu, all the principal components of DBMA—the “Inosanto blend,” pekiti tirsia, lameco, krabi krabong, silat and bando—come from this area. Thanks to Arlan “Salty Dog” Sanford’s pioneering efforts, krabi krabong is now an important strand in DBMA. The point he makes about being able to fight with either foot forward is crucial. Krabi krabong allows you to break down this limitation, and it paves the way for triangular footwork that changes leads and allows for more expressive double-stick fighting. —Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny
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