Mainland Southeast Asia martial arts

The traditional martial arts of the Indochinese peninsula are related to one another, and as a group to Indian martial arts.

The most salient common feature is Indochinese kickboxing.

• Siamese boxing Muay Boran (Ancient Boxing) – created by Siamese (Thai) to use in conjunction with the art of dual swords (daab song mue) and Krabi Krabong, predecessor of Muay Thai, allows the use of headbutts.
• Thai boxing or Muay Thai – the Thai style of striking with strong emphasis on kicks, punches, knee and elbow strikes.
• Burmese Lethwei – Traditional kickboxing from Myanmar emphasising knees, elbow strikes, headbutts, punches, and kicks.
• Laotian Muay Lao – Lao kickboxing
• Malay Tomoi – kickboxing style from northern Malaysia, descended from Siamese boxing or muay boran.
• Khmer Pradal Serey – with an emphasis on elbow techniques.

Burma (Myanmar)

Thaing (Burmese: သိုင်း, pronounced [θáiɴ]) is a Burmese term used to classify the traditional martial systems of Myanmar. Systems of thaing include bando, lethwei, banshay and naban.

Cambodia

Main articles: Pradal Serey, Bokator, Kbachkun Boran, Kbachkun Dambong-Veng, and Khmer traditional wrestling

Pradal Serey is an unarmed martial art from Cambodia. In Khmer the word pradal means fighting or boxing and serey means free. Originally used for warfare, pradal serey is now one of Cambodia's national sports. Its moves have been slightly altered to comply with the modern rules.

Laos

Muay Lao is a traditional unarmed martial art from Laos. It incorporates punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes. Muay Lao was an event at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane.

Malaysia

Main article: Tomoi

Tomoi is an unarmed martial art from Malaysia. It is practiced mainly in the northern states such as Kedah, Trengganu, and especially Kelantan.

Thailand

Main articles: Muay Boran and Krabi krabong

Further information: Muay Thai

Muay Boran (Thai: มวยโบราณ, RTGS: Muai Boran, IPA: [mūɛj bōːrāːn], lit. "ancient boxing") is an umbrella term for the unarmed martial arts of Thailand prior to the introduction of modern equipment and rules in the 1930s. Its modern counterpart is now referred to as Muay Thai or Thai boxing.

Vietnam

Main article: Vietnamese martial arts

Traditional Vietnamese martial arts (Vo Thuat Co Truyen Viet Nam) can be loosely divided into those of the Sino-Vietnamese descended from the Han, and those of the Chams or indigenous Vietnamese. The former are closely related to Chinese martial arts, while the latter are more similar to Malay silat. Vovinam is a prominent modern Vietnamese martial art.

References

• Donn F.Draeger and Robert W.Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting arts, E. Kodansha, Tokyo, 1969