All through-out this blog you would find references to Merino Escrima, Kinaadman and Wayaan. And perhaps you would ask which really is the art I teach and train in. To clarify this please note that Merino Escrima was among the martial arts I trained in when I was younger. It is a martial arts tradition from the town of Pambujan, Northern Samar. Actually, our forebears did not name it as such, only that they practiced a form of fencing.
The Merino name got attached to it since its last grandmaster was the late Don Licerio Merino and as homage to him his last students referred to his teachings as Merino Escrima or Licerio Merino Escrima. Don Licerio Merino was a former Chief of Police of the town and is also a Jujitsu practitioner before the Second World War. He studied escrima further when he went to Cebu and is a contemporary of the famous Canete brothers. Merino Escrima is a short ranged bladed art as taught to us but there are indications that Don Licerio's father and grandfather practiced a longer ranged fencing style as some of the old drills reflect this.
Since Merino Escrima is a fencing art, and as a by-product of also having studied Aikido, Modern Arnis, Judo and a host of other related arts, it was appropriate then to consolidate and streamline the lessons into what had become Kinaadman. Kinaadman itself evolved with the input of Guro Rodicius Saccuan into Kinaadman Gapiraan to which archival videos are posted in this blog.
With Guro Saccuan we tried to distill all combatives into Kinaadman Gapiraan with considerations on legal and law enforcement requirements. However, exposure to the research materials of Damian Ross and Marc "Animal" MacYoung encouraged us to further streamline our methodology wherein you can study our system from one week to one month and be functional in threat management. Thus was borne Waya-an. a combination of the words "waya", Ilocano for free or none and "daan" meaning path. In short Waya-an means pathless road.
Waya-an therefore is the latest stage in my development as a martial artist and as a threat manager. As we go on our individual journeys we discover our potentials and improve ourselves. This is the goal and the central theme of Waya-an, the development of the students through their own journey of discovery.
Since Merino Escrima is a fencing art, and as a by-product of also having studied Aikido, Modern Arnis, Judo and a host of other related arts, it was appropriate then to consolidate and streamline the lessons into what had become Kinaadman. Kinaadman itself evolved with the input of Guro Rodicius Saccuan into Kinaadman Gapiraan to which archival videos are posted in this blog.
With Guro Saccuan we tried to distill all combatives into Kinaadman Gapiraan with considerations on legal and law enforcement requirements. However, exposure to the research materials of Damian Ross and Marc "Animal" MacYoung encouraged us to further streamline our methodology wherein you can study our system from one week to one month and be functional in threat management. Thus was borne Waya-an. a combination of the words "waya", Ilocano for free or none and "daan" meaning path. In short Waya-an means pathless road.
Waya-an therefore is the latest stage in my development as a martial artist and as a threat manager. As we go on our individual journeys we discover our potentials and improve ourselves. This is the goal and the central theme of Waya-an, the development of the students through their own journey of discovery.
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