Kuntaw
Filipino art of hard and soft techniques that gained status as the national art in 1974. Its weapon is the arnis stick.
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.
About Kuntaw
Kuntaw is a Filipino martial art whose modern form was created by Carlito A. Lanada Sr. (born in August 1939), son of Esteban Lañada, known as Yong Iban. The name is a modern Filipino rendering of the word kuntao and is interpreted as sacred strike or way of the fist. The system combines hard and soft techniques with movement often described as catlike, and shows a clear influence from karate and kung fu. Its curriculum is extensive: forty-three distinct forms and eighty-six basic techniques. As a weapon it uses the arnis stick, which links kuntaw to the wider Filipino tradition of stick fighting. Lanada's career is unusual for how early it began. Already in 1966, barely in the middle of his twenties, he was recognized as the youngest Filipino founder of a martial art. The decisive year, however, was 1974: kuntaw formally gained the status of the Filipino national art, and Lanada received recognition from President Ferdinand Marcos for his work on behalf of Filipino martial arts. In 1979 he founded the International Kuntaw Federation (I.K.F.), which still oversees the discipline today. Lanada himself used the title of grand grandmaster, and in 1993 he was awarded the Presidential Sports Award in the grandmaster of martial arts category. Kuntaw is thus one of the few martial arts whose standing in the Philippines is anchored in official state recognition.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.