Filipino/Moro Martial Arts question...

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Dimasalang

Our elders never want document anything in writing...I don't understand why. And look at our history now, it is filled with so many holes, us Fil-Ams have a hard time finding and understanding our own identity when we go looking for it... Even older eskrimadors don't want to put their curriculum and lessons in writing...they all feel what ever is in their brain is enough. My only guess would be they believe their written secrets can get stolen?

dimasalang, i feel your pain

on the non-documentation of things by our forefathers, i think it's a case to case basis. because as i'm sure you also know, the so-called "philippine insurgent records" (the term used by the americans for those docs gathered during the occupation period) are literally several tons of papers (gathered from the fleeing phil. forces from 1898 up to their surrender).

they continue to be a treasure trove of info for researchers here in manila.

but you are definitely right that other than those bunch of very impt. papers, there's nothing much original (i.e., written by filipinos themselves).

of course we do have the spaniards' accounts, via those parchment records. there's that built-in bias in their reporting understandably.

but as one author said, there are "cracks in the parchment curtain" (cf. iron and bamboo curtains of ussr and china). thus we still can see what the true picture was, through the "cracks", in spite of the state-controlled reporting.

also we do have a lot of myths and epics, passed down through generations via oral tradition.

for sure there's a lot of hyperbole and other exaggerations in there. but still our peoples' way of life (including their weapons) are well-preserved in those epics and legends.

on martial arts, i agree with you that the reason why the teachers don't put that in writing is for fear that they might get stolen.

i mean if your life depended on it, why give away the ace up your sleeve?

on the other hand, those battles are things of the past (well mostly).

hence i think filipino martial arts (fma) schools everywhere should agree that they should divulge all their secrets to one another. and the common objective is to take the martial arts to a new level.

i know that is easier said than done.

but if fma is to be made even better, then the old mind set has to be thrown out the window ...

just my two cent(avos)