Beginning in the 1890’s, the West’s interest in Asian culture began to grow and along with it the awareness of the martial arts’ and their popularity began increasing as well. Over the ensuing decades, Americans gradually became more and more aware of Asian cultures, including their legacies of unarmed and weapons combat.
By the mid-1960’s Karate, Judo, Kung Fu and other Asian martial arts had gained a strong foothold in the imaginations of Americans. And with a helping hand from Hollywood, a wave of popularity arose and by the ‘70’s martial arts schools were becoming more commonplace… and Masters of many disciplines found their way to America to share their knowledge.
One such master was Professor Remy Amador Presas from the Philippines. His Modern Arnis system taught a simplified stick-fighting method that fit in easily with the then existing Kung Fu/Judo/Karate systems, and was delivered in a captivating rapid-fire seminar format that exposed countless new students to the Filipino Martial Arts in short order.