''Pencak Silat Harimau'' also known as ''Silat Harimau'' ( Minangkabau: ''Silek Harimau'') is a Minangkabau style of

pencak silat Pencak silat (; in Western writings sometimes spelled "pentjak silat" or phonetically as "penchak silat") is a class of related Indonesian martial arts. In neighbouring countries, the term usually refers to professional competitive silat. It ...

originating from

West Sumatra West Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. West Sumatra borders the Indian Ocean to the west, as well as the provinces of ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Silat Harimau has movements that are used to resemble the technique and philosophy of a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

. Silat harimau has agile techniques and beautiful movements. However, behind these techniques and movements, there are various deadly attacks that are applied to immobilize the enemy very quickly. This movement is known to be quite painful and makes the opponent unable to move and can only lie down with a body that cannot fight back. In addition, Silat Harimau also uses claws as a weapon to attack his opponent. The claws aim at the neck, face and vital parts of the opponent. This technique is a characteristic that does not exist in other Pencak silat.

History

Silat Harimau is a variation of ''silek'', a type of Indonesian

that originates from the

Minangkabau culture Minangkabau culture is the culture of the Minangkabau people, Minangkabau ethnic group in Indonesia, part of the Indonesian culture. This culture is one of the two major cultures in the Indonesian archipelago which is very prominent and influe ...

. Silat Harimau was first created in the Pariangan area, in 1119 by Datuk Suri Dirajo. At that time, Datuk Suri Diarjo trained the royal troops with various different silat styles, because in ancient times the silat troops often faced one-on-one, one-on-three, or one-on-four battles. The main key for a fighter to win the battle is to defeat the enemy head-on as quickly as possible.

Movement

The Silat Harimau movement belongs to the "campa tiger" movement which is the result of a combination with immigrants from

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

with a characteristic close combat style of fighting, where during battle, the fighters are immediately positioned in the front row. This style will in the future become the forerunner to the establishment of Silek Harimau which was taught by Edwel Yusri Datuak Rajo Gampo Alam.

Clothing

The clothes used for Silat Harimau are black clothes which are better known as "endong" or "galembong". This black itself has the meaning of "tahan tapo" (resistant to exposure) and black clothes are better for silek than white clothes that quickly look dirty. Silek clothes are made loose on the thighs to make it easier for Pesilek to make movements to be more flexible and agile. Movements such as jumping and there are some acrobatic movements. And there is also such a thing as "deta", the name for a typical Minangkabay headband that is shaped like a horn of various patterns attached to the head.

Weapon

The typical weapon of Silat Harimau is a small hand-held knife shaped like a tiger's

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthro ...

. The western world calls it Karambit and in Indonesia it is called Kerambit / Karambiak. This weapon is the original weapon of the Minangkabau people. This weapon is dangerous because it can be used to slash or tear the opponent's limbs quickly and undetected. Karambit is deliberately designed to be more curved like a tiger's claw, after seeing a tiger fight with its claws, this is in line with the Minangkabau philosophy which says that "Alam takambang jadi guru". This Karambit weapon is commonly used in Tiger Silat because it symbolizes the claws and some use a knife which symbolizes the fangs of a tiger.

References

{{UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity * Indonesian martial arts Culture of Indonesia Sport in Indonesia Mixed martial arts styles Sports originating in Indonesia id:Pencak Silat pt:Pencak Silat

History

Movement

Clothing

Weapon

See also

References