Bokator appears in the first Khmer dictionary developed in 1938 by the Buddhist scholar Chuon Nath. This is most certainly a time-consuming and possibly lifelong endeavor: in the unarmed portion of the art alone there are between 800 different techniques, only 1000 of which must be learned to attain the black krama.īokator is considered to be the oldest martial art currently being practiced in the Kingdom of Cambodia, dating back to the 1st century. To attain the gold krama one must be a true master and must have done something great for bokator. After completing their initial training, fighters wear a black krama for at least another ten years. The first grade is white, followed by green, blue, red, brown, and finally black, which has 10 degrees. The krama shows the fighter's level of expertise. In addition to animal styles, bokator has techniques based on Hindu deities such as hanuman and apsara.įor his school of bokator, San Kim Sean developed a krama based system similar to a belt system to organize and represent the training levels.
Unlike its neighbors, Cambodia has a history of being a Hindu nation. For example, there are styles of elephant, duck, crab, horse, bird and crocodile with each containing several techniques. The art contains 341 sets which, like many other Asian martial arts, are based on the study of life in nature. In the past the cords were believed to be enchanted to increase strength, although now they are just ceremonial. A krama (scarf) is folded around their waist and blue and red silk cords called, sangvar day are tied around the combatants head and biceps. When fighting, bokator exponents still wear the uniforms of ancient Khmer armies. Some of the weapons used in bokator include the bamboo staff, short sticks, sword and lotus stick(20 cm long wooden Bokator uses a diverse array of elbow and knee strikes, shin kicks, submissions and ground fighting. The Hindu god Hanuman was a great fighter like the Roman god Hercules.īokator is characterized by hand to hand combat along with heavy use of weapons. The Hindu god Hanuman was idolized by the Hindu Khmer Empire and served as inspiration for many Khmer martial arts techniques. Style overview This is a bronze statue of Hanuman kicking by the Khmer Empire. A common misconception is that bokator refers to all Khmer/ Cambodian martial arts, while in reality it only represents one particular style. Oral tradition indicates that bokator (or an early form thereof) was the close quarter combat system used by the ancient Cambodian armies before the founding of Angkor. It is one of the oldest fighting systems existing in the world. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script.īokator ( Khmer: ល្បុក្កតោ) is an ancient Cambodian battlefield martial art used by the ancient Khmer military.
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