Old Thai Arts

[Crafty_Dog]

Woof All:

I'm reposting the following from the "Escape from Rome" thread because the subject heading has nothing to do with the subject of Old Thai Arts.

Anyone who can contribute please do so.

Thanks and Woof,
Crafty Dog
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Guro Crafty,

Ajarn Marco de Cesaris teaches that ancient style of Thai boxing, does he not (the kind with the cord-wrapped fists)?

I'd like to know more about it.

Peace,

Dave/TFS
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Woof Spadaccino:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but what with the terminology wars nearby and catching up with training and business after a heavy traveling schedule this is my first chance.

It was a pleasure meeting Ajarn Marco who turned out to be a most gracious host as well. He calls what he does "Muay Boran". He is well recognized by the organizations in Thailand in this endeavor, has a fighting background, at 41 is still supremely fit and has a large, active network of schools.

Given the Krabi Krabong component of the recent evolution in DBMA that I've taken to calling "Los Triques", I was most curious to see what
Muay Boran was like and I think Marco too was curious to see the what the KK influence on us looked like.

Speaking only from a base of initial impressions (more knowledgeable people should feel free to jump in) I would say the Muay Boran allows the fight to continue striking on the ground. Examples of this can be seen in Ajarn Marco's video with Budo titled "Kon Muay Kee, Muay Boran" (Marco was kind enough to give me a copy) -- reaping kicks followed by flying drop knees to the prostrate spine, dropping shin kicks to the back of the head as lays on the ground, zoning around the man on the ground that seeks finishing shots even as it looks to avoid entanglement-- a highly important principle for the real world!

During our weekend together we compared notes on footwork concepts. I think Marco enjoyed that we too had come to similar ideas about bilateralism and sought to cultivate the "stepping through step" through our KK training. Marco shared with me some of his thinking on the clinch and elbowing the body. I also enjoyed his historical perspective on the reasons underlying the older deep stance.

All in all it was very enjoyable and we are staying in touch.

If anyone can add any comments on older Thai systems (an area of great interest to Marco) such as KK, Muay Boran, Lerd Rit etc it would be much appreciated.

Woof,
Crafty Dog

[macdscott]

Woof All:

Our apologies to all for disrupting this thread but sadly we delete the wonderful post of material from Vinnie Giordano at his request.  We did not realize that it was someone else posting his copyrighted material which will be a chapter in his upcoming book.

Vinnie, please keep us posted on the progress of your book and let us know how we may spread the word when it is ready.

Woof,
Crafty Dog

[Crafty_Dog]

Woof Vinnie:

Great post!  We are always glad to hear from you.

Marc/Crafty
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Marco comments:

BEGIN QUOTE

"On the other matter, of course you can use parts of our letters to put them in your site, I will be honored to appear in it. , , , I read with great interest the topics on your site and I am very happy to know that interest is growing for traditional Thai fighting, both with and without weapons.

The good thing is the forthcoming establishment  of the official thai websites of both AITMA and  the Kru Muay Thai Association so that all the information about teachers and techniques can be checked and verified.

, , , luckily I checked with Pimu's wife and  he is alive and well in London at the moment. Bad info , , ,

By the way, I saw in the long article appearing in the topic, that Dr. Songhai was mentioned; it is good because he was one of the members of the ad hoc technical committee created by the Office of Culture Commission that gave birth to what we practise today with the name of Muay Boran.

The 7 members of the committee actually collected the best fighting principles and techniques from various "regional styles" (Muay Korat, Muay Lopburi, Muay Chaya, Muay Pranakorn, Muay Luang etc.) and "thematic styles" (such as Hanuman techniques) of which everyone of them was an expert and they organised all the information according to the theory and system of the head of the above mentioned Commission, Prof. Phaosawat Saengsawan (that by the way is one of my teachers and technical supervisor of IMBA, our Muay Boran Academy).

All those info have then been furtherly actualised by the joint work of
Arjan Chinawooth Sirisompan (my teacher since 1991) and myself, to finally obtain the "product" we today call Muay Boran: ancient techniques and strategies actualised through modern professional Muay Thai training
methodology, the one we used (together with my first master, Pimu, a famous trainer of Muay Thai campions) to forge ring warriors (among them 7 world champions).

As you know well, theories and techniques must be always put to the "contact" test to prove valid.

I hope you will find the above information of any interest.

END QUOTE

[marcscott]

I apologize to Vinny for printing his material.

Marc