Resurrecting Bokator Khmer, The Nearly Lost Martial Art of Cambodia.

The Ancient Khmer martial art of Bokator is something which belongs only to Cambodia. The proof is written in stone, on the walls of Angkor Wat. A thousand years of war with Thailand and Vietnam, followed by the Khmer Rouge Genocide nearly wiped this art off of the face of the Earth.

Film maker and Khmer genocide survivor, Tim Pek and martial arts author, Antonio Graceffo have teamed up to create the DVD Bokator Khmer. Shot on location in and around Phnom Penh, the DVD introduces the world to this fascinating martial art, which is a complete fighting system of more than 1,000 separate movements.

Bokator includes striking, grappling, ground fighting, and weapons. The DVD also features Master San Kim Sean, who fled the Khmer Rouge, and arrived in the USA as a refugee. After returning to Cambodia, more than twenty years later, Master San Kim Sean opened the first modern school of Bokator. The Master works tirelessly, trying to teach as many students as possible, in the hopes that the art will live on. If we had more time they could specialize. Said the Master. But I want every one of my black belts to know every single movement, form, and weapon, so when I die, no portion of the art will be lost. See the DVD.

See the beauty of a lethal Cambodian martial art. Learn about the plight of the Khmer people. And, become one more link in the long chain of history, a history which will include Bokator Khmer.

Bokator Cambodia

Bokator/Boxkator, or more formally, Labokator (to fight (like a) lion) is a Khmer martial art that may be a predecessor of southeast Asian kickboxing styles. History indicates that Bokator or an early form thereof was the close quarter combat system used by the ancient armies of Angkor.

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Angkorian warriors were a key factor in enabling a succession of Angkorian kings to dominate southeast Asia for more than 600 years beginning in 800 AD. Popular belief is that Jayavarman VII, the ruler of the Khmer Empire, was a practitioner of Bokator.

Unlike kick boxing, which is a sport fighting art, Bokator was a soldier’s art, designed to be used on the battlefield. It uses a diverse array of elbow and knee strikes, shin kicks, submissions and ground fighting. Bokator practitioners are trained to strike with knees, hands, elbows, feet, shins, and head. Even the shoulders, hip, jaw, and fingers can be used to fight an opponent to submission or death.

When fighting, Bokator practitioners still wear the uniforms of ancient Khmer armies. A kroma (scarf) is folded around their waist and blue and red silk cords called sangvar day, are tied around the combatants head and biceps. In the past it is said that the cords were enchanted to increase strength, although now they are just ceremonial.

The kroma (a cotton scarf worn around the waist) shows the fighter’s level of expertise. The first grade is white, followed by green, blue, red, brown, and finally black, which has 10 degrees. After completing their initial training, fighters wear a black kroma (scarf) for at least another ten years. To attain the gold kroma one must be a true master and must have done something great for Bokator. Becoming a "true master" is most certainly a time-consuming and possibly life-long endeavor: in the unarmed portion of the art alone there are between 8,000 and 10,000 different techniques, only 1,000 of which must be learned to attain the black kroma.