Cimande has five aspects: sports, arts / culture, martial arts, spirituality and medicine. In pencak, Cimande is mainly an arm hand system but also can use leg and foot tactics with considerable force and effect; however, kicks are restricted to low target areas and are most often straight frontal attacks.
Cimande is the name of a village, a river and a style of Pencak Silat in West Java. Cimande has simple jurus and applications. Cimande training begins with the practice of Jurus Duduk or seated Jurus training with a partner. Once the practitioner develops forearm strength from seated Jurus training they are combined with footwork.
The Cimande fighter positions himself with elbows held in close to his body, open hand or closed fists, and makes circular actions with his hands as he advances. His posture is usually a deep crouch made from widely spaced feet, knees bent, body held upright.
Cimande form requires a proximity to the enemy generally not seen in other silat forms. The blow from the Cimande fighter’s arm is devastating. He has developed enough power in it to smash coconuts, concentrating the force of the blow not into the little finger edge of the hand but into the wrist.
Cimande gives great emphasis to weapons study. The staff, the forked iron truncheon, the short knife, the long-bladed knife, and the heavy cleaver knife are all studied seriously. Cimande has a reputation throughout Indonesia for healing bones. They use a special oil called "balur" for the purpose of healing the bones. Balur is often used after training to heal injuries incurred to the bones of the forearms.
Pak Kahir died in 1825. His fighting art continued to be appreciated by the people of West Java. Cimande is practiced around the world in one form or another. As Pak Kahir did not leave any written record of techniques, there are many diverse groups of Cimande relying heavily on oral tradition to establish history and method.
Silat Cimande
