Limalama
A Polynesian martial system assembled in California by Samoan-American Tino Tuiolosega, blending dance movement, boxing, kung fu and judo.
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About Limalama
Limalama is a martial system of Polynesian origin, put together in California by Tuʻumamao "Tino" Tuiolosega (1931-2011), an American of Samoan descent. The name combines lima, the Samoan word for hand, with lama, derived from malamalama, meaning understanding; the founder himself translated it as the hand of wisdom. Its foundation lies in the movements of traditional Samoan dance and in fighting practice that Tuiolosega learned from his father and uncle, from which he derived characteristic strikes drawn from dance pathways. To this he added what he encountered elsewhere: boxing, judo, Shaolin kung fu, hung ga and hapkido, together with experience gained in the army, where he served as a close-combat instructor. The system is divided into thirteen groups of techniques, covering hand and foot strikes, holds, throws, work with a knife and a stick, and pressure points; hand techniques account for roughly sixty percent of its content. Since sources place its origin in the middle of the nineteen-fifties without giving a specific date, the founding year is left blank in this record. The school spread from Hawaii and from California, where the first commercial gyms appeared, and from there across the United States and overseas. Limalama is one of the few martial arts claimed as its own by the Polynesian diaspora, which is why ceremonial and cultural elements play as large a role in it as technique.
Similar styles
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