Antonio Ilustrisimo
Kalis Ilustrisimo

I do not specialize nor favor any combat range.
Everything depends on my opponent and
the development and evolution of the fight.
-A. ILUSTRISIMO

Introduction

Antonio Ilustrisimo was born on Kinatarcan Island, Santa Fe (now known as Bagong Batayan), in 1904. He began learning the art of eskrima at the age of seven under his father, Isidro Ilustrisimo and his uncle, Melecio Ilustrisimo. Among Ilustrisimo's earliest recollections is his "calling" to go to America. By the age of nine years, he was determined to do just that. Along the way, Ilustrisimo encountered martial arts masters from around the world and fought in more so-called "death-matches" than perhaps any other Filipino martial arts master. Ilustrisimo is among the most respected and feared kali masters that the art has ever known-as indicated by his nickname, "Tatang," a Tagalog term of respect. After meeting and engaging Tatang Ilustrisimo in laro-laro (give and take) stick and staff sparring practices in Manila, I stand in awe of his ability as he effortlessly out performed me. This is even more impressive considering that he was eighty-nine years old at the time. The following account is a brief glimpse into the life of this revered warrior.

In Search of a Dream

"When I was nine years [old] I can see the ships passing by," recalls Tatang. "I thought to myself that in a couple of days I am going to America." The next day Ilustrisimo asked his father if he could go aboard one of the ships and look around. His father agreed but with the stipulation that he come home early as he had to wake up at four o'clock the next morning to work on the farm. "When I arrived at the bay," continues Ilustrisimo, "I am looking for the sakayan (docking area) for banka (small fishing boats) which will load only one or two people. Then I get a young coconut, cut it into about five pieces and put it in the boat." Ilustrisimo stole the boat and began sailing into the open sea. As he rowed, Kinatarcan slowly disappeared into the horizon. He believed that he was on his way to America. After some time he came across a group of fisherman who were surprised to see such a small boy in a boat by himself. They asked what he was doing. "Going to America!" claimed Ilustrisimo. Upon hearing this the fisherman broke into laughter. The captain, sensing the boy's sincerity, determination and naiveté, told him that, although he had quite a way to go, if he kept in his current direction America would soon appear. The captain then gave him some fish to take with him on his journey.

A few days passed and Ilustrisimo came upon an island. Although it was Cebu and not America, Ilustrisimo knew that since the ships docked there were large they must be bound for America. He then stowed away on the Pompei , and after the ship had long departed he came out of hiding. Since Ilustrisimo was by himself he was immediately confronted by the crew who asked what his intentions were. He replied, "I am going to America, like you." The crew laughed at him and went their own way leaving a confused Ilustrisimo to his own resources.

"I arrived in Zamboanga City, Mindanao," states Ilustrisimo. "I thought it was America. I go down and look around and thought Americans don't talk English but are Moros. So, I said, 'Hey, Mr. Muslim, where are you going?' He said he was going back to Jolo (Sulu Archipelago). I took a ride with him. When I arrived in Jolo one of a hadji named Muhammed invited me to stay in his house for a while." Life in Jolo presented a new beginning for Ilustrisimo. He was introduced to and became the favorite adopted son of the ruler of Jolo, and was converted from Catholicism to Islam and re-named Mon Tisali. For the next six years Ilustrisimo lived with the Sultan and his two sons, went to school dressed like a prince complete with a gold-handled barong, and learned their language. While in Jolo he also trained daily in the art of the kalis sword under the guidance of Pedro Cortez, a Mestizo. Here he was taught techniques such as cadena real, combate general, media fraile, and others.

The Unbeatable Master

"When I was fifteen I went to the store because one of my friend he knew where to buy beer," recalls Ilustrisimo. "When I arrived in the store I asked "how much and the woman said twenty-five cents each. I asked for five-three for me and two for my friend. Then one man said 'When you buy beer do not talk so much.' I replied, 'How can I buy if I do not talk.' Then he took his barong and strikes [at] me but I beat him [to the strike]. His head is cut off by me and the body run away. It did not go down right away and the blood was still running everywhere. His eyes where intense and staring at me from his head on the ground, so I thought maybe he has anting-anting"

As a result of this encounter, the police arrested Ilustrisimo and sent him to jail. He was soon released since the killing was in self-defense, but was consequently deported from the island. While on board the departing ship, Ilustrisimo asked the radio operator to dial his father and tell him to meet his son in Cebu. "I saw my father looking for me but he didn't recognize me, so I let him pass by a few times. Then I asked him why he is passing back and forth and he said that he was looking for his son. I said, 'Father it is me! You don't recognize me but I am your son.' We went down to the house to meet my mother. She didn't recognize me either. Then we hugged. I said okay I have only half of the money to return that I took from you when I left. They didn't care because they thought I had died. I told them I am going to America but will return again."

Ilustrisimo then caught a ship to Manila where he met and became close friends with his cousin, Floro Villabrille, as well as Jose Mena, Felicisimo Dizon, and Angel Cabales. "We would all practice together and go back to the north harbor to practice. Then we went to Lara, where there is a mine where many people work, because there is a big man there who had killed six men already. My cousin, Floro, was there gambling with him and winning. We tried to stop him from playing and when he did the killer got angry and took his knife out. I am the one who stopped them from fighting." Later that evening, Ilustrisimo and his fellow eskrimadors went to a dance with their girlfriends. "At around nine o'clock that man approached me and said that he wanted my life. He pulled out the dagger and thrust it at me three times which I parried all of them. Then I disarm and I stabbed him." Early the next morning the police caught Ilustrisimo going to Bambulao where his uncle lived. He had to return to Manila, where he applied for overseas work in America, while awaiting another hearing.

One of my friends was there when I kill the man," continues Ilustrisimo. "He wants to kill a man who cheated him but he is a boxer and doesn't know knife fighting. He asked me everyday on what is a good idea that he can kill a man. He punched the man many times but it didn't work. I said I would do it for him. My compadres said that [the man over there] was the one who is responsible. [In the interest of fairness] I said to give him a knife when he arrive at the gate, but my weapon is in my arm sleeve. When I arrived at the gate he [immediately] struck at me with his knife, which was then gone. I disarmed him. Then I cut him in the neck three times with my knife. Then my compadres take the knife away and drink the blood of the guy [to get his spirit and courage] and told me to get away. I left and about fifty feet down the road I met the police. I confessed and we went back to the scene of the crime where my compadres were still drinking the man's blood. People protected me because the dead man was a trouble-maker and they are every happy that he is dead. I had seventeen arrests [during] that time."

In earnestly offering and accepting every challenge that came his way, Ilustrisimo traveled to Negros Occidental (Visayan Islands) to fight an eskrimador from Bacolod. "I fought in Sagay, Negros Occidental at one of their fiestas," states Tatang. "I defeated Pedro Sandoval. On another occasion in Negros, I fought and defeated Rufino Reyes of Manapla. I also defeated the natives who came to challenge me. I was also once attacked by three men who's leader was notorious for having killed a police officer. This man had two cohorts who attempted to distract me by throwing stones at me while he rushed toward me with a drawn bolo. I had a very sharp barong with me and as he attacked I countered his strike by cutting off his thumb. The three men then all ran off."

In 1950, Ilustrisimo's application was accepted to work as a merchant marine aboard a ship that was bound for America. He traveled to many ports around the world including New York, Paris, Brazil, India, and Indonesia. He would contract for one or two years and then return to the Philippines for an equal length of time.

While in Calcutta, Grandmaster Ilustrisimo received an invitation to go to Singapore to fight in a special bout against a pencak-silat master from Djakarta, Indonesia. Upon hearing that this man was a seasoned master who enjoyed to fight, Ilustrisimo ran and trained diligently every day. Upon his arrival in Singapore Ilustrisimo saw a sign for the bout that read: "Antonio Ilustrisimo has come from the Philippines and is the man who cannot be killed." Five-thousand spectators filled the Happy World Stadium to see the much anticipated match which pitted eskrima against silat. Upon entering the ring, the pencak-silat master immediately attacked Ilustrisimo with his sword. Moving slightly off of the attacking angle, Ilustrisimo severely cut the man's arm, thus ending the bout. The Indonesian was unable to continue and admitted defeat. He was later to approach Ilustrisimo with an offer of $1,500 dollars a month and all of the women he wanted in return for being accepted as a private pupil. Since Ilustrisimo had finally secured a full-time job aboard a merchant vessel, he declined the offer.

It wasn't until World War II, however, that Tatang was able to use his finely honed skills in the defense of his own country. "I was a guerrilla fighter with Marcus Villa Agustín in Sierra Madre, Luzon," Ilustrisimo proudly acknowledges. "I was the berdugo (executioner) of Japanese spies. We would fight the Japanese with their own rifles which we got from ambushing their convoys. We would even wear their uniforms to sneak into their garrisons. We used [either] our bolos or knives in close quarters hand-to-hand fights with the Japanese soldiers. We trained well in the sak-sakan (knife fighting techniques) in the mountains and easily defeated and killed [often beheading] the Japanese spies."

Fighting Tactics and Strategy

Kalis Ilustrisimo is comprised of stick, knife, and sword techniques from Cebu and Sulu. It features training in the use of single and double sticks, single and double swords, sword and dagger, staff, handkerchief and empty-hands. As a system it is composed of different "styles" of techniques such as estrella bartical (vertical block and parry), florete (circular thrust), boca de lobo (overhead parry and strike), Batangueño serrada (Batangas technique), de cadena (chained strikes), media fraile (central vertical parry) and warwok (return to sender). Among Ilustrisimo's favorite techniques are pluma (named after the motion made by a brush-pen) and cruzada (cross-shaped movements). It must be noted, however, that the techniques are not the secret to kalis Ilustrisimo. It is the fighting concepts of enganyo (feinting maneuvers), prakcion (a corruption of the word fraction-of a beat), cadena real (linking of principal techniques), reloj de arena (hourglass shape), and dakip-diwa (spontaneous action without consciousness) which distinguish the application of this art from others.

Of the techniques found within the system, attacking methods are considered to be the most important. Given Grandmaster Ilustrisimo's background one can certainly appreciate why. According to Ray Galang, one of the art's senior instructors, "We either take the offensive or enganyo (bait) our opponents into committing the first move. We then launch our strikes. Prakcion are strikes to attacks without any prerequisite blocking techniques. These are the most direct, practical and efficient defensive or retaliation that one can execute. Your counter is a half-beat (i.e., a fraction) faster than your opponent's attack and therefore does not need a block to stop an attack. Rather, you make use of the created opening in the opponent's position to your advantage. The opponent's attack supplies the opportunity or opening. You simply observe the attack of the opponent and counter directly." Based on his application of these principles in patayan "death matches," Ilustrisimo has no preference as to where he strikes an opponent's body. Opening's can present themselves in any form, such as an extended hand, or an opponent's head.

The practitioners of kalis Ilustrisimo diligently train all known variations of their movements until such a time as they are executed automatically in free sparring sessions. Any change in an opponent's attack or defense will then automatically be identified by the exponent of this art who, in the moment, evaluates, modifies, and reacts automatically to the new "threat" with proven and tested tactics. The possible changes of angles and positions an opponent could take have been classified in kalis Ilustrisimo as the reloj de arena pattern. The horizontal and vertical lines found in the hour-glass shape represent all possible changes in angles of an oncoming attack. In addition, any shift will cause enough displacement in the opponent's position, allowing the kalis Ilustrisimo practitioner to evade the attack or parry. With each subtle change, a new opportunity is presented to the practitioner.

In addition to the various fighting techniques, training methods and conceptual fighting strategies, Ilustrisimo also believes in the power of orasyon and anting-anting. While many of his students do not believe in nor possess such "divine intervention" (as many contemporary practitioners of the Filipino martial arts do not), Ilustrisimo holds fast to them, acknowledging their use during a number of his life-threatening challenge matches.

"I am Catholic now but I was also brought up Muslim," states Ilustrisimo. "I believe in orasyon and pray everyday at three o'clock and six o'clock, without fail. I also have anting-anting. You can not abuse this power or God will punish you. When I fight, I repeat the orasyon over and over in my mind during the fight and the enemy takes a loss. Sometimes I have dreams of fighting and [how] I will be protected." Interestingly, Grandmaster Ilustrisimo has an orasyon tattooed across his chest (see chap. 5). He claims that as a result of this people are more apt to be nice to him and not know why. He believes it to be the power of God.

Again, the possession of an orasyon or anting-anting must be inherited to be "effective." Prior to competing in a number of national arnis tournaments, Ilustrisimo gave to Miguel Zubiri (a student of Edgar Sulite and Christopher Ricketts) an anting-anting. He was to chew on a bit of wood during the competition matches which had been prayed over by Ilustrisimo. Zubiri won all three of his matches.

As a final word, Grandmaster Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo has this to say: "I consider fighting skills to be most important in my system. It is only during mortal combat that I reinforce my spirit and courage with my orasyon and my faith in God." Now at the age of ninety-three, Grandmaster Ilustrisimo is still found practicing and teaching his art on Sunday mornings at "the Luneta" (Rizal Park), across from the Manila Hotel. The future of kalis Ilustrisimo rests in the capable hands of his protégé and legal heir, Antonio Diego, and the art's senior teachers, Yuli Romo, Christopher Ricketts, Romeo Macapagal, Rey Galang, Pedro Reyes, Raymond Floro, and others.