Posted: 17 February 2005 at 11:42pm | IP Logged

Hi Shaolin Bushido,

I hope you're checking in on this forum, as I'd feel silly replying to a post that no one would see, but anywaaayy...

You'd think as a Thai-American I would know everything intuitively on the subject (yeah, sure), but I'm only just beginning to build a knowledge base on the history of our national martial art. If I understand correctly (and anyone please feel free to add) Muay Boran is one of a small number of parent systems that formed the basis of modern Muay Thai.

The user name you chose made me grin- It's a smooth segway into the subject of kenpo karate, which I happen to practice. Essentially one of the most 'Chinese' of the Japanese martial arts, it has origins in Shaolin...and I'm willing to bet there were a few Samurai and budoka who learned Chinese kenpo from the monks who escaped the Mongol invasions circa 1200AD.

What does that have to do with Muay Boran?! Well, kenpo karate retains it's war art techniques that were abandoned to a degree to rework karate as a sport martial art. I believe Muay Boran has a similar parallel, but I went with kenpo as there are few, if any, teachers of Muay Boran in the states. What's cool about American Kenpo is that Ed Parker diligently strove to understand and enhance Kenpo Karate from a scientific standpoint. Similarly, Muay Thai has an equally pragmatic outlook, and as someone exposed to both arts I believe I'm qualified to make such a comparison.

Krabi Krabong, OTOH, is classical Thai armed combat- 'sword and baton', if I'm not mistaken. Like the Filipino art of escrima, it has unarmed applications which have influenced Muay Thai.

Hope that helps...!

Tom