Dear All, Another explanation of Khmer Bokator.Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPEmYD5Ej2k&feature=related Cheers, Ung Bun Heang ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Antonio Graceffo <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 8:52 AM Subject: Article: Kawmyout not Bokator This is my reaction to an article, posted on Khmer Connection, entitled “Kawmyout not Bokator”. This is also my definitive and perhaps last word on the argument about Khmer Bokator being real or not. Bokator Grand Master San Kim Saen is the Real Deal He is the only person taking Khmer martial arts to the world. By Antonio Graceffo This is my reaction to an article, posted on Khmer Connection, entitled “Kawmyout not Bokator” http://khmer.cc/community/t.c?b=12&t=53186 Let me begin by saying, I support ALL Khmer martial arts. And I am happy to support “Kawmyout” and am happy to feature it on my next show that I shoot in Cambodia. BUT I am sick of Khmers tearing each other apart, rather than lifting each other or themselves up. Bradal Serey, which has clearly been around forever hasn’t moved one inch toward international recognition because of corruption and because Khmer’s favorite pastime is tearing other Khmers to shreds. Wouldn’t it make more sense to support Bokator and “Kawmyout” and Bradal Serey? All Thais support Muay Thai and look how well known that martial art is. I support all Khmer martial art. But I don’t support attacks, name calling or lazy research. Also, I don’t support myth. The article says “Vireak Sung is single and seeking sponsorship to fight in the US.” First off, I assume they want him to fight in MMA competition. At 59 Kgs, he is too small to fight in USA He could fight MMA in Thailand or Philippines, BUT the ground fighting in Cambodia, whether it be Bokator or any other martial art, including wrestling, is just too low. They can’t compete on a world level in grappling. In USA Jason Chambers is not a champion wrestler, and yet he beat the best Khmer wrestler, easily when we filmed Human Weapon. We even had to milk the fight a bit for the camera because the fight would have been to short. When it comes to striking, stand-up and Bradal Serey, the top ten or even twenty Khmer boxers could probably beat all of the top American and most of the top Filipinos. But in grappling/MMA the Khmer arts aren’t ready yet. And almost none of the practitioners of other Khmer martial arts could stand up to the top ten or twenty Bradal Serey fighters in Cambodia. I always receive death threats when I write these articles. So, I am bracing myself. Please, instead of killing me, support both of these martial arts, work on your ground game and if you want to fight in Philippines, let me know, and I can arrange it for any Khmer. About the Article The article begins by saying, “Meet Vireak Sung. At 22 years old and weighing a mere 59 kilograms, he is the best fighter in Cambodia.” First off, he is absolutely NOT the best fighter in Cambodia. Unless he beat Vorn Viva and Noung Suchea and Eh Phou Thoung and every major Bradal Serey fighter, he can’t claim to be the best fighter in the country. So, the first sentence is already a lie. Each year in Phnom Penh, there is a national Bradal Serey championship, a national Boaktor championship, an Olympic wrestling championship, and traditional wrestling championship. Unless you won all or most of these it really wouldn’t be fair to say you are the best fighter in Cambodia. The article claims that the traditional Khmer martial arts should be called “kawmyout”. I agree with the word “yout”. Yout is a Khmer word for martial art or fighting. And that is the same as in the word yuthakun or Kun Khmer. “The word "kawmyout" is derived from the Kawm ethnic group who were the first practitioner of this style of martial arts.” “Kawm” is a sub group of the Chin ethnic minority in Chin State of Burma. As far as I, and any other legitimate researcher or Burma expert knows, there was very little, if any connection between Khmers and Burmese. And especially, the Chin State is the part of Burma whish is almost exactly the furthest from Cambodia that you could be. Also, we don’t find Chin martial art spread anywhere else in Burma, Thailand, or Lao. So, it makes no sense that it spread to Cambodia, but skipped all of the countries in between. The article says, “Kawmyout is the collective word for all Khmer combat methods.” That makes no sense. Once again, since the word Khmer is not present in the name Kawmyout. Wouldn’t “yutha kun Khmer” or “Kun Khmer” make more sense as a blanket name for all Khmer fighting techniques? My absolute favorite statement in this is one of the comments which says, “The story about a man fighting a tiger is far fetched.” Clearly the story is a legend. But the story about kawmyout says they can do magic. So, you don’t find that far fetched? A man fighting a tiger can’t happen, but a man doing magic is fine? The article says, “Kim San is a practitioner of Hapkido for over 25 years, he even said it himself.” It is no secret that Kru San Kim Saen did practice hopkido for 25 years, but people are allowed to practice as many martial arts as they want. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know Bokator. And if you look at his Bokator, maybe 15% of it looks like hopkido. The rest, 85% is clearly Khmer. I keep hearing chatter on the internet, saying that San Kim Saen’s Bokator is hopkido. You only need to look at the Bokator for about ten minutes to realize it is NOTHING like Hopkido. They accuse the Grand Master of making up the word Bokator. The word Bokator is quite old, and was used long before the war years. There was a film “Le Bokator” in the 1950s. So, Grand Master San Kim Saen didn’t make this word up. I have been researching Khmer martial arts since 2004 in Cambodian. NONE of these complainers from the internet existed in 2004. They all appeared after I started reporting on Bokator and putting Bokator on TV shows. Suddenly there were all of these other masters, with other martial arts. But it was crap. They all lied. They were jealous of San Kim Saen because he got famous. And not one of these complainers has ever produced a single written document, older than 2004, to prove that their art is older, or that it even existed before. I worked for the Cambodian government for a time, sight translating French historical documents. Not one of them ever mentioned any of these other martial arts, although we know for a fact that the French were heavily involved in the development of modern Bradal Serey. Vincent Girodano and allegedly, Chris Crudelli, both did research in Cambodia earlier than I did, and they also found none of these other martial arts that are suddenly appearing on the internet, claiming to be the real Bokator or the real traditional Khmer martial art. In 2004, the CPP funded and supported a countrywide martial arts exhibition to showcase traditional Khmer martial arts and all masters who had survived. NONE of these other arts were there. There were invitations sent to pretty much every master in the country, and these arts just didn’t exist in 2004. I wrote the Cambodia episode for Fight Quest (Discovery Channel) but it never aired. Then, I worked on Human Weapon on History Channel. And I chose to feature Bradal Serey, Od Phou Thoung, Khmer Wrestling, with Jap Leun, Bokator Grand Master San Kim Saen, as well as Kru Heut Hok and Bun Theun and others. By the way, does Od Phou Thoung know that there is someone claiming to be the best fighter in Cambodia without first fighting him? In 2007 I scouted Cambodia for the History channel’s Human Weapon. I visited nearly every single martial arts master in Cambodia, who I could find. I either fought with or trained with their students and chose the ones who should be featured on the show. NONE of these other arts existed in 2007. Bun Thun was the only former member of the Bokator association who was teaching his own art, outside of the federation. But he also called it Bokator. And, I featured him on Human Weapon, even though he and Grand Master San Kim Saen don’t get along. He was the only one in Cambodia teaching sword fighting with a metal sword. In February and March 2010, I returned to Cambodia with a video camera and followed up on EVERY martial arts master I could find. NONE of these people even existed in early 2010. If they had, I would have heard of them. Or they would have heard of me. I am well known in Cambodia. I work sometimes with CTN in addition to foreign TV, and nearly every fighter knows me when I turn up. And no one mentioned anything about these other masters or arts. What I do know for a fact is that a number of teachers tried to glom-on to San Kim Saen’s success by asking him to admit them into the federation and to promote them to Black Krama. He then told them, if they wanted to be promoted, they had to practice and pass the test. And none of them wanted to do it. A few asked how much the training cost. Later they claimed that San Kim Saen demanded they pay money to be recognized. This is absolutely NOT what happened. He told them what it cost for training. At the end of training they could test and retest for free, but they would only be recognized if they passed the test. In February 2010, an organization, backed by UNESCO, came to Cambodia to recognize Grand Master San Kim Saen as the keeper of the true Cambodian, traditional martial art, Bokator. The name Bokator was added to the list, maintained by UNESCO, of traditional martial arts by country. Cambodia’s attempts to be recognized for Bradal Serey were repeatedly thwarted because of Muay Thai. If you saw the list of world martial arts, it was sad, Cambodia was nearly the only country in the world that didn’t have a recognized martial art. Finally, because of San Kim Saen, Bokator was recognized. The choice standing before the Khmer community is this: Support both Bokator and ALL other Khmer martial arts that pop up, or bicker and fight amongst yourselves. Call UNESCO and get them to remove the recognition for Cambodian Bokator. Call History and Discovery Channel, tell them they made a mistake and take back some of the only positive press Cambodia has had in recent years….. I am done with this stupid argument. This is the last article I will ever write on this subject. Please publish this article everywhere, pass it on to your friends. But don’t ask me anymore about this unless you’ve done research and have facts. Antonio Graceffo Antonio Graceffo is a martial arts and adventure author living in Asia. He is the author of the books, “The Monk from Brooklyn” and “Warrior Odyssey.” He the host of the web TV show, “Martial Arts Odyssey,” which traces his ongoing journey through Asia, learning martial arts in various countries. He is also a columnist for Black Belt Magazine and a video columnist for Black Belt’s online video magazine. See all of Antonio’s videos on his youtube channel, brooklynmonk1, send him a friend request or subscribe. http://www.youtube.com/user/brooklynmonk1 Antonio is also on twitter, with the name, Brooklyn Monk. Follow his adventures and tweets. His books are available on amazon.com Contact him: [email protected] His website is www.speakingadventure.com sign up for his mailing list on the site. Antonio,graceffo,Brooklyn,monk,Bokator,Cambodia,khmer,bradal,serey,yuthkun,yuthakun,yuth, Kawmyout Checkout Antonio’s website http://speakingadventure.com/ Get Antonio’s books at amazon.com The Monk from Brooklyn Bikes, Boats, and Boxing Gloves The Desert of Death on Three Wheels Adventures in Formosa ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Learn more. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. 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