Eskrima stick fighting is indigenous to the Philippines and in the 1950s one of the most popular styles emerged: Balintawak. To appreciate Anciong Bacon's Balintawak Eskrima, you have to understand set-ups, anticipation, the art of outwitting through ruses and lures; economy and simplification of motion, sans lavish and squandered movements; effective strikes fused and bonded with speed, power, elegance and grace. That is the essence of Anciong's Balintawak and these are the methods Sam Buot explains and demonstrates in this book.

Written from the author's half-century of personal...