Kuntaw
Kuntaw is a historical art of the Samal of the southern Philippines and the modern kuntaw lima-lima system, whose founder Carlito A. Lanada sets it apart from Chinese kun-tao.
Quick Facts
PhilippinesCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Kuntaw
About Kuntaw
Kuntaw means two different things. Green (2001), citing Ronald Harris, describes kuntaw as the art of the Samal people of Jolo, rivals of the Tausug tribe, and Wiley (1996) writes that kun-tao survived among the Samal and Tausug under the name langka-kuntaw. The second meaning is the modern kuntaw lima-lima system, whose founder is, according to Wiley, Carlito A. Lanada. According to Wiley, Lanada insists that Filipino kuntaw does not belong in the same category as Chinese or Indonesian kun-tao. In his explanation the word arose from the Spanish con segrado, with sacredness, and the Tagalog hataw, to strike, and lima-lima means five, so it is the art of five sacred strikes. Wiley states that the techniques resemble Okinawan Shorin-ryu and Shito-ryu karate with elements of Chinese kung-fu. Lanada himself told Wiley that he organized the art in 1960, founded the national organization Kuntaw ng Pilipinas and then the International Kuntaw Association, of which he is the founder and executive director. He also says he does not claim all of kuntaw, which in his view has existed since 1365, only the organization. RA 9850 of 2009 declares arnis the Philippine national martial art and sport and does not mention kuntaw.
History
Green (2001) states that some advocates of Filipino silat deny Chinese influence and claim that kuntao, often translated as kung-fu or the way of the fist, developed and survived in isolated Chinese communities. Wiley (1996) writes that kun-tao comes from the Chinese province of Fukien and was adopted by the Samal and Tausug of the southern Philippines. According to Wiley, Lanada says kuntaw can be traced to 1365 and that Governor Narcisco Claveria banned it in 1849. He derives his lineage from Yoyong Hueno of the Bicol region, whose son Yong Iban Hueno took the name Lanada after the decree on Spanish surnames and was Carlito's father. According to Wiley, Carlito began training at the age of nine or ten with his father, a guerrilla commander. The FMA Pulse website gives Lanada's birth as 1936, the founding of the Philippine Karate/Kung-fu (Kuntaw) Association in Olongapo in 1957 and the creation of the International Kuntaw Federation in 1979.
How it differs
Green, in his article on Southeast Asia, states that kuntao is most often understood as a collective name for Chinese martial arts in the archipelago and on the Malay Peninsula, and Draeger with Smith derive the word from the hokkien dialect of Fujian province. According to him kuntao is purely martial and has no sporting dimension, and the movements of Filipino kuntao are deadly and unsuited to competition rules. Lanada, by contrast, insists according to Wiley that his kuntaw has no connection with Chinese or Indonesian kun-tao.
Technique
Green, citing Harris, writes that kuntaw forms contain strikes with hands, feet, knees and elbows, resemble taijiquan in appearance and include acrobatic elements, rolling falls and side flips. According to him the main weapon of the Samal is poisoned fingernails, formerly long natural ones, today artificial ones made of aluminum or the horn of the karabao buffalo. According to Wiley, Lanada's kuntaw lima-lima has five disarms, five stabs, five strikes, five throws and five soft and five hard blocks, and according to Lanada everything in it comes in fives. The footwork rests on two triangles, inverted and regular. The forms called sayaw include naga, renamed sagayan, sampaguita, mayon and the advanced bulsinara.
Training
Green states that sparring comes only after the forms are mastered and that the up and down movements called langka demand great leg strength. According to Wiley, Lanada's foundations, balangkas, rest on the figure eight, the letter X and the flow principle agos. Lanada also described paligitan to Wiley, a duel in a circle where opponents try to push each other out of bounds, contested in the southern Philippines for sacks of unprocessed rice.
Ranks and progression
Green, citing Harris, writes that the highest rank of kuntao is the yellow belt. According to Wiley, Lanada gives three criteria for the master level in kuntaw lima-lima: time, age and international respect. A master should be at least fifty years old and the master level is not awarded for five tournament victories. The FMA Pulse website describes a structure of seven lower belts, five degrees of black belt, three master degrees and the ranks GrandMaster and Great-GrandMaster.
Today
Lanada told Wiley that his organization has members in several countries, mostly in Saudi Arabia, that there were schools in Iran and Lebanon too and that he taught at Clark Air Base, Subic Naval Base and in the Philippine air force. The FMA Pulse website states that Lanada moved to the USA and the federation is based in California. RA 9850 of 2009 declares arnis the Philippine national martial art and sport and does not mention kuntaw.
Did you know
Green, in his article on the Philippines, writes that kuntao, a Filipino art with empty-hand movements similar to taijiquan, was traced to a province he calls Kuntung. Wiley's bibliography lists S. K. Dowd's book Kuntaw: the ancient art of Filipino hand and foot fighting, published in 1978 by Koinonia in Stockton. The FMA Pulse website states that in 1996 Lanada was inducted into the Martial Arts Museum of America and the International Karate Hall of Fame.
Frequently asked questions
Is kuntaw the same as Chinese kuntao?
Sources differ. Green describes kuntao as a collective name for Chinese arts in Southeast Asia and Wiley states that kun-tao from Fukien province was adopted by the Samal and Tausug. Lanada, however, insists according to Wiley that his kuntaw is unrelated to Chinese kun-tao.
Who is Carlito A. Lanada?
According to Wiley (1996) the founder of kuntaw lima-lima and, in his own words, founder and executive director of the International Kuntaw Association. According to him he organized the art in 1960.
What does kuntaw lima-lima mean?
According to Lanada's explanation in Wiley, kuntaw is an abbreviation of the Spanish con segrado and the Tagalog hataw, and lima-lima means five, that is, the art of five sacred strikes.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.