Yaw-Yan (Sayaw ng Kamatayan)
A Filipino striking system from 1972; downward-cutting kicks and hand strikes that copy the path of the bolo machete.
Quick Facts
PhilippinesCharacter & Origin
Training
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 Yaw-Yan (Sayaw ng Kamatayan)
Yaw-Yan is a Filipino striking system that Napoleon Fernandez, a native of Quezon province, introduced to the public in 1972. The name comes from the last two syllables of the Tagalog phrase sayaw ng kamatayan, the dance of death, taken in reverse order. Fernandez started from home-grown eskrima and from boxing and built out of them a system that is today the main Filipino answer to Thai boxing. Its best-known feature is the kick delivered downward, as though the leg were cutting: the power comes not from a straightened leg but from a sharp torque of the hips, so that the kick lands on a descending line against the thigh, the ribs or the collarbone. The hands keep their origin in blade fighting: forearm strikes and the so-called bolo punches copy the path of the Filipino bolo machete, and their twelve basic variants correspond to the angles of attack as eskrima teaches them. Elbows, knees and open-palm strikes belong to the same set. Training has been sporting and full-contact from the start, with bag and pad work and regular sparring. Since the 1970s Yaw-Yan has dominated the Philippine kickboxing scene and its fighters appear regularly in domestic mixed martial arts events, which is why modern clubs add Brazilian jiu-jitsu and ground work to the original content. Today the system is run by several independent organisations, all of which trace themselves to Fernandez.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.