TEKPI: King of Weapons

King of Weapons, as i translate it from Malay term of "Raja Segala Senjata", is referring to a Malay weapon called Tekpi. Eventhough this form of weapon can be found in other martial art in asia, it has it's own identity in Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The really first time i hold this weapon, was at my Guru's house in Pasir Puteh back to 1996, at the village Gong Serapat. They were so awesome in pair. Not so heavy, well ballanced, hexagonal cut and of course, sharp at the point. He said that these "twins" were given by a great Tok Guru (Pendekar) of Tekpi in Pasir Puteh, after persuading him more than hundred times! That Tok Guru, showed his ability to throw his Tekpi and hit perfectly on a falling cocunut, 10 meters ahead, in front of my Guru's eyes. The only different parts of this Tekpi is that the opening of the "horns", is wider at a one side compared to another. My Guru said that the smaller opening is to be used to lock enemy's body parts and the bigger opening is designed to lock enemy's weapons.

Learning Tekpi is not really easy. Locking the enemy using a tekpi caused bone breaking, suffocation and bruices. With Tekpi, we can break a Sword by smashing on it at the right angle. When encountering an enemy with Sword, one shoud not ONLY think how to block the sword strike from chopping off his head, but first of all, thinking how to place his fingers rightly on the Tekpi. Any single mistake, then you won't have any finger left even to hold the Tekpi. As you can see in this photo, after my free-combat training using Tekpis versus a sharp Parang (machete). (my training partner also got much cuts as I am, since some Tekpi locks bring the blade back to the attacker)

Learning the Tekpi is familiar in most of Silat at Pasir Puteh, besides the Tongkat (Stick), Pedang (Sword) and Lembing (Javelin). The second Tekpi that i hold were my other Guru's at village Bukit Awang. This time, the Tekpi has his Father-in-law:Tok mertua (or sometimes called as Mother: Ibu). The Tekpi's "horns" are wider to compared with the previous one that i used to train with. The Ibu Tekpi was a left-hand protector. It has 3 sharp knives in front (Wolverine-like claws), a holder, long iron bar along the hand to block any attack, and at the end of the iron bar, just a little bit on the elbow, it has a Kerambit (Tiger claw-like knife)

Since then, i dreamt to have my own. But the Tekpis are expensive to order it from a blacksmith. So when i come to France, i found the Japanese Sai for only 60 euros (i think). Without hesitation, i bought them and keep them until now. They are the Sai that i trained with since 2003.

Teaching Silat Seni Gayong in France made me encounter many people, included one friend of mine, a french and he is a teacher of Persaudaraan Setia Hati. He do a lot of business of Pencak Silat materials. And you know what, I bought the Indonesian "Trisula" with fine chrome inox and buffalo horn finishing with Rasamala exotic wood. They are quite similar with my Guru's at Bukit Awang. These ones, i use only to train the Langkah Sembah (Silat salutation), Jurus (mouvements) and Kuncian (locking technics). For any combat where there is a real contact with other weapons such as Parang (machete) or Pedang (sword), i prefer to use my Okinawan japanese Sai, and i had served it very well!!! ;) (in other words: i had completely ruined it)

Personally, i will absolutely order my very own Tekpi once i go back to Malaysia. Everything counts, your hand size, fingers, and even you birth name and what date and day you were born in Hijriah calendars! As what i've heard from some blacksmith, since i was born on Friday, the virtous day for Moslems, my will-be Tekpi has to be undergone a sort of Adat rituel (Malay tradition). I am surely eager to wait for that moment! ;)

Until then, i keep training and training with my Tekpi........!!!!

Jurus Tekpi (Tekpi Kata) : Tempur Tekpi (Tekpi Combat) : Kunci Tekpi (Tekpi Locks)