Talk:Silat (Malaysian martial arts)

Broken link

Today, the external link does not work. I will check it again next week, if it is still not working, I'll remove it. --zeno 17:19, 24 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_martial_art add yourself!

Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_martial_art

Uniforms for Silat

Are there any keikogi-style uniforms for practicing Silat or can you wear any outfit? --User:Angie Y.

As far as I know, there's no wide-spread use of uniforms in Silat. -Objectivist-C 01:30, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, so any outfit is acceptable. --User:Angie Y.

Actually the most common uniform for silat is the costume commonly worn by Malay men in the 16th century. This includes trousers that traditionally reach the shins (today it usually reaches the ankles) and a round-collared, long-sleeved shirt with a plunging neckline. A waistband called the kain sampin is tied around the mid-section. This is a cloth tied to one side and can either be worn straight so it almost touches the knees, or folded up so it resembles a belt. The costume is completed with traditional Malay headgear. The costume is usually dark-colored in shades of red, blue or black but sometimes it comes in yellow or bright green. In modern times the trousers usually have rings near the bottom of the pants and an ugly vest (with or without sleeves) is sometimes worn over the shirt. The whole thing has a stiffer, almost starchy feel. The kain sampin is sometimes striped these days too. Yes, it was traditionally also practiced by women and they usually dressed the same way.

Silat's history

What exactly is the history of Pencak Silat? How was it created? --User:Angie Y.

There is no single art and so no single history as "Silat" properly refers to any fighting art indigenous to Indonesia. I'll skim through the ancient history of the movement of people into the archipelago in the first place (as it would be entirely speculative anyway) prefeace by pointing out that we are talking about millions (hundreds of millions) of people over a very geographically diverse region of spice islands which rarely had anything resembling a single government.

Out of these often unconnected villages, tribes, and kingdoms thousands of martial arts evolved... though there are some points that could be made (I need cites).

Realize that even the term "Silat" is not universally applied. There are many different languages and conventions throughout Indonesia, and two people in bascially the same art may not use the same names. That said, I've commonly heard Silat divided into three groups.

- Cultural arts (Pentjak Silat) - Combative arts (Pukilan Silat) - Mixed-Chinese arts (Kuntao)

The usage of these terms varies *heavily* and I don't think that nay noe side is correct over another.

The Cultural arts vary from extremely combatively effective to extremely ceremonial. As an example of the latter: Don Dreager mentions in [i]the Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia[/i] (cited from memory, feel free to fact-check) a style of silat used to ritually challenge a groom at a wedding for his bride (the challenger is supposed to loose).

Generally Indonesia was populated by isolated villages that alternately traded with / killed and ate members of other villages. As such, many of the Silat styles are village arts intended to be useable by both young and old, and with weapons normally carried (short and medium blades). This would be contrasted to, for example, Japanese arts which were often focused on a warrior caste (Samurai).

Though the region has been occupied by many foreign powers, the two most notable seem to be the Chinese and Dutch. The Chinese in particular settled in large numbers and brought with them fighting styles from Southern China. Over the years and generations, these were hybridized with the indigenous styles and there is a distinct group of Chinese-Indo styles of silat.

I'll see if I can expand later, someone feel free to clean this up --Tensin 19:18, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Moves

Are there diagrams for any of the certain moves in Silat? Angie Y. 23:59, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

• Well, this site: PencakSilat.com has lots of information on Silat, and the "Principles" section has illistrations. You might find what you are looking for there. 151.203.165.151 18:04, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Weapons in Silat

Now I'm looking for information on the weapons. Angie Y. 20:39, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I'll see if I can pull something at least a little authoratative from Dreager's research. In the mean-time...

In modern useage, the most commone weapon is the knife. Most Silat styles are very focused on the short blade. Traditional weapons include the spear, medium blade, and short-bow. The arts are generally very inclusive, and I've seen "official" adaptations for Japanese Katanas and firearms. --Tensin 19:15, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Linkfarm

This article suffers from significant linkfarmitis, with most of the external links being nothing more than advertisements for individual Silat schools, offering little in terms of supporting information for the article itself. If someone else has the time to sort through them and delete the ones that fit this description, great. If not, I intend to do so when I get a chance. -Erik Harris 00:51, 6 November 2006 (UTC) (forgot to sign; timestamp wrong)

• I removed some. The rest of them seem to have useful information. 141.154.151.37 17:45, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Kipas

What's a kipas? Angie Y. 20:48, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I did a google search, and "kipas" is either an Indonesian wall fan, or that cloth skullcap worn by Jewish people (see: Kippah). Unless there is some other meaning that I couldn't find, I'm guessing whoever added "kipas" to the article might have been a vandal. 70.109.228.66 00:35, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Kipas means 'fan' whatever type of fans. (malay)

That's right, kipas simply means fan in Malay

I agree... Kipas means any type of fan in Malay. However, in Silat schools that I observe, the usage of hand-fan is quite are (in Malaysia). Moreover, it was not in any common syllabus of Silats here. Mostly centered around the usage of common Malay weapons such as machete, spears and (but not limited to) kris. Zaidey

Belt system in Silat?

Since there is a belt system for other martial arts, is there a belt system for Silat as well? And if so, which colors—from lowest attainable rank to highest attainable rank—are used in the system? Angie Y. 20:39, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

The belt system comes from Japan and traditionally other styles never used it. So, no, silat doesn't use belts but some modern schools colour the sash worn around the waist for the purpose of rank. I don't know what order the colours come in but I really don't think it's worth mentioning. Morinae 09:45, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Ranking systems vary from system to system. Though there's some degree of standardization in Japanese and Korean arts, the same isn't true in Indonesian arts. Some schools may use belts. Others may use sashes. Others may use some other or no outwardly-visible indicator of experience. —Erik Harris 12:27, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah, I get it. So the sashes can be worn like belts. Angie Y. 16:04, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Infobox

There should be an infobox. :) Angie Y. 15:17, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Pencak Silat in the Netherlands

I am not sure whether the information about Silat in NL is correct since I live in the Netherlands and even though I practise Pencak, it is generally unknown and certainly not as popular or known as Karate. So I am not sure about what to do next. Is there a reference for that particular statement? --Chingchuanchiu 21:28, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I have a lot of links to Pencak Silat in Holland (and around the world) and articles about the old pendekars who played a major role in introducing Pukulan, Pencak Silat and Kuntao into Holland.

http://www.martialhub.com/indonesia/indonesia.html or Pukulan.com

I would also like to see this link added to the 'External Links' page.

Pencak Silat is not a 'sport' of big organisations, like Taekwondo. It has always been a private art, and as a result, it is best reflected on line by listing the individual schools and masters. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MrSativa (talk • contribs)

Clean up

Would someone tell me why so much notable information has been removed since I last edited this article? It would have been better to at least mention it here first if anyone had a problem with it.Morinae 09:44, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Dasar pasang, langkah, and djurus

Is there a specific way of showing dasar pasang, langkah, and djurus? What are some of the positions and attacking techniques that a pesilat can use? What are they called? Angie Y. 02:08, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

The beauty of Pencak Silat

Silat is very lovely. Check out this beautiful video I found on YouTube!

[1]

Angie Y. 02:18, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, a lot of people who've only heard of but never seen silat get the idea that it's some kind of primal jungle style but that's just not the case. Even Tom Clancy's Net Force says at one point that "silat isn't pretty" but the Indian and Chinese martial arts that influenced silat were beautiful so it's only natural that the end result was too.