The same well-known names eventually come up in most discussions about martial arts. Thai Muay. Karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. These disciplines are prevalent in gyms and competitive circuits for a reason: they are efficient, well-organized, and methodically taught and maintained. However, there are fighting systems that are so rare that the majority of martial artists have never come across them, and in certain situations, very few people on the planet still use them at all.
According to most accounts, Angampora, an ancient Sri Lankan combat system that almost completely vanished during British colonial rule, is the rarest fighting style in the world. Close-quarters striking, grappling, pressure point techniques, and a meditation component—which practitioners describe as crucial to the art rather than optional—are all incorporated into the practice.
According to reports, Angampora was actively suppressed during British rule in Sri Lanka, and those found engaging in it were punished severely enough to deter future generations from practicing it. The art was preserved in fragments for about a century, passed down among a few families who kept it under wraps. More amazing than it may seem at first is the fact that it still exists at all.
Martial arts historians refer to a style in Okinawa that is sometimes called Kojo-ryu as “phantom style.” Researchers who have documented it characterize it as belonging to its own category because the opening stances and movement structures are sufficiently different from those of other Okinawan karate traditions. It is practiced by a very small number of people today; in fact, it is more common in scholarly discussions of martial heritage than in any active competition circuit. These nearly extinct arts have a unique quality in that they only survive long enough to serve as a reminder of how much has already been lost.
This tale is told differently in Haiti. African combat customs and aspects of European fencing, particularly the use of a machete instead of a sword, were combined to create the Tire Machete fighting system during the Haitian Revolution in the late eighteenth century. People who needed it to survive created this useful art under harsh conditions. In the centuries that have passed, the secrecy that safeguarded it at the time has also made it challenging to record or disseminate widely. Although verified practitioners are very hard to locate, it’s possible that variations of it are still used in remote communities.
Kinamotay, which belongs to the larger tradition of Eskrima but represents a particular and violent subset of it, was created in the Philippines. Kinamotay concentrates on what could be called close-range finishing techniques, such as biting, eye targeting, and strategies intended for circumstances where traditional striking is no longer feasible, whereas mainstream Eskrima is recognized for its stick and knife work. Its scarcity is partly due to the fact that it is taught as a specialized layer within Eskrima rather than as a stand-alone discipline. That level of instruction is never attained by most practitioners.
Long before Western martial arts reached the islands, Hawaii had its own combat tradition. Hawaiian warriors practiced Kapu Kuialua, which was centered on joint manipulation and bone-breaking techniques applied with a thorough understanding of anatomy that took years to properly develop. It suffered during the widespread disruption of Hawaiian cultural practices in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, just like many other indigenous martial traditions. Despite significant efforts to document and revitalize it, there are still few individuals with in-depth knowledge of the system based on ancestry.
Looking at this list makes it difficult to avoid feeling something, not nostalgia per se, but a subtle awareness that fighting systems have a history. Angampora endured colonial persecution. The revolution gave rise to the tire machine. These arts weren’t created in academies or gyms. They emerged in situations where the stakes were significantly higher. Although this context doesn’t make them more effective than contemporary combat sports, it does make them worthwhile to learn about before the last few survivors pass away.
