Sayoc Kali
A Filipino system of bladed-weapon fighting, founded in 1985 by Christopher Sayoc according to its own website. The website describes it with the motto All Blade, All the Time.
Quick Facts
PhilippinesCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
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 Sayoc Kali
About Sayoc Kali
Sayoc Kali is a Filipino system of fighting with bladed weapons, which according to sayoc.com was named, founded and developed by Christopher Sayoc in 1985. According to the website, the family system was called Dugo ng Bansa, Blood of the Nation, until Chris Sayoc organized it into a curriculum under the name Sayoc Fighting System, and the website dates this to both 1981 and 1982. The website lists Leo Gaje of Pekiti-Tirsia and Remy Presas of Modern Arnis as his teachers. According to the website, the curriculum rests on the motto All Blade, All the Time, on strikes to vital targets, reflexes and the tactical use of multiple bladed weapons. According to it, training uses transitional drills, so-called vital templates, and drills against multiple opponents. According to sayoc.com, the system has been taught publicly since 1997 and is now run by the company Sayoc Global. Philstar wrote in 2003 that the actors of the film The Hunted were trained by instructor Rafael Kayanan, whom Wikipedia lists as a Sayoc Kali instructor.
History
According to sayoc.com, Christopher Sayoc was born in 1963, in the 1970s the Sayoc home in New York was a frequent stop for Filipinos on the East Coast and the family ran a martial arts school there. From September 1976 to December 1979 he was, according to the website, a private student and demonstration partner of Leo Gaje. After a 1982 tournament at the UN headquarters in New York, Gaje called the performance unacceptable according to the website, Sayoc and his students refused retraining and everything connected with Pekiti-Tirsia vanished from the school. Baltazar Bo Sayoc opened the Sayoc International Schools for Kali in Kissimmee, Florida in 1983 according to the website and died on 4 January 2007 in Cavite. In Filipino Martial Culture (1996) Wiley thanks Bovi and Chris Sayoc for their input.
Technique
According to sayoc.com, Sayoc wrote the Sayoc Fighting System in 1983 with the first 36 vital templates and created the first 36-count knife drill in 1986. He had already developed a throwing weapons system in 1977, later called Sayoc Bakal, according to the website. A whip and flexible weapons curriculum followed in 2000 according to the website, and since 2003 it has been divided into the Black Program for full instructors, the Gray Program for the tuhon level and the White Program.
Training
According to sayoc.com, Christopher Sayoc personally trains instructors in small groups at his home. The website names its own teaching methods, the Thought Provocation Method from 1977, the Holistic Mind Method from 1980 and the Logical Order of Thinking Method from 1987. According to the website, three of the nine vital templates and the first transitional knife drill were taught publicly for the first time at the first public seminar in 1997 in Woodside, New York.
Ranks and progression
According to sayoc.com, Sayoc Kali uses the titles instructor, full instructor, tuhon, battang tuhon and pamana tuhon. The website mentions no belts. According to the website, Chris Sayoc chose the title tuhon in 1977 after the Malay word tuan, and it later became the highest rank. The website states Sayoc promoted 12 leaders to tuhon and a council of tuhons was formed in 1991.
Competition
According to sayoc.com, in 1991 Sayoc wrote the Sayoc Kali tournament rules for full-contact fighting with rattan sticks, in which one may strike anywhere except the throat and spine and throws, sweeps, kicks, knees, elbows and hand strikes are allowed. According to the website, tournaments were held in 1991 in Bayonne, New Jersey and from 1992 to 1994 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Today
According to the website, Christopher Sayoc leads the company Sayoc Global and its divisions Sayoc Kali, Sayoc Fighting System, Sayoc Tactical Group and Sayoc Combat Choreography. According to the website, the earlier Sayoc International Group existed from 1998 to 2010. The website lists official training groups in 2006 in Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Russia, Germany and England and the choreography of fights in the series NCIS: Los Angeles from 2012 to 2014.
Did you know
The website sayoc.com claims the title tuhon originated with Sayoc and Leo Gaje later took it over into Pekiti-Tirsia. Philstar wrote in 2003 of Sayoc Kali as a centuries-old art, whereas the Sayocs' website dates the name to 1985.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Sayoc Kali?
According to sayoc.com, Christopher Sayoc in 1985. According to the website, his father Baltazar Bo Sayoc was the head of the family system and opened a school in Florida in 1983.
What does Sayoc Kali focus on?
According to sayoc.com, on fighting with bladed weapons under the motto All Blade, All the Time, on strikes to vital targets and on the tactical use of multiple weapons.
Does Sayoc Kali have belts?
The website sayoc.com lists only titles instructor, full instructor, tuhon, battang tuhon and pamana tuhon. We have not found a belt system.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.