HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONAL MUAY THAI

Part One
Historical analysis of the development of Muay Thai

According to the tradition of the ancient Kingdom of Siam , the origins of Muay Thai have been lost in the darkness of time and in some ways the Siamese Martial Art is considered as old as Thailand itself.

In fact the most recent studies conducted by experts from the Office of National Culture Commission of the Ministry of Thai Education provide evidence that the oldest documents referring to an original form of empty hand combat in the country date back to the Sukhothai period, around the middle of the XIV century and that from 1300 they have been able to reconstruct the development of this form of combat, modified over the centuries, that has come to us as present day Muay Thai.

We have been able to identify four great historical periods during which the methods and the combat techniques went through important changes and these periods are:

the era of ancient Sukhothai capital, the Ayuddhaya era, the Thonburi era and the Bangkok era (which is in turn subdivided into the ancient and modern). One can say that Muay Thai as we know it today (that is to say in the typical form of "one to one" confrontation, according to more or less coded rules), began to be developed during the first Bangkok era (that is to say between 1782 and 1808); before that time the art was mainly focused on the martial aspect of the discipline, with clear differences with regard to techniques and training methods, and with respect to its focus on sport.

Equally, the Bangkok period can be subdivided into 5 intermediate periods and each one of them presents well-defined and documented characteristics of the development of the technique.

1) Suan Gulab period: at that time “sport” fights were still done exclusively with the use of rope bandages (this class of combat was called Muay Kard Chiek or fights with the hands wrapped with rope), without any additional protection and during that period the codes of some basic technical principles for self defense were established for example "the three schemes for active defense" of Muay Boran.

2) Ta Chang period: during this period they began to use boxing gloves (made of coconut fiber) as

instruments of protection in training and, in some strange cases, for combat.

3) Suan Sanuk period: was a period when many sport champions began to be successful all over the country. The country began to be interested in the "sport" form of the art and as a result combat teachers had to change the focus of their work to a combat form that was regulated by precise

rules, which were created to protect the physical integrity of the athletes.

4 and 5) The Luk Muang period and the Suan Chaochet period: at the end of this period Muay Thai became the definitive national sport and they began to create categories of experts

in arbitration and commissions whose job it was to formulate precise regulations, and they continued to keep up to date so that they were more and more efficient.

It is interesting to notice the parallel between the development of the Thai fighting discipline and that of Western Boxing that during the same period went from being a “martial art” which allowed

fight to the death with very permissive rules and regulations, to a form of sport for everyone (or nearly everyone). This new form of sport was rule governed, with the use of "mufflers" or Boxing gloves and was controlled in all its aspects, above all in what concerns the physical integrity of the fighters.

The study and the historical research on the origins of and the continuous development of the old Martial Art of Siam, had stopped for many years in Thailand and the Association of Thai Martial Arts was created under the tutelage of the highest cultural authorities in Thailand to spread the correct practice of Muay Thai at world level, and above all to stimulate the same creators of this discipline who seemed to have forgotten the martial aspect of Muay Thai over the last few decades, to devote themselves exclusively to the sport part. For those practitioners of the martial culture and of its applications in the field of modern self defence – (who almost don't exist in Thailand but who are numerous in the West, where the operational headquarters of the Association are located)- these investigations contribute the missing elements needed to complete the framework of a complete discipline that continues to be developed, since it is not necessary to lose the patrimony of "warrior" knowledge and skills simply because they are not very useful at an economic level for the business of the sport.

Part Two
The re-birth of Muay Boran

Ten years ago we began to write and teach seminars in Europe about Muay Thai Boran as the Mother Martial Art of modern ring sport known as Thai Boxing; at that time the term Muay Boran itself wasn't even in use in Thailand anymore, as generally traditional Muay Thai was referred to with various terms such as Muay Kard Chiek, Mae Mai Muay Thai, Sillapa Muay Thai and son on.

The reactions of fans and practitioners of Siamese ring fighting, once they started to be exposed to Muay Boran, have gone from stupor to skepticism, as always happens when we are exposed to something new, which on one side attracts us, but on the other raises questions in our minds.

This change from passive resistance to an expansive tendency already unstoppable, has created a fissure inside the micro-universe of ring sports and in the Martial Arts, in general: there are those who chose to understand what was happening in the world of Muay Thai, in Spain, Italy, Germany, England and on the European continent in general, and in various parts of the USA; those people decided to go into a territory—unexplored until now—with heart, body and mind.

Each local reality has reacted in a different way to this revolution and surprisingly, the countries where interest grew immediately and a lot (Italy and Spain apart, the institutional headquarters of the Muay Boran Academy since its creation) have been precisely the countries where until today Thai Boxing was seen exclusively as a competitive form of boxing (France, England, and Holland).

With a powerful rebound effect, the Thai authorities in this matter—that is to say, the Office of Culture Commission of the Ministry of Education—have understood what was happening in Europe , and recently have given a boost to a trend that will bring in the coming years a total re-evaluation of the Siamese martial traditions. For that reason, an exceptional synergy unites Oriental and Western martial artists perhaps like never before.

But if it's true that Muay Thai Boran fascinates and attracts more and more fans, it is also true that very few people know how and who has reconstructed its techniques and strategies many of whom were almost in disuse in Thailand, where for many years the sports business governed the practice of Muay Thai at all levels. As we have already said in our previous articles of technical-historical nature, what is actually commonly called Muay Thai Boran is really a sensible mix of the characteristic elements of distinct technical sources, such as the special Regional Styles (for example, Muay Chaiya or Muay Korat or Muay Lopburi ) and the combative principles that follow a common logic (for example, the techniques of White Monkey King or Hanuman or the grappling methods of Traditional Muay Pram), updated and indeed logically connected by a modern training system, thanks to a wise and continually modified methodology. In this sense, it is right to say that modern Muay Boran is at once an old and a new discipline: old in its strategies and

traditional techniques that come from very distant epochs, and modern because the codification of the technical knowledge so varied and disperse, has been done only a few years ago by experts (of Muay Thai) and academics (of the Siamese martial tradition) totally involved in the current reality and planning toward great future development.

So, who has done the "in laboratory" reconstruction of this knowledge, so useful for the modern practitioner?

The work of codification really followed two phases: the first was done in Thailand in the Office of the Culture Commission, and the second in Europe, starting in England and Italy .

The first phase, in Thailand: the commission, created ad hoc with the precise task of bringing togethertechniques, principles, strategies and stylistic focuses from all the variations, forerunners of modernThai Boxing, was put together by Doctor Somphon Saengchai, the Grand Master Yodtong Siwalala, Patchorn Muensorn, Natchaphon Banlenphadith, Jarusdej Ulit and Paosawat Saengswawn (the man who codified Muay Boran basic forms Mae Mai and complimentary forms Look Mai Muay Thai) , who was the leader of the group of experts.

Each one of them was (and still is) an expert in a particular sector of the discipline, and their common work, and for a long time, resulted in the first codification that made the “mare magnum” of the Siamese martial traditions relatively intelligible by the hypothetical modern practitioner ( Master or student), already unaccustomed to all those techniques made useless by the prohibitions of the sports regulations and to a nomenclature already unused by the Thais themselves.

Second phase, in Europe : more or less simultaneously, the same Culture Commission, thanks to the

work and untiring effort of a well known thai senator, General Tienchai Sirisompan, created a sports federation called IAMTF (the International Amateur Muay Thai Federation), whose international coordinator was the Grand Master Chinawooth Sirisompan, a Thai who has lived for a long time in Manchester and, because of that, the perfect "bridge" between the two worlds. To be exact, Grand Master Chinawooth Sirisompan had the task, among others, of spreading the fruit of the Commission's work in the West in order to make the wealth of the Siamese martial traditions understood in the best possible way by non-Thai practitioners. For that, Master Sirisompan had to structure the technical learning in a coherent way and, after many attempts, he patented the first version of a technical curriculum, articulated and sub-divided in levels called Khan, which would later be converted into the base for the official programs used today in many European countries and in all the clubs associated with the International Muay Boran Academy (IMBA).

Because of the intense and constant collaboration of Grand Master Sirisompan with yours truly (who, until the meeting with Master Sirisompan, was a pure product of the most extremely competitive Muay Thai), which began 12 years ago and recently brought with the naming of the Grand Master as Honorary President of the IMBA, we have now come to have a traditionally Siamese Martial Art perfectly adapted to the real demands of the Western practitioner(self defense, fitness, self-confidence, cultural study and eventually the practice of combat sport). When East and West meet, mutually respectful and taking the best of the other universe, as in this case, the synergy generated can't but create an evolved and useful product, rich in secular traditions that characterize its unique nature.

by Marco De Cesaris

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