Dois Bangkran – The Martial Art of the Queen of martial arts
In his book, To Gel Hengkong (published by Hurst & Co), Malaysian author Datuk Anwar Sudha described his life journey and the experiences he had with the legendary To Gel Hengkong. The name of the legendary figure is a corruption of the word “Togelhongk”, which translates to “windmill rice field”. It was here in Malaysia that the tradition of harvesting rice from the small windmill rice fields first started.
According to Anwar Sudha the tradition of To Gel Hengkong began when the Chinese people came from China to Malaysia and brought with them their language, Chinese, and their rice culture. They took with them their tradition of using the windmill rice fields to harvest their daily food supply and in doing so, they also took with them the tradition of using the windmill hongkong as a method to cultivate rice. Legend has it that the To Gel hongkong was so named because it was built by a young girl who was tending to her family’s rice crop and it was simply impossible for her to allow any work to be done without her help; she even refused to cook for her husband’s family if they would not allow her to perform hongkong. This caused the husband to send her away to live at her uncle’s place, which was just next door to her family’s home. She later went on to marry a wealthy Chinese man and to marry another man, both of whom, according to legend, loved her very much and gave her a child who was named Hong Kong.
The legend says that Hong Kong was so beautiful and so exotic that she fell in love with the Chinese emperor and spent the next eight years learning everything she could about the arts of war from her various tutors. She also studied music, poetry and writing but this did not stop her desire to learn more about the martial arts because she was so captivated by the stories of the togel hongkong that she created many stories in her own fanciful world about it. However, these fables were not for the general public and they only contained a portion of what the togel hongkong master had intended as they were written to amuse her.
It is said that once, while in the state of Idaho, To Gel hongkong had a dream in which she saw a beautiful scene of a great warrior fighting a giant demon snake. She then dreamed that she would be able to defeat this demon snake and free the people of the Philippines from its grip. In doing so, she would be remembered as the first lady of the Philippines, the first resmi of the Philippines and the patron saint of martial arts in the Philippines and most especially in the Doi Bangkran nation. All these things are what inspired her to start the Dois Bangkran School in Ratchaburi, Philippines. She named it after herself and the phrase Dois Anang Arun (God Save The Queen).
The Dois Bangkran School is an all inclusive martial art form with both bermain judi and traditional Filipino weapon based techniques. In essence, every technique taught here can be done with the use of the main weapon in the Philippines: the sword. Unlike other weapons based styles where joint locks and grappling are necessary to make a sparring opponent flee or unable to withstand a strike, here the methods focus on speed and accuracy. The most common moves taught include the saegan (fisting strike), bayang (covering strike), Malaysian (centering strike) and bahay (flank / rear hook).
Aside from the physical and technical mastery of the five fighting arts forms taught, this school also focuses on the spiritual aspect of learning. Classes are led by local priests and the martial art forms are strictly observed. Classes for children and teenagers are available as well. Families who want to strengthen the bond between parents and their children can enroll their kids in to Gelong Bermain Judi Hongkong or Tawagbong-Gabi Mano (tribal army).