Faicseanaíocht

Several years ago I ran into an article in a reprint of an Irish language newspaper that gave an account of a faction fight. The term used in the article to describe the fighting was "Faicseanaíocht" which is equivalent of saying the way of the faction. Since then I have been referring to the reclaimed style of Irish Martial Art that I practice by this name. Seeing that the main focus for technique and theory has been firmly locked in the era of the faction fights, I think this is a fitting use of the word.

I divide Faicseanaíocht into three components:

Bataireacht

- The use of the stick or bata also known as a shillelagh. While there were numerous types of sticks used by the Irish, we have chosen to focus on the walking stick as our primary weapon for several reasons

1. The majority of historical information that I have found deals with this particular size of stick.
2. It is the most convenient and most likely style of stick that a person will find themselves carrying.
3. It is the easiest type of stick to obtain with good quality.

There are a number of other stick styles and combat theories that are being explored. Once they have been experimented with more they will be added to the curriculum. A style of Troid Dó Bata (lit. Fight with two sticks) from the Irish dance known as Droghedy's March using the kippin (short stick) is currently being worked with.

The shillelagh or bata is used in two main ways in this system. The most common method is the one handed grip while the less common way is a two handed grip. The stick can also be grasped at one end and used much in the same manner as the singlestick minus the basket. Most of the folks that train with us here undergo a bit of single stick training as well, with a focus on the Scottish styles of swordsmanship in mind.

Dornálaíocht

- aka pugilism/boxing. It is no surprise that wherever men had fists and the will to fight that some type of pugilism existed. Ireland was no different. Irish had fought for the British heavyweight championship title on many occasions and in 1771 Peter Corcoron was the first Irishman to win it and he held it for 5 years until he lost it in 1776 under shadey circumstances. Surely there was a strong Irish tradition of boxing but it received a boost in the early 1790's when English Champion Daniel Mendoza toured Ireland. Mendoza was soon a very popular champion in Ireland and his unique method of boxing caught on.

This method, along with those of the late 18th and early 19th century are the ones followed most closely here in our training. It offers a variety of offensive and defensive tactics and a good deal of grappling as well. We have included the purring (shin kicking) and the "Up and Down" fighting as described in Donald Walkers Defensive Exercises from 1840.

Coraíocht

- Wrestling. There were two main styles of wrestling practiced in Ireland. Collar and Elbow which migrated to the New World and Australia and Coraíocht, which is a back hold style of wrestling similar to many of the indigenous wrestling styles of Europe such and Cumberland & Westmoreland style from Northern England. To complete the wrestling picture we also add elements from other Celtic wrestling styles such as Breton Gouren and from historical styles such as Close Hugg as taught by Sir Thomas Parkyns and the wrestling of Zachary Wylde.

As was mentioned before, Irish Collar and Elbow found it's way to the New World where it took on some differences from it's Old Sod counterpart. This refurbished style of C&E included groundwork, which is not mentioned in accounts of Celtic wrestling practiced in Ireland. Now whether it just went unrecorded or freely mixed with loose hold styles such as Catch As Catch Can or Lancashire wrestling, we will probably never know, but the addition of groundwork to the tradition upright Celtic styles has proven a great asset to us in understanding a complete martial art.

Conclusion:

Faicseanaíocht as we practice it is a cohesive sum of three elements, Bataireacht, Dornálaíocht and Coraíocht. Each of these can be practiced on their own but will always be lacking to some degree in combative application. By training and blending each of these three arts we find one very strong art that has a base in traditional Irish Martial Arts. Yes it is a reconstructed style but all of the elements are historically accurate and combatively sound. Although I feel that it has been restored to a high degree of functionality, it is my hope that in the future as we all work together than this art will outgrow what we have all hoped it would.

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