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Thread: Cambodian martial arts

  1. #1
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    Cambodian martial arts

    I've heard of Bokator but I've yet to see a live demo.
    Bokator: Ancient Cambodian martial arts resurrected
    2010-05-25 19:04

    PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Bokator, an ancient Cambodian martial arts form whose origins date as far back as the 9th century, had almost died out before it was resurrected by the efforts of cultural workers. Thanks to a French instructor , it has even been brought to the silver screen now and is making a strong comeback throughout Cambodia.

    According to historical records, bokator can be traced all the way back to the Khmer Empire in the 9th century. The people at the time initially created bokator as a way of fighting against wild beasts and self defence. The style originally emulated a lion's fight, however it gradually changed into a martial arts form and gave rise to many legends. From what we know, ancient Khmer soldiers had to learn bokator, and history books recorded that the Khmer army used bokator to defeat the invading Siamese troops during the 16th century.

    However, with the passage of time, bokator has gradually faded into obscurity, and many Cambodians now are not even aware of it.

    It was chance that brought well-known French artist Daniel Perrier into contact with bokator. Daniel, 50, is an instructor at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. He travelled to Cambodia in 2008 to personally study and research Cambodia's culture and arts. While sightseeing at Orussey Market, he picked up a flyer printed with a boxing image from the floor, arousing his curiosity and interest.

    22 training centres around the country

    After asking around a little, he arrived at the Olympic Stadium and saw a group of young people seriously practising boxing. Although the training ground and facilities were simple, the old instructor and his young learners did not let up in their effort. In addition, their moves were very unique and different from other boxing styles he had known, triggering his intention of making a documentary about this boxing style.

    With the cooperation of the sole remaining bokator instructor San Kimsean, Perrier successfully completed his documentary (Une Breve Histoire du Boxkator) about bokator, enabling people around the world to learn about the origins and developments of this ancient martial arts.

    Perrier also hopes that it will attract more young people to learn it, with 60% of the proceeds from sale of the documentary's DVD to be used to improve the training ground and its facilities. The duo's greatest wish is that bokator can spread and flourish beyond Cambodia's borders.

    This documentary uses an all-new angle to talk about the origins and uniqueness of bokator. Through a personal lecture by bokator instructor San Kimsean and the effort the students put into their training, it is hoped that more young people will be attracted to take up bokator, so that this ancient martial art which has almost died out can be preserved and handed down to future generations.

    Currently, aside from the bokator school in Phnom Penh, there are 22 other training centres all over Cambodia. Unfortunately, they are unable to secure any funding and are in a difficult situation for continued survival.

    Instructor San Kimsean says he teaches this old martial art to young people in the hope that they are able to show their strength and confidence through it.

    When talking about the difficulties in promoting bokator, he said, "It's like I have walked into a dream, and am building an ancient palace."

    He believes his sacrifices and efforts are worthwhile, because while Cambodia is seeking social and economic development, its youth must also engage in healthy activities to vent their excess energy.

    This documentary about bokator premiered at the French Cultural Centre on April 8. (Translated by ALEX YUEN/Cambodia Sin Chew Daily)
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  2. #2
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    There's a clip or few on youtube somewhere from Antonio Graceffo about bokator. He's spent quite some time in Cambodia learning Khmer boxing and bokator in Phnom Penh, Batambong, and Swai Reang areas, and even correlated the experience of "farang" training and fighting there.

    I went to Cambodia in 2005, but did not get to visit the gyms, but did get to see some fights live in the capital and met one of the greatest Khmer boxers of modern times, Eh Phutong. I am hoping to go back again in a couple years.

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    Maybe it was Antonio that first told me about it

    We published several of his articles. See the Monk From Brooklyn thread.

    Meanwhile in Cambodia:
    Magic tattoo business is slow in Cambodia
    By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
    May 19, 2010

    Reporting from Phnom Sruoch, Cambodia
    Peace has not been kind to practitioners of the 2,000-year-old tradition, which holds that magic tattoos can make you invisible, divert bullets and boost your net worth.

    In a haze of incense, clients approach Kol Sambo and humbly request his help, sometimes seeking rush jobs for an imminent crisis. He listens and asks why they require added force. If he thinks they'll abuse the power, he turns them down "in a nice way."

    Kol is a practitioner of magic tattoos, a 2,000-year-old tradition some call the "soul of the nation." They can make you invisible, divert bullets and boost your net worth, he says, but only if you believe.

    The 50-year-old has traveled the Cambodian countryside for the better part of two decades decorating people's bodies with gods, geometric patterns, supernatural creatures and characters in Sanskrit and Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism.

    Some images appear to move as the wearer's muscles ripple; on others, rounded Khmer script, softened by age, appears to melt as the lines grow fuzzier.

    Kol says most clients prefer the more efficient made-in-China tattoo machine he bought a few years back, but, if asked, he still will use the traditional method to ink the skin: two or three sewing needles tied together.

    Once applied, by whatever method, a tattoo must be blessed to activate its supernatural powers.

    There are "fake" magic tattooists out there, Kol says disdainfully. He was born with the talent, he says, and honed it after becoming a monk and retreating into the mountains to meditate, ponder visions and study ancient texts under a spiritual master.

    Grateful clients will periodically return, having survived a war or two, and offer thanks.

    Chan Ngeuy, 60, a rail worker who was a soldier during the 1970s, took off his shirt to reveal a line of lacy symbols running the width of his chest, down the outside of his arms and the length of his back bracketing his spinal cord.

    "I was shot at, but the bullet missed," he says. "My tattoo made all the difference."

    Peace, however, as welcome as it may be to Cambodians after decades of bloodshed, is not a friend of the magic tattoo business.

    "During wartime, everyone wants one," says Kong Taing Im, 38, a store owner visiting Kol hoping to safeguard her grandchildren's future. "Without war, mostly gangsters want them."

    Nowadays, a tradition that migrated from India centuries ago and endured through numerous Cambodian wars and rulers is being chipped away by technology and an education system that encourages people to be literal-minded, says Miech Ponn, advisor on mores and customs at Phnom Penh's Buddhist Institute.

    "Traditional tattoo artists are very few these days," the scholar says. "It's like a living museum."

    This spread of modern skepticism is rather shortsighted, argues Cambodian heavyweight kickboxing champion Eh Phuthong, a national hero who credits the supernatural imagery spreading over his muscular body and onto his right fist for his winning record.

    "Magic tattoos make me feel more confident, focused, allow me to punch harder and avoid my opponent's blows," Eh says, sporting a phoenix, a symbol of rebirth; the Hanuman monkey king, a force of life, agility and learning; and Vishnu god imagery, meant to provide strength. "They really work."

    But even Eh says he's getting more snickers lately from young boxers who shun a practice once considered de rigueur for up-and-coming fighters.

    Cambodia's few remaining magic tattoo artists these days tend to work in rural areas, where superstition is enduring, education less common and medical care limited.

    Believers say the indelible marks, favored by soldiers, boxers and businessmen, ward off evil. They've also been something of a dead giveaway. During the mid-1970s Khmer Rouge reign of terror, when 2 million people died, the brutal regime targeted anyone who had been associated with the ousted government, many of whom were posing as farmers.

    "Not many men with magic tattoos survived," Miech says. "If you had one, you were probably a soldier from the old regime and promptly executed."

    It's not enough to simply get a magic tattoo. You must also tend its power. "It's like a mobile phone," says Chan Trea, 46, one of the few magic tattooists still operating in bustling Phnom Penh. "Without maintenance, it won't work."

    To keep a tattoo's power, one should shun adultery, alcohol, insulting opponents while fighting them or eating star fruit.

    Star fruit?

    "Since ancient days, it's well known that people with tattoos or talismans should not consume this fruit," he says. "If it wasn't true, the warning wouldn't last so long."

    These days, Chan Trea supplements his income with fashion tattoos.

    "If I was only doing magic tattoos, I'd go broke," he says, leaning on the battered dentist chair his customers settle into for their needling sessions.

    Magic tattoos are traditionally applied to the part of the body in need of protection, with anti-landmine tattoos placed on the legs, anti-fever tattoos near the heart. Sometimes, however, even the tattooist doesn't understand what he's applying.

    Chan Trea says that a few weeks ago a monk asked him to tattoo a particular pattern but refused to say what it meant.

    "In Cambodia, there are lots of secrets. People guard things jealously," he says, unfurling a copy of the mystery pattern he furtively kept.

    Tattoo artists say women rarely indulge, partly for aesthetic reasons and because they fear they may be mistaken for prostitutes, but Kol sometimes blesses women's perfume bottles, protecting their aura that way.

    "These foreign women wearing big tattoos, that looks rather strange to us," said Kong, the grandmother.

    (Actress Angelina Jolie recently had a magic tattoo done on her left shoulder blade meant to protect her and her Cambodian son, Maddox, from bad luck and accidents. The translated Pali incantation reportedly reads in part: "May your enemies run far away from you; if you acquire riches, may they remain yours always.")

    Cambodia's few remaining magic tattoo artists recognize that they're fighting an uphill battle but say they haven't lost hope.

    "Granted, more and more people believe in rationality, technology and the Internet," Kol said. "But, you watch. As soon as the next war or crisis hits and they need us, they'll come running back."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I've heard of Bokator but I've yet to see a live demo.
    I believe that old show Human weapon did an episode about the Khmer boxing in Cambodia. (I'll see if I can find it later)

    Looked pretty cool, very Muay Thaish.

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    Bokator

    AT 73, HE'S FIGHTING TO REVIVE THE MARTIAL ART YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF


    ìGrandmasterî Kim Sean poses in his gym located in the outskirts of Siem Reap.

    SOURCE PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO BY THOMAS CRISTOFOLETTI/RUOM FOR OZY

    WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
    Because there’s more than muay thai in Southeast Asia.
    By Justin Higginbottom
    THE DAILY DOSE JAN 13 2019

    The story of San Kim Sean, which he is grateful to relay in the shade of his training camp during a scorching Cambodian September, really begins some 800 years ago with the birth of his martial art, bokator. Like most everything here in Siem Reap, where tourists flock to see the Angkor Wat temple complex, the roots stretch to the Khmer empire.

    Kim Sean, 73, repeats the word for emphasis: “empire.” Known to his students as “Grandmaster,” he flips through a book he illustrated and wrote describing some of the supposedly thousands of moves in bokator. A black-and-white drawing of a man with a six-pack and bulging muscles angles one elbow to the ground and another in the air for the page on “elbow-hooking.” Instructions read: “Keep elbow in straight down-top position, with fingers hooked. Push elbow down strongly.” Some of these techniques, he says, are even carved into Angkor Wat. “Like America’s now strong, they have a good army and good weapons. At that time Khmer empire [was] like America now.”


    ìGrandmasterî Kim Sean shows the book that he illustrated and wrote describing the moves in Bokator.


    Bokator students during a training session at ìGrandmasterî Kim Seanís gym in Siem Reap.


    ìGrandmasterî Kim Sean’s son explains some moves to a young a Bokator student.

    You probably haven’t heard of bokator, which lacks the profile of Korea’s taekwondo or Thailand’s muay thai. At a time when AsiaOne, UFC and countless fighting retreats have brought a mixed martial arts surge, no longer simply attracting back-alley bets, Kim Sean wants the world to think of bokator when they think of Cambodian fighting. And, perhaps more important, the founder of the Bokator Federation wants Cambodians to think so too.

    THE OLD MAN BLAMES HIMSELF, IN PART, FOR BOKATOR’S DWINDLING. HE TAUGHT ANOTHER COUNTRY’S MARTIAL ART FOR DECADES, IGNORING HIS OWN PEOPLE’S HISTORY.

    Kim Sean wanted to be an action star when he was 13 years old. So when he found out an uncle could teach him bokator — some mysterious, ancient fighting art — he thought it was his way to the big screen. He was still working toward that dream when the genocidal Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Kim Sean was sent to Pursat province in the west of the country and “ate grass with the cows,” he says, to keep from starving.

    Most know about how the communists targeted intellectuals and the educated. But Kim Sean says they also went after those who knew martial arts because they could defend themselves: “You know how good martial artists [are]? One against five, one against 10. You know what I mean?” More likely, the Khmer Rouge targeted the tradition after it was arbitrarily labeled bourgeois. Kim Sean wouldn’t dare utter the word bokator. He played dumb. Like others, he kept his history quiet and tried to survive the start of a new one.


    A Bokator student exercises during a training session at ìGrandmasterî Kim Seanís gym in Siem Reap.


    Students get ready for a training session of Bokator.


    Bokator students Visal and Sovan Lina during a training session at ìGrandmasterî Kim Seanís gym in Siem Reap.

    After the regime fell, Kim Sean began walking toward Thailand. He dodged remnants of the Khmer Rouge and crossed minefields, where he saw others take wrong steps. In a Thai refugee camp, he got a sponsor from the YMCA and a ticket to Houston in 1980. In the U.S., he built a life teaching Hapkido, a Korean martial art known for its practitioners tossing opponents through the air. But bokator was still on his mind. Unfortunately, he couldn’t teach it in America without a license. And for a license he needed a certificate of expertise. Being one of the last surviving people to know the form even existed, he was out of luck.

    The old man blames himself, in part, for bokator’s dwindling. He taught another country’s martial art for decades, ignoring his own people’s history — that same sin from Khmer Rouge times. “I hate myself” for it, he says. He returned to Cambodia in the early 2000s with a mission. He would travel the country, looking for anyone who might still have knowledge of bokator.

    He roamed the countryside, often on foot, finding around 20 elders who knew something of the sport, he says. He told them if they didn’t help spread their knowledge, they’d be cursed. He ordered them to teach at least five people in their village. “But tell them this is bokator. Not another name.”


    ìGrandmasterî Kim Sean, her wife and son in their gym located in the outskirts of Siem Reap.


    ìGrandmasterî Kim Sean’s son Reach practices with a sword.



    Cambodia has another, more popular fighting style called kun Khmer. On most days you can catch a match in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Bokator and kun Khmer hold an uneasy truce. Bokator supporters believe they represent the purest Cambodian style, while kun Khmer fans see bokator moves as more theatrical than practical. Kwuok Leung, co-founder at Kingdom Fight Gym in Siem Reap, also traces kun Khmer to the Khmer empire and carvings on Angkor Wat. “No disrespect; [bokator and kun Khmer] have a lot of similarities. But kun Khmer focuses more on the fight aspect, where bokator is more on the ‘show’ side of it,” he says.

    Now, Kim Sean says, there are around 200 teachers for the sport, although his small training camp is the only one readily found by foreigners. He applied to UNESCO for bokator to be added to the World Heritage list, which would boost its international cachet. A documentary about Kim Sean’s life, Surviving Bokator, premiered at the Austin Film Festival this year. His son, Reach Norkor, who also trains at the camp, goes so far as to say all other martial arts in the region are a subset of bokator. “It’s like the big bang” for fighting technique in the region, he says. “The pure form.”

    Lucas Rosa is a Watson Fellow from the U.S. on a yearlong project entitled “Mixed Martial Arts: A Philosophical Perspective.” His first research stop was Kim Sean’s camp, where he trained daily for months. “The thing that’s crazy about bokator is that it blends together all three components of martial arts,” Rosa says, including take-downs, grappling and striking. But he’s most fascinated by the striking technique — how there’s no wind-up, no warning.

    One of his first days at the camp, Kim Sean showed Rosa the “bokator punch.” Rosa was doubtful he’d be impressed but held the pads for the elderly man. From a standing position, Kim Sean threw a fast, powerful hit — “elastic,” Rosa says — that knocked the pads out of his hand. Rosa was floored. Luckily, he caught the moment on video and could post it to Instagram.

    Just like the warriors of Angkor, with some updates.
    Cool story. Bokator is one of those martial arts that I've read about but never seen demonstrated live.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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    New UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

    Chinese tea, Vietnamese pottery, Cambodian martial arts: Asian cultural practices granted UNESCO world heritage status

    Khier Casino
    22 hours ago



    Traditional Chinese tea-processing techniques, Japanese ritual dances and Vietnamese pottery-making are some of the cultural practices that made it on this year’s intangible cultural heritage list by UNESCO.

    About 48 cultural practices from 61 countries were added to UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including five in urgent need of safeguarding, such as the art of pottery-making of Chăm people in Vietnam.

    The United Nations’ cultural agency began deliberations on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Rabat, Morocco, on Monday.

    According to UNESCO, the list consists of “priceless national treasures, which recognizes and promotes the diversity of cultural practices and know-how of enduring communities.”
    Other nominations from Asia include China's traditional tea-making techniques and associated social practices, Japanese traditional "Furyu-odori" folk dances, the Kun Lbokator martial arts of Cambodia, the Talchum mask dance of Korea and more.

    Traditional Chinese tea-processing techniques, Japanese ritual dances and Vietnamese pottery-making are some of the cultural practices that made it on this year’s intangible cultural heritage list by UNESCO.

    About 48 cultural practices from 61 countries were added to UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including five in urgent need of safeguarding, such as the art of pottery-making of Chăm people in Vietnam.

    The United Nations’ cultural agency began deliberations on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Rabat, Morocco, on Monday.

    UNESCO began tweeting its decisions under the “Intangible Heritage” hashtag on Tuesday.


    Other nominations from Asia include China’s traditional tea-making techniques and associated social practices, Japanese traditional “Furyu-odori” folk dances, the Kun Lbokator martial arts of Cambodia, the talchum mask dance of Korea and more.

    China now has 43 items on UNESCO’s list, making it the most listed country in the world, according to CGTN.

    The Yaldā/Chella festival to celebrate the winter solstice in Iran and Afghanistan also made the list.

    According to UNESCO, the list consists of “priceless national treasures, which recognizes and promotes the diversity of cultural practices and know-how of enduring communities.”

    “These practices and traditions have been transmitted to younger generations for centuries, through active participation in the event and preparations, as well as through the media,” it added. “The event promotes tolerance and inclusion due to the participation of people from different social groups and fosters mutual respect and appreciation among the individuals and institutions involved.”


    Featured Image via Getty
    UNESCO International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement
    Tea
    Cambodian-martial-arts
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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