What is the martial art Kali?
Eskrima/Kali/arnis is an art form that uses the same striking and grappling techniques with the stick or short sword called a keris or kris, the knife, or the hands. Though true masters will debate what the differences between the three are, it has been my experience that they are so similar as to be interchangeable. Kali tends to lean towards using a small dagger sized knife where escrima and arnis, or arnis de mano (harness the hands) lean more towards stick and long knife/short sword. The interesting thing about them is that the angles and techniques with little or no adaptation can be adapted regardless of the weapon stick sword knife hand, focusing also on the weapon as mealy and extension of the body. A lot of people don’t realize this but the modern boxing stance has a lot to do with these arts as the way one stands when knife fighting is different than bow staff fighting(Boxing was originally based on the empty handed techniques of European staff fighting that’s why old time bo
