This is an OLD portuguese martial art. I saw no thread about it here and decided to post this, specially because there are some very good videos on youtube.

Enjoy it. The first video includes not only a demonstration, but also sparring with long sticks and short sticks, as well as 2X1 sparring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSDSsereOdg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdeIBRluoAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYBy6MpKWOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VES

kewl!

Isn´t it. I´d love to see a Dog Brothers/Silat/Whatever vs Jogo do Pau fight.

It does look a lot like swordfighting doesn´t it?

There's a thread kinda related to this on the Dog Brothers public forum (http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?topic=328.0). It's specifically about stickfighting in the Canary Island's - meh, I know the Canary islands are technically Spanish territory, but I figure there's gotta be some crossover. There are some links in the thread as well.

Aloha, PoiDog

I like the armor.

I am just relating what a portuguese friend told me, but apparently Jogo do Pau is a developmente of medieval swordfighting techniques, not related to Indonesian arts.

In fact it was rather popular as a self defense skill back in the 50s.

This looks pretty cool, I think it looks a lot better than kendo.

This is really cool. Thanks for posting it.

Yep, there's always a stick nearby in Portugal. They're also called 'mujeres' there.

Seriously though, very cool.

Hmm, interesting I wonder how much of that is based on work with the Portugese longsword. I could see the single stick techniques being based some form of Messer like weapon. But who knows perhaps it's merely based on the saber, hard to tell.

Here is a link with one version of the history behind Jogo do Pau. I can´t really vouch for it: it supports the opinion that it was derived from an Indian dance.

http://home.dbio.uevora.pt/~oliveira/Jogo_Pau/J_Pau.htm

The wikipedia entry, however, dismisses that statement, by affirming that Jogo was never commonly practiced in the big cosmopolitan cities, but in the isolated northern regions of Portugal. Therefore it is more likely a development of old swordfighting techniques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jogo_do_Pau

This is really cool. Thanks for posting it.

Hey, glad you like the clips. I make it a point to come back here and share all MA related information and clips that may be of interest to the bullshido community.

Yep, there's always a stick nearby in Portugal. They're also called 'mujeres' there.

Seriously though, very cool.

mujeres? that has nothing to do with portugal thats spanish for women (which in portuguese is "mulher"). i duuno if your saying that sticks are called mujeres here, and theyr not, its "pau" or "varão", justo to tell, its goos to see people enjoy something portuguese :P. btw, that shorty guy with white shirt and shaved hair is my bjj instructor,wtf? i didnt knew he did jogo do pau...

That armor in the first clip was SEXY. It was like it combined all the best elements of Kendo gear and Tron.

I dislike fighting in armour like that, it gives you a false sense of security, which makes you stop defending yourself. In less armour you have to be much more careful to not get hit. When I've trained in armour like that I've felt my technique suffered quite a bit because it's easier to just end up exchanging shots one for one.

Those videos were pretty good, I'm interested in how this art is different from the Japanese, and Filipino sword arts. I have trained both and noticed a number of things that seemed similar or identical. Especially in the third video where they call their art Esgrima with a G.

I'm used to this though, I can't tell you how many times I've been talking with someone who trains a different art and we both know the same technique by different names.

For example, in my experience, Kimura = V-Armbar = Branch up/down = Paintbrush

It's pretty clear that people either learn from each other, or figure out the same things, by different names.

Escrima or Esgrima is a Spanish/Portuguese word for fencing/swordplay. That is a direct translation.

I've seen some statements about Jogo do Pau stating that it was a stickfighting system developed in the countryside. Seeing as how the long staff is the primary weapon, this makes sense as it would be impractical in urban self defense. A weapon of this length would also be pretty useful when fending off multiple attackers armed with swords or shorter weapons, if you've got the space to use it.

As far as the armor goes, they use that armor for both long staff and short stick. With long staff, you damn well need it as you can generate tremendous amounts of power with that large of a weapon. If you are not heavily armored, you almost assuredly will break something if you get hit. For short stick, yes, the amount of armor is excessive.