Antonio Ilustrisimo
Filipino master of sword and stick fighting from Cebu (died 1997), after whom Kalis Ilustrisimo is named, who began teaching outsiders only at the age of 72.
Quick Facts
PhilippinesBiography
Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo was a Filipino master of sword and stick fighting after whom Kalis Ilustrisimo is named. He was born on the island of Bantayan in Cebu province, the sources give both 1904 and 1902, and died in 1997.
He came from a family counted among the well-known eskrima clans of Cebu. From childhood he was trained by his father Isidro and his uncles Melecio and Regino. At nine he sailed off on a ship he thought was bound for America and ended up in the south of the Philippines, where, according to local sources, he trained under the master Pedro Cortes. We know the details of his youth only from oral tradition.
He began teaching outsiders only in 1976, aged 72, and his first students were Antonio Diego and Epifanio "Yuli" Romo. In an interview from 2006, the student Christopher Ricketts described how Tatang taught without forms or curricula and the students learned from what they experienced during an attack. According to Ricketts, he never named his art, and the name Kali Ilustrisimo began to be used by his students.
The so-called five pillars of his art include Tony Diego, Yuli Romo, Rey Galang, Edgar Sulite and Christopher Ricketts. After his death, Tony Diego became head of Kalis Ilustrisimo. The legends that he was never defeated and of guerrilla service in the Second World War rest only on oral tradition. We have not found a quote by Antonio Ilustrisimo with a traceable origin.
Early life
Antonio Alulud Ilustrisimo was born on the island of Bantayan in Cebu. English Wikipedia and FMA Pulse give the year 1904 and the municipality of Bagong, while the Mandirigma Research Organization website in its text gives the year 1902 and the municipality of Santa Fe. According to a local article on queencitycebu.com, the Ilustrisimo family belonged, alongside the Saavedras and the Romos, to the three Cebuano eskrima clans. According to the same article, at the age of nine he sailed away with family money and a machete on a ship that he thought was heading for America, and ended up in the south of the Philippines. Mandirigma.org tells a different version, in which he went out to sea in a small boat and sailors took him in.
Training and teachers
From childhood he was trained in the family art by his father Isidro, and his uncles Melecio and Regino were, according to mandirigma.org, further teachers. In the south he trained, according to local sources, under Pedro Cortes, a master from Mindanao and a friend of his father, while English Wikipedia describes Cortes as a bounty hunter from Zamboanga. The local article states that he was adopted by the sultan of Sulu Hadji Butu, while English Wikipedia speaks only of a Tausug family with whom he lived from the age of ten to seventeen. In an interview from 2006, Christopher Ricketts explains that Tatang did not teach in the traditional way, without forms, curricula or procedures, and that students learned from what they experienced during an attack.
Contribution and innovations
He began teaching outsiders only in 1976, at the age of 72, and his first students were Antonio Diego and Epifanio Romo. According to Ricketts, Tatang had no name for his art, and the name Kali Ilustrisimo began to be used only by the group of five pillars. According to Ricketts, kali was for him above all the art of the sword, and the stick was fought with like a sword.
Legends and documented facts
A legend claims that he was never defeated and defeated masters around the world. The sources, however, rest only on oral tradition, and Ricketts says only that he never saw anyone challenge him. According to an anecdote from queencitycebu.com, a pencak silat master in Singapore refused to fight him, and Ilustrisimo reportedly won 5 000 dollars. Both FMA Pulse and the local article state guerrilla service in the Second World War without evidence, and according to English Wikipedia it was never officially recognised.
Legacy
According to Ricketts, the five pillars of Kalis Ilustrisimo are Tony Diego, Yuli Romo, Rey Galang, Edgar Sulite and Christopher Ricketts. After the death of Ilustrisimo in 1997, Tony Diego (1946–2014) was elected head of Kalis Ilustrisimo, and according to English Wikipedia his successor was appointed in 2002, Tom Dy Tang. The techniques are described in the book The Secrets of Kalis Ilustrisimo by Antonio Diego and Christopher Ricketts with a foreword by Mark Wiley, and Wikipedia gives both 2002 and 1999 as the year of publication. Wiley also wrote about Ilustrisimo in the books Filipino Martial Culture (1997) and Filipino Fighting Arts: Theory and Practice (2000).