Kuntao

Kuntao or kuntau (拳道, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kûn-thâu, Tagalog: kuntaw) is a Hokkien term for the martial arts of the Chinese community of Southeast Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago. It is most commonly practiced in and associated with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

In some communities such as Bali, no distinction is made between kuntao and silat. Both have influenced each other to the point where any differentiation between the two can sometimes be blurred. The Malaysian art of Buah Pukul is classified as silat despite its Yunnan origin, while Javanese Kuntao Harimau retains its kuntao status despite being influenced by the folk religion and indigenous culture of Java. Some traditional styles include both words in their name, such as Kedah's 500-year-old Silat Kuntau Tekpi which is categorized as silat.

Etymology

There are no standard hanzi assigned to the word kuntao but the most common reading is "way of the fist", from kun 拳 meaning fist and tao 道 meaning way. This term was originally used for Chinese martial arts in general, and was synonymous with quanfa (拳法, POJ: kûn-hoat). In English, and even in its modern Chinese usage, kuntao usually refers specifically to styles brought to Southeast Asia and often does not include other Chinese fighting systems.