Krabi Krabong Buddhai Sawan
Ancient Combat Weapons Arts of Siam (Thailand)
Krabi means “short”, signifying the sword (daab), and Krabong means “long” meaning the staff (plong) or spear (ngao).
Born of open-field combat from a period when Thailand (then Siam) was routinely at war with the armies of Myanmar (then Burma), Krabi Krabong is a traditional weapon art still practiced in Thailand. It features many different weapons such as single and double sword, sword and shield, forearm shields, spear, staff, knife, and sabre.
Although it is better known as historical performance to most Thais, there is tremendous combative applicability lurking behind its cultural theatre. Krabi Krabong’s brutal effectiveness and overall intensity are unmatched in the weapon arts. Krabi Krabong is to stickfighting what Muay Thai is to kickboxing: it takes weapons fighting up a notch (or three) in ferocity and technical refinement.
Krabi Krabong is aggressive, powerful, and undeniably dangerous in its ultimate application on the open field of combat.
There is clear resemblance between the modern sport of Muay Thai and its older empty hand predecessors like Muay Boran and Muay Chiang. Similarly, they are intimately linked to Krabi Krabong – the latter being the battlefield weapons form of the today’s familiar ring sport. Krabi Krabong uniquely combines in-your-face aggressive power and rapid-fire speed with the application of double sword (daab song meu) as its mainstay. It also includes other weapons like the staff or the infamous mae sowks (forearm shields).
Most often trained as a mini-course at maelstrøm, Krabi Krabong is also a regular staple in our Dog Brothers training program – specifically because of it’s eminent viability in the full-out fight.
Check out scheduled and announced events to learn more.
Krabi Krabong applications in Dog Brothers training (guro Benjamin “Lonely Dog” Rittner)
Ritual dance perfomance and high-speed demo of Krabi Krabong – double sword vs. sword and shield
Ritual dance perfomance and high-speed demo of Krabi Krabong – staff vs staff
Ajahn Stephen Wilson is one of the foremost practitioners of Krabi Krabong from the Buddhai Sawan school (Bangkok). Now residing in Portland Oregon, he offers seminars across N. America.