Thousand Sticks is a twin-stick fighting form, using the 28” rattan sticks common to Arnis.  This is actually the fourth of five stick fighting forms in the Iron Crane Dojo.  Our tutelage in the stick fighting arts commences with mastery of the basic strikes, and blocks.  Phase II is mastery of the advanced strikes, and disarms.  Phase III requires mastery of complex movement and development of flow.  In Phase IV the student extends concepts of flow and adapts complexity of movement to using two sticks simultaneously.  Phase V is combat.  Each of the Phases culminates with a Kata (they are more usually referred to as “Anyo”, acknowledging the Filipino influence).  So...learning “Thousand Sticks” means you’ve completed Phase IV of your training, and have the requisite skills, and control to commence combat training.

The form integrates concepts from many styles of Arnis, but also gives due homage to the Asian sword arts of Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and Indonesia.  An interesting facet of this form is that when performed, attackers can appear on the floor during key moments, creating the illusion an actual fight is taking place.  The name “Thousand Sticks” signifies a person who has mastered the form is like an opponent with a thousand sticks, all being used against you.

We apologize for the poor quality of the videos below.  These have been extracted from dated archives which were degraded and of poor quality.  Currently, they are the best available.  We share them in that spirit, believing it better to show what we have than to use nothing.
Thousand Sticks
Thousand Sticks (Alternate View)
Thousand Sticks (Spelled Out)