Harimaw Buno (Filipino Wrestling)
By Jay de Leon

Originally published in FMADigest, 2005

     By now, most Filipino martial arts (FMA) practitioners are familiar with the term “dumog.” “Dumog” is the Visayan word for wrestling. It is also called “buno” which is the Tagalog word for wrestling. It is rare for a Filipino martial arts system to have a separate subsystem of “dumog” or “buno” in addition to its weapons arts. For some FMA systems, it is another component of their empty hands system, together with punches, kicks or other striking techniques. For most systems, it is simply an integral part of their overall weapons system, used in conjunction with their weapons, or used by itself (that is, empty hands) against an armed or unarmed opponent.
     In some FMA systems, either term is now used loosely to mean any type of throwing, wrestling, locking or control technique, regardless of origin. For some, the origin of the technique might really be judo, jiu-jitsu, aikido or some form of wrestling, and therefore, might be Japanese or even Greek in origin. Technically, it is not “dumog” or “buno”as real “dumog” or “buno”is Filipino in origin.

Gat Puno Abon “Garimot” Baet (left) “play-fights” with double sticks.

     And that is what makes Gat Puno Abon Baet’s system unique. Gat Puno (Chieftain) Abon is the inheritor of his family system from Laguna province, Philippines, called “Garimot” arnis. In addition to his weapons system, he has two other subsystems. One is “Harimaw Buno,” and the other is the healing arts called “Hilot.”
     “Harimaw” means “tiger” in Indonesian. Just like karate and arnis, there are hundreds of styles of “buno” or “dumog” practiced by native Filipinos. “Harimaw Buno” or “King Tiger Wrestling” refers to the kind of wrestling practiced by the indigenous tribes of Luzon, specifically the Mangyan and Aeta tribes of Mindoro province.
     For the indigenous people, “buno” is both a sport as well as a warrior art. “Buno” is claimed as the oldest Filipino form of sport entertainment, as it was often performed during large gatherings and fiestas, much the same way sumo wrestlers, Roman gladiators, Greek wrestlers and Muay Thai boxers entertained royalty and their guests in olden times. As a warrior art, it permeated the tribesman’s daily life, including hunting, rites of passage and warfare. It had the same goals and utilized the same weapons—disarm, subdue and control humans as well as animals, barehanded as well as with bladed weapons, sticks and specialty weapons such as the “lubid” or rope, spear and bow and arrow.

A Northern tribesman on the hunt.

A Southern tribesman practices his barongwarriorcraft.

     Gat Puno Abon has written a book about buno entitled “Harimaw Buno : The Art of Filipino Wrestling.” In the book, he traces how his forbears learned the art from Aeta and Mangyan tribesmen. His grandfather Jose lived among the Aetas for many years, learning their system of ground combat and becoming the top native wrestler of his time. Abon’s father Felipe learned from his own father, and trained in a neighboring province with two Mangyan Buno masters. At the same time, Felipe became an active stick fighter, undefeated in full contact matches in his province as well as the neighboring provinces, earning the title “King of the Seven Mountains.”

     A very interesting section of the book is the description of the conditioning methods employed by the tribesmen, who were a hardy lot to begin with. The drills are extremely demanding and strenuous. Just the names will make you pass out from fatigue—water training, mud training, canoe training, “tamaraw” (pygmy carabao or water buffalo) wrestling, log rolling, bamboo training, and tree climbing. You will need to buy the book to find out what these unique conditioning drills are. And you thought your wrestling coach was tough on you.

A Philippine tamaraw, up close and personal. How would you like to wrestle a few rounds with this guy?

     What then constitutes “buno?’ From the description of types of competition and techniques allowed or utilized, it appears “buno” is judo, jiu-jitsu, Graeco-Roman wrestling and shoot-fighting rolled into one. Its techniques include hand and elbow strikes, knee and low kicks, throws, sweeps, limb locks, joint locks, choke holds, head cranks, pressure-point tactics and come-along techniques.

Gat Puno Abon Baet (left), with a come-along technique and a strike at the ready…

     Will reading this book, and trying to learn and apply the techniques shown, make you a “buno” expert? Hardly, even if you get past that part about wrestling a pygmy water buffalo. Just wrestling or ground-fighting with an instructor barking at you is hard enough as it is, much less learning groundwork from a book.
     But I strongly recommend this book to all FMA instructors, and serious, advanced students of FMA for a different reason. Read it so you can have guidelines for the smell test for “dumog” or “buno.” Before you go around advertising you are an expert on “dumog” or “buno,” or that your FMA includes the deadly techniques of “dumog” or “buno,” at least have an idea what real “dumog” or “buno” looks like.

Gat Puno Abon Baet (left), with a come-along technique and a strike at the ready…

     I agree with the saying that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. I agree that a well-executed major outer reaping should bring an opponent down, whether you call it “osotogari” in Japanese in judo, or “talapid labas”in Tagalog in Harimaw Buno. Sure, if it works, use it. But it would be disingenuous to teach the Japanese throws you learned in judo or jiu-jitsu with your FMA techniques and proclaim it “dumog.”
     So at least learn on paper what constitutes “dumog” or “buno.”  Better still, learn “Harimaw Buno” from Gat Puno Abon or from another “buno” or “dumog” expert. Just pray that neither “tamaraw” nor river nor bamboo are to be found in your area.

You may purchase Gat Puno Abon’s book at his website at www.garimot.com.