Complete Sinawali: Filipino Double-Weapon Fighting

by Reynaldo S. Galang

Complete Sinawali is the definitive guide to the intricate and highly-refined Filipino martial art of double-weapon fighting.

The warriors of the Philippines have long been respected as fierce, courageous, and effective fighters, and the martial art of Sinawali has developed multiple-weapon fighting to an exceptionally high degree of sophistication. Preserved in Filipino dance as well as martial form, Sinawali employs sinuous, polyrhythmic movements, creating an almost impenetrable shield against attack.

In Complete Sinawali , Filipino martial artist Reynaldo Galang details the theory behind the forms and presents an orderly progression of drills designed to teach ambidexterity, quick and exact footwork, and special hand techniques that are the foundation of this exceedingly powerful martial art.

Chapters Whether readers are interested in Sinawali for exercise, hobby, or as a means of self-defense, Complete Sinawali is their definitive guide.

Genres: Martial Arts, War

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2000

Reviews

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are good exercises, but the presentation leaves something to be desired. I've never studied Filipino martial arts with a master (just occasional elements here and there), but these exercises give a good sense of the flow of two weapons and the rhythm of these patterns. The pictures are small, black-and-white, and with two practitioners both wearing black, lose some of the technique. Similarly, the descriptions of footwork don't always match the practitioner's feet clearly, and more discussion of when one might choose to employ one technique v. another (since many start with similar parries) would let it live up to the "complete" moniker better. At the same time, it's quite digestible and portable, and pushes the reader to get working on it.

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, like Galang’s other books, this is a commendable work, and is a great documentation of Filipino Martial Arts techniques and expression of their philosophy. I don’t think that one could conceivably learn Sinawali from this book alone, but it nonetheless is an impressive work that Eskrimadors will value.
The historical information on Sinawali and the Pampagan region is very interesting. While I have read criticism from certain circles on Sinawali, in my experience, Sinawali can help to develop both ambidexterity and a simultaneity of attack, defense, etc. in open-handed fighting that can be of great benefit to the martial artist. I had years of open-hand training before Eskrima, but Eskrima enhanced my open-hand skills tremendously, and some of this came from numerous Sinawali drills I had done over the years with partners, on the bag or dummy, etc. The repeated claim that Sinawali is the precursor to mastery of Espada y Daga (Sword and Dagger, though usually it is more properly Olisi, single stick, and Baraw, a specific type of dagger) is a sensible one, for the ambidexterity required of Sinawali is required for Espada y Daga. The majority of the book is sequences of pictures of Sinawali techniques, and one should weigh the efficacy of this type of presentation relative to one’s needs before purchasing it, I think.

[Timothy Nichols]

You can't learn martial arts from a book. You learn martial arts by practicing a lot. What a book can do, if it's well-written and well-illustrated, is furnish some useful fodder for practice. This book does the job well. If you don't know how to make the transition from drills/forms to fighting, this book won't help you very much; it's thin on those aspects. But if you're looking for a basic library of movements to enrich your stick work, this might be exactly what you're looking for.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

No, it won't teach you how to fight, but it will teach you how to expand your basics in double-stick fighting.