Muay Thasao (Muay Boran of Uttaradit)
มวยท่าเสาNorthern line of Thai boxing from Ban Tha Sao in Uttaradit, linked to Kru Mek and Phraya Phichai. A proverb credits it with speed, and kicks to all heights are typical.
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About Muay Thasao (Muay Boran of Uttaradit)
Muay Tha Sao is a northern line of traditional Thai boxing from the village of Ban Tha Sao near Uttaradit. It is one of four surviving regional lines alongside Lopburi, Chaiya and Korat, and a proverb about them says: heavy fist Korat, cleverness Lopburi, good execution Chaiya, speed Tha Sao. According to Ekchai, the tradition derives from the training of King Naresuan's armies at Wang Masa in Phitsanulok, but this is oral tradition. Phothipanya and Kaewbucha rank Kru Mek of Ban Tha Sao and Thongdee Fankhao among the best-known teachers of the Thonburi period. Thongdee, later Phraya Phichai Dap Hak, reportedly studied under Kru Mek, and his line combined Tha Sao boxing with swordsmanship from Sawankhalok and Chinese boxing. We have not found the founder or the time of origin, and Bangkok Biznews writes that the origin is poorly documented.
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According to a family tradition noted by Silpa Wattanatham, the school was passed down through the teachers Kru Iam and Kru Aem to five brothers, Liang-Prasert, Toh, Plong, Rit, Phae and Ploy, known as the five tigers of Uttaradit, who became famous in Bangkok between 1922 and 1932. After the Khmer boxer Jia Phra Tabong died in a bout with Phae, the Ministry of the Interior banned fighting with wrapped hands. According to Ekchai, the mae mai of Tha Sao consist of twelve upper and twelve lower techniques, and the style excels in agility, speed and decisiveness, especially in kicks, stomping and elbows. Named techniques include tai mek and nakha sabat hang. Today a circle of teachers keeps muay Tha Sao alive at Wat Yai Tha Sao, and according to Daily News the provincial cultural office added it to the local curriculum and in December 2025 held a festival with wai khru and bouts. Phothipanya judges its wai khru the only one meeting all five criteria of authenticity, and IFMA lists Tha Sao as one of five muay boran disciplines. We have not found grades or sashes in the sources.
History
Ekchai reports that, by tradition, muay Tha Sao derives from the training of King Naresuan's armies at Wang Masa in Phrom Phiram district, Phitsanulok province, but this is oral tradition, not proof. Phothipanya and Kaewbucha rank Kru Mek of the village of Ban Tha Sao and Thongdee Fankhao among the best-known boxing teachers of the Thonburi period, while Thailand Foundation places Kru Mek in the Ayutthaya period. According to a legend Ekchai cites, Thongdee, later Phraya Phichai Dap Hak, studied with teachers from the area, with Kru Thiang of Ban Kaeng, Kru Mek of Ban Tha Sao, Kru Dap Lueak of Sawankhalok and a Chinese boxing teacher in Sukhothai, and his line combined Tha Sao boxing, Sawankhalok swordsmanship and Chinese boxing. Today it is called muay sai Phraya Phichai Dap Hak and is still taught. Bangkok Biznews writes that the origin of Tha Sao is poorly documented and that Kru Mek later became kamnan of Tha It tambon.
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Silpa Wattanatham noted a family oral tradition in which the school passed from Kru Mek through Kru Iam and Kru Aem, who taught the five brothers as his maternal grandson. The brothers Liang-Prasert, Toh, Plong, Rit, Phae and Ploy, sons of Sorn, became famous in Bangkok between 1922 and 1932 and were called the five tigers of Uttaradit. Thailand Foundation gives their births as 1897 to 1907 and names Kru Aat Kongket as an intermediate link in the line. After the Khmer boxer Jia Phra Tabong died in a bout with Phae Liang-Prasert, the Ministry of the Interior, according to Silpa Wattanatham, banned fighting with wrapped hands, but he gives no year. After Plong Liang-Prasert died in 1979, according to Thailand Foundation the style declined so much that even the people of Uttaradit did not distinguish Tha Sao from other schools.
How it differs
Phothipanya's proverb credits Tha Sao with speed, Korat with a heavy fist, Lopburi with cleverness and Chaiya with good execution. In the wai khru only Tha Sao has kop mek, song mek and tai mek recalling Kru Mek, it shares suea lak hang with Chaiya, and all four lines have krap benchangkhapradit, each differently. In dress Tha Sao matches Chaiya and Korat, only Lopburi has red shorts and wrapped ankles. Ekchai gives the rope binding length for Korat, Lopburi and Chaiya, not Tha Sao. Thailand Foundation sums up: Lopburi precision, Chaiya a multitude of techniques, Korat strength and Tha Sao a fast, strong and inconspicuous attack. The sources do not say whether Tha Sao is younger or older than the others, and the dispute over the oldest line is between Chaiya and Lopburi.
Technique
Bangkok Biznews describes muay Tha Sao as a style of agility, speed and decisiveness, especially in kicks, stomping and elbows. According to Ekchai, the mae mai consist of twelve upper and twelve lower techniques, which he lists together with the mae mai of the Phraya Phichai line. Thailand Foundation, a popularizing website with no source references, adds that the mae mai of Tha Sao have no names and are numbered, while the named luk mai are simpler sequences, that the attack is compared to an axe, the legs move like a whip and kicks go to all heights and directions, and that the core is attacking the weak points of the body in order to decide with a single attack. Among the named techniques it lists tai mek, a slow circular raising of the fists, nakha sabat hang, after a strike a lean back and a kick, and also tae liang bon, nang salap bat, dap chawala, sok ku, matcha len hang, hanuman thayan and sok talop fa. Silpa Wattanatham calls Plong Liang-Prasert a top kicking boxer skilled with both legs.
Training
Phothipanya and Kaewbucha studied the wai khru of Tha Sao at Wat Yai Tha Sao with the teacher Praphai Chanthabandit. According to them it has five movements, krap benchangkhapradit, kop mek, song mek, tai mek and suea lak hang, three of which recall Kru Mek and are found in no other line, and it is accompanied by pi chawa, klong khaek and ching with the song Sarahma. The boxer wears black shorts, a pha khao ma tied into a krachap guard, a mongkhon on the head and prajiad on the arms. Thailand Foundation gives a different set of four movements and adds that the style is passed down in the family, that an outsider must be assessed by the teacher, and that a characteristic exercise is kicking over a banana trunk up to head height, and that mae mai are taught only to future teachers. A 2020 Naresuan University master's thesis on the Phraya Phichai line of the Chaowanpreecha family found that one main teacher passes on knowledge through rituals of accepting a pupil, wai khru and teaching in poems. According to Daily News, the provincial cultural office added muay Phraya Phichai and Tha Sao to the local curriculum for primary grade five and lower secondary year one in Uttaradit.
Ranks and progression
In the sources, muay Tha Sao uses no grades, belts or sashes. The only form of formal progress we found is acceptance of the pupil by the teacher: according to Thailand Foundation, a boxer may wear a mongkhon of nine strands of raw yarn wrapped in red cloth with a yantra only after the krob khru ceremony and must not lend it. According to the same website, only pupils who are to become teachers learn the mae mai.
Today
In December 2025 the Cultural Office of Uttaradit Province, together with the association of muay Tha Sao and Phraya Phichai Dap Hak, held a festival at Wat Yai Tha Sao with a wai khru ritual, an exhibition, school stalls and ten bouts, and according to the office the temple is where Phraya Phichai learned the Tha Sao line. According to the same office, the style is part of the local curriculum in Uttaradit. At the Amazing Muaythai Festival 2023 Tha Sao was presented as the line of the north alongside Korat and Chaiya, and in 2023 the Senate sports committee named it among local lines with a distinct identity. At the World Wai Khru Muay Thai Day 2018 in Ayutthaya, demonstrations of Chaiya, Korat, Tha Sao and Lopburi were shown. Phothipanya and Kaewbucha judged the wai khru of Tha Sao the only one meeting all five criteria of authenticity, but Thailand Foundation writes that the style is kept alive only by a small circle of teachers, boxers and pupils. IFMA lists Tha Sao as one of five muay boran disciplines. The Ministry of Culture inscribed muay thai as a whole in the national list of intangible heritage on 30 July 2010, and we have not found an inscription of the line itself.
Did you know
Silpa Wattanatham notes that the link between Kru Mek and Nai Khanom Tom comes from legend and a novel, with no clear proof that Khanom Tom was his pupil. According to Silpa Wattanatham, the young Thongdee won in Tak, before Phraya Tak, over the teacher Nai Hao by seemingly falling at the ropes. Thailand Foundation writes that the deadly blow on Jia Phra Tabong need not have been hanuman thawai waen, as the mae mai of Tha Sao have no names, while Silpa Wattanatham says Phae's trainers recommended it to him. According to Phothipanya, the verb kop in movement names means gathering a symbolic object to the chest with both hands.
Frequently asked questions
What is muay Tha Sao?
A northern line of traditional Thai boxing from the village of Ban Tha Sao near Uttaradit, one of four surviving regional lines. A proverb credits it with speed, and kicks, stomping and elbows are typical.
How is muay Tha Sao connected with Phraya Phichai?
According to legend, Thongdee Fankhao, later Phraya Phichai Dap Hak, studied with Kru Mek of Ban Tha Sao, and his line combined Tha Sao boxing with swordsmanship from Sawankhalok and Chinese boxing. A festival of both names is held today at Wat Yai Tha Sao.
Who were the five tigers of Uttaradit?
The brothers Liang-Prasert, Toh, Plong, Rit, Phae and Ploy, bearers of the Tha Sao line, who became famous in Bangkok between 1922 and 1932, according to Silpa Wattanatham. After an opponent died in a bout with Phae, fighting with wrapped hands was banned.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.