Japan is world famous for its native martial arts. Karate, Aikido, Judo, Jujutsu and Ninjitsu are just some of the Japanese martial arts styles that captured the fascination of enthusiasts across the globe. Japan is about a 7 hour flight from Indonesia (about 4,800 kilometers). In fact, in 1945, the Japanese occupied Indonesia for about 3 years. Today there are an estimated 15,000 Indonesian migrant workers in Japan.
Japanese began learning about Pencak Silat many years before the invasion through trading. A few martial arts masters in Japan began learning and incorporating techniques from Silat into their respective arts. However, because of the presence of native Japanese martial arts, Silat never became popular as its own form and essence.
In 1996, Mr. Both Sudargo Sukardi, an attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Japan, held a two-week Pencak Silat showcase at the Tokyo Indonesia School in Meguro City. He invited a group of Pencak Silat masters from several perguruan (Silat schools) including Tapak Suci, Perisai Diri, Merpati Putih, Panglipur. The showcase was very successful and they saw that many Japanese were interested in learning Silat. So, on November 28, 1996, he founded the Japan Pencak Silat Association (JAPSA) with the acknowledgement from the International Pencak Silat Federation or PERSILAT.
Today, there are hundreds of Pencak Silat practitioners in Japan. The majority of them are Indonesians that came to Japan for work and brought their art and specific style with them (PSHT, Pagar Nusa, Bukti Negara, SSBD and others). However an estimated 25% of Silat practitioners in Japan are native Japanese who are are fascinated by the art.
After the two-week showcase, with the exception of the master from Tapak Suci, the Silat masters stayed in Japan to continue teaching Pencak Silat to the Japanese people. The Panglipur master returned after a year, but the others remain in Toyko until today.
The current president of JAPSA is brilliant woman named Kyoko Soda. A native Japanese woman fluent in both English and Indonesian, she has been fascinated by Pencak Silat and Indonesian culture since college. Kyoko studied Silat under the late Pak Rifai Sahib, and represents Panca Sakti school of Pencak Silat in Japan. She is also a Class I judge (wasit/jury), the highest level of judge in international competition (and a mom).
Despite the hardship of promoting a foreign martial art in a country with a deep martial art history, Kyoko has managed to promote Pencak Silat with a surprising amount of success. Japanese people were not interested as much in the sport aspect of martial arts, other than their own combat sport of Karate. However, JASPA has been quite active in competitive Silat from their first competition in 1997 at the World Pencak Silat Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to participating in the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the 5th Asian Championships they got 4th place in Tunggal Putra (men’s solo performance). Team Japan brought home a Gold medal at the 2017 Paku Bumi Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In 2017, the Indonesian team came to Japan to further promote the art of Pencak Silat. The hope was to somehow get Pencak Silat to be featured as an exhibition sport in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. However, since the pandemic, many activities in Japan have been put on a hold, including many of the Silat training. The JAPSA hopes to restart regular activities and promotion in the summer of 2021 and possibly enter the Olympics in 2032.
For more information, go to JAPSA’s website
