Pencak Silat Weapons - Overview
The weapons program in pencak silat builds directly upon the
unarmed platform of skills and strategies. The positioning
and movement methods remain the same, albeit that the change of
effective fighting distance and the weapon manipulation introduces
some changes. The involvement of weapons does however shift
the emphasis towards the need for manoeuverability rather than
stability.
The main weapons used are the sticks of various lengths,
namely:
- gada (short stick or baton);
- tongat (medium length stick); and
- toya (long stick)
There are other weapons used, however, to a lesser degree than
the sticks.
It is important to know how weapons are regulated. In
Western Australia (as in many other jurisdictions) there is
legislation directly dealing with weapons in general and martial
art weapons in particular. See the discussion of the Weapons
Act.
The most obvious change to incorporate weapons is the aspect of
distance associated with the length of the weapon and mastering the
implications of this. The other significant matter is, of
course, the manipulation of the weapon itself. Each weapon
presents its own set of challenges to master. As with empty
hands, the emphasis is upon partner practice. The basic
combinations of attack and defence are replicated with gada against
gada, gada against tongat, tongat against tongat and so on.