Bokator or Labaokataor literally means “pounding a lion” and is almost unknown outside Cambodia, apart from a few intrepid martial arts practitioners who went searching for it as they did for muay boran. If a relatively small amount of fighters practice Pradal Serey, the modern version of Khmer boxing, very few actually have ever heard of Bokator, a pure martial art on the verge of extinction.
Bokator is the most complete plethora of fighting skills any warrior in the Angkor army had to master: it involves swords, sticks and body combat. Many historians and martial arts experts agree that Bokator may have been the source of krabi krabong and muay boran, as in those times the Khmer empire (12th – 13th century) was the most developed and refined culture in South East Asia. The writing system, poetry, royal paraphernalia, literature and even sacred Buddhist texts often had a Khmer source, revised and adapted to Siamese culture over the centuries. It is also assumed that Khmer prisoners might have been forced to teach their skills to Siamese kings in order to have their life spared and possibly be freed afterwards.
Bokator is unique as it’s more complete and much closer to a 16th century battlefield combat: it incorporates on-the-ground wrestling techniques, violent elbow and knee strikes, shin kicks , grappling techniques to dislocate the bones and submissions. Practitioners are trained to strike with knees, hands, elbows, feet, shins, and head. Even the shoulders, hip, jaw, and fingers can be used to harm the opponent. Weapons are also used, primarily short sticks and double sword (like krabi krabong, which instead is taught as a different martial art in Thailand). Many strikes to the throat and head are designed to kill, or to break the bones of an opponent. Therefore bokator techniques are not allowed in the ring (pradal serey is a much more toned-down version).
Apparently, it is the only South East Asian martial arts which incorporates wrestling, grappling and ground fighting leading to submission or choking.
Bokator practictioners still wear the basic uniform of ancient warriors. A kramaa (scarf) is folded around the 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 art contains 341 sets which, like many other Asian martial arts, are based on the study of life in nature. For example there are horse, bird, naga, eagle, and crane styles, each containing several techniques. Pradal serey is a more condensed fighting system which uses a few of the basic (white krama) punching, elbow, kicking and kneeing techniques and is free of any animal styles.
The krama shows the fighter’s level of expertise. The first grade is white, followed by green, blue, red, brown, and finally black, which has 10 further degrees of proficiency. After completing their initial training, fighters wear a black kramaa for at least another ten years. To attain the gold kramaa, proper of a great master, a practictioner must have done something memorable for the development of bokator. This is most certainly a time-consuming and possibly life-long endeavor: in the unarmed portion of the art alone there are between 8000 and 10000 different techniques, but only 1000 need to be learned to try to attain the black kramaa.
How to learn bokator? And where? The few true masters still able to teach were slaughtered during the Khmer Rouge years (1975-79). The very few who managed to flee the country managed to keep the knowledge alive. The most notable example is Master San Kim Sean, who returned to Cambodia in 1998 from USA; with the help of a few other masters who survived the genocide, he opened the first training camp in Phnom Penh for young Cambodians.
So far only two foreigners have earned the black kramaa degree, which allows them to teach bokator.