ARAKAN in Brisbane, Australia - a MA from Burma.

**Cymro** · Posted On: 3/28/2006 3:03pm

Came accross this website:

http://www.arakan.com.au/index.php

Interesting concept: A martial art from Northeastern Burma. There is in fact a state in Burma called Arakan. I can't find any other reference to a martial art from the region. I'm curious as to if y'all might know more.

The video clips and outfits look...let's say Kung Fu inspired. Any _ing _un folks care to comment?

**Dagon Akujin** · Posted On: 3/28/2006 3:45pm

Some of the striking looks similar to _ing _un, but overall it looks very sloppy if it's _ing _un based. Lots of turning off center, more rotating of hips, less drive forward down the center. They seem to use some "push" based punches though, but that's about it. And overall, I'm not very impressed as the teacher seems to leave himself open quite often in the videos.

As far as the costumes? The school I'm at just has a t-shirt that they think it's good to wear if it's clean. We don't have pajamas at all. So maybe we need a pajama _ing _un type to help there.

Dagon Akujin

**Lu Tze** · Posted On: 3/28/2006 3:52pm

Reading their FAQ I'd say Arakan (at least their version) is a complete fabrication, it has a completely contradictory philosphy to the other Burmese martial arts I know about (semi contact, fucking hell... a Burmese boxer would eat those fucking jokers).

**Cymro** · Posted On: 3/28/2006 5:18pm

The pajamas look too damn Chinese for my taste. The traditional (and I know I'm using the term loosly) burmese clothing I've seen is a lot more like what they wear in Thailand.

Hell, I'm a translator, what do I know? Anyone with some firsthand knowledge care to comment?

Poking around a bit more, they site claims that Arakan is taught only on hte Gold Coast and in Brisbane. That sets off my Bullshidometer right there. Any down under members want to volunteer to go investigate?

**Arakan** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:12pm

No, i would not like to investigate. I train in arakan. first up, i know arakan is an unknown MA so really you only have my word to go by. If i sound like a bragging jackass, sorry. im just really passionate about it and wish to shed light.

First off, it is a combat art. It is not a ring or competition based art. it is very fluid and adaptable. We generate our power through body mechanics and is not strenght orientated. It is also very effective at fighting groups of people. Now i must admit i have never used it on the street and im not some kind of egotistical jerk who thinks arakan is invincible.

Costumes. I just wear a t-shirt, shorts and some runners. the instructor wear the same things too. however, usually on big events such as our open day where trained for 9hrs up in the mountians, (covering knive fighting, advanced striking and bridging, grappling and group fighting) the instructors did wear those robes. probably to stand out and to pay respect to all the ancestors who passed this knowledge down to them.

Over in burma, you have to be born into the chosen few who get selected to train in Arakan. Then you have a background check then your family has a background check just to see if you are worth training.

Arakan was designed to kill people by hand. And in my 1 year of training, i have been taught moves that would do that easily. Like i said before, i don't think i am invincible and am not saying that Martail art X is better than martail art Y & Z. This is just what i know.

Yes it IS only taught on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. It is only 15 years old in the western world. But hopefully, one day, it will become known across the world.

It really is amazing.

Thanks guys.

**Lu Tze** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:20pm

Originally Posted by Arakan

First off, it is a combat art. It is not a ring or competition based art.

A common fallacy. Do you spar?

Originally Posted by Arakan

We generate our power through body mechanics

Everyone generates power through body mechanics. Everyone. Can you name one art which is an advocate of poor technique?

Originally Posted by Arakan

Arakan was designed to kill people by hand. And in my 1 year of training, i have been taught moves that would do that easily.

Can you describe these moves? Give an example of a 'killing blow'.

**fanger123** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:24pm

i didn't go over the whole website, there are lots of texts, and my eyes are hurting enough from work already.

i checked the bullying section, and i found it reasonable.

i watched the multiple attackers vid, and it looks awful. slaps look worse than some of WC vids.

**kwoww** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:28pm

Originally Posted by Lu Tze

A common fallacy. Do you spar?
Everyone generates power through body mechanics. Everyone. Can you name one art which is an advocate of poor technique?

_ing _un.

But that's not the point of this thread.

Originally Posted by Arakan website

You will be able to confidently deal with: multiple attackers, situations involving weapons, defend yourself on the ground , close quarters fighting, etc

:bsflag:

**Arakan** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:38pm

Yey i guess so. We do more drills. for example last night in the group class we were working on entry hits. so first off we were all in pairs in a line. one person was feeding the hits and the other was doing the arakan. then we broke away from the lines and moved around. then we all got into a small space 4m x 4m and anyone could feed us. there were 24 people in that space.

we don't fight arakan to arakan if thats wat u mean??

No i cannot. i have never trained in anyother art so i have idea. like i said, these are just facts that i know. wat about boxing?? that is strength based isn't it??? the harder u hit someone the more likley u will knock them out? no sure. never boxed.

no probs, an edge to the neck will easily collapse the carotid artery in the neck, starving your brain of oxegyn. Some of the more experienced guys, i can feel that edge through a focus mit and it friggin hurt. ha ha. im still only just beginning my journey in arakan. there is much i don't know. I don't know off the top of my head that many "killing blows" but i never claimed i did. I guess there would be more?? I ment more through technique rather than a single blow.

that being said, other moves can leave your opponent very crippled. ;)

**muranternet** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 7:51pm

http://ancientarakan.blogspot.com/

Rakhine Wrestling – Kyun

Rakhine people have a long tradition of holding wrestling competitions during the annual festivals in their towns and villages. It is one of the Rakhine traditional sports which mainly based on physical ability to uplift the happiness and physical prowess. It’s a kind of martial art. The skill of wrestling and making one’s rival fall on to the ground while avoiding hid attack is called “Kyun”.

Kyun - It derives from Kyar–Yun. Kyar” means “tiger” and “yun” means “quick”. Therefore, the complete meaning of “Kyun” is the quick tiger. The Rakhine wrestler can be called as a quick tiger because of his ability in wrestling movements and techniques.

“Kyun” the Rakhine wrestling is very different from other wrestling and it has its own rules and disciplines not to get hurt each other. Wrestler first dances jumping and making special styles in the playground. The two wrestlers have to play three rounds. They are defined as an attacker and one defender. After finishing three rounds, the first attacker becomes the defender and also the first defender becomes the attacker. The attacker who can make the back of the defender falls up to the ground wins the playing round. The first prizewinner will be awarded the gold gong, one tickle weight and for the second prizewinner, the silver gong is awarded. The “Kyun” wrestling is usually performed at the pagoda festivals.

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

Traditional arakan naban

Only things I could find that didn't reference the school's website. This seems at odds with the history page on said website, which references a military tradition which the chief instructor claims thousands of years of lineage to (no specific teachers listed aside from his uncle, referenced on http://www.abc.net.au/goldcoast/stories/s1161790.htm, souce given as the Arakan school's website). I couldn't find any mentions of Robert Kyaw, the chief instructor, that were not self-referential. The ABC story does mention that the system is "now known as 'Arakan'", so it's plausible that it was called something else before Arakan.

The Arakan site gives a founding date of around 2666 BC. This is contradictory to the general theory that the Mon only started flourishing somewhere between 900 BC and 500 AD, depending on your source, and you can only really make a case for a "kingdom" in Myanmar in the 16th century AD. Also since Arakan is apparently an empty hand system, its closest analogue would be Bando, which AFAIK doesn't run back to 2666 BC. To be fair though it doesn't look a lot like Bando.