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I have been talking about this style with another member and was wondering if anyone practices or knows this art?
Here is information I found on it at Wikipedia:
Bokator/Boxkator, or more formally, Labokator (to fight lion) (ល្បុក្កតោ) is a Khmer martial art that is possible predecessor of Southeast Asian kickboxing styles. It is easy to believe that Bokator was the close quarter combat system used by the ancient armies of Angkor.
Angkorian Warriors will have been a key factor in enabling a succession of Angkorian Kings to dominate South East Asia for more than 600 years from 800 AD. Popular belief is that Jayavarman VII, the ruler of the Khmer Empire, was a practitioner of Bokator.[citation needed]
Unlike kick boxing, which is a sport fighting art, Bokator was a soldier's art, designed to be used on the battlefield. It uses a diverse array of elbow and knee strikes, shin kicks, submissions and ground fighting.[citation needed] Bokator practitioners are trained to strike with knees, hands, elbows, feet, shins, and head. Even the shoulders, hip, jaw, and fingers can be used to fight an opponent to submission or death.
When fighting, Bokator practitioners still wear the uniforms of ancient Khmer armies. A kroma (scarf) is folded around their waist and blue and red silk cords called sangvar day, are tied around the combatants head and biceps. In the past it is said that the cords were enchanted to increase strength, although now they are just ceremonial.
The kroma (a cotton scarf worn around the waist) shows the fighter's level of expertise. The first grade is white, followed by green, blue, red, brown and then black which has 10 degrees. After completing their initial training, fighters wear a Black Kroma (scarf) for at least another ten years. To attain the Gold Kroma you must be a true master and must have done something great for Bokator. And to become a true master it will definitely take some time as just in the unarmed portion of the art there are between 8000 and 10000 different techniques; only 1000 of which you have to learn to attain the black kroma.
The art contains 341 different styles based on the study of life in nature. For example horse, bird, dragon, eagle, crane, each style contains several techniques. Because of its visually similar style, Bokator (Boxkator) is commonly wrongly described as a variant of modern kick boxing. Bokator has many forms based on styles as well as straight practical fighting techniques. While Pradal Serey is a more simplified freestyle fighting system which uses a few of the basic (white kroma) punching, elbow, kicking and kneeing techniques.
Let me know,
Thanks,
Tony
- Sounds similar to the Thai art: Krabi Krabong and Burmese Bando. Not the same, but they do share similarities.
- i have found some sits on it , here if it helps, if not i tried
www.articlecity.com/articles/hobbies/article_130.shtml
www.athleticscholarships.net/martial-arts-kali.htm
www.filipino-kali.gungfu.com/ - 39k
