Threshold of Serak the Tsunami: Serak the Tsunami (Silat Serah)

Maha Guru Victor de Thouars, or “Pak Vic” as he was known informally, is the author. I knew him well and learned from him for 18 years. He was a unique figure with a brilliant mind, a martial arts master and engineer by trade. This book is for students of the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat Serak.In the book you will find historical accounts of Indonesia, the Majapahit empire, the Dutch East Indies Company, the development of the Sera fighting system, and the de Vries and de Thouars families. It also features CAD drawings of basic techniques of the system, even force calculations of the power generated by these motions. There are photo sequences of other technique applications and ‘Jurus’ the foundational upper body forms of the system.The book was self-edited. Since English was a third language for Pak Vic, there are many spelling and grammatical mistakes. He knew this and said, “that’s how I want to say it.”This time gives a lot of background on him and the history. It only scratches the surface of what is likely the deepest, most comprehensive study of close combat in the world.The ‘structures’ of Serak involve hundreds of ‘langkas’ or stepping patterns that continually get more sophisticated. The weapons including short blade, stick, machete, sword, staff, rope, sarong, scythe, keris, sai and many more, are intertwined in the 18 base structures and multiplied exponentially by the langkas. The training develops finesse and sensitivity to stick to an opponent, and misalign their skeletal structure. Strikes delivered while the body is out of alignment are devastating, as are the folding throws that dislocate multiple joints of the body. This vast, monumental art would have been lost without the lifetime effort of Pak Vic to record, organize and pass it on. His lineage holder Maha Guru Rodriguez is the authority on the system and continues to teach it, along with a handful of other Gurus who keep it alive.Serak is a deep dive into body mechanics of hand-to-hand combat. It is not a sport art. You will not learn it in a couple years, it is a long term commitment of study. Those who persevere will find a treasure trove of training without equal. It takes a special temperament to be a Serak practitioner. Many of the motions are very dangerous, and a Guru must have tight control of their force and intent to avoid injuring people.So this book is geared toward the student of Serak who wants to know about its history and get a glimpse into the mind of Pak Vic. Also would be interesting to those studying the era of the Dutch-Indo ‘Butterflies’ who were largely displaced by World War II.The forward of the book is by martial arts instructor legend, Guro Dan Inosanto. He trained extensively with Pak Vic, and had huge respect for the art which he described as follows:"Penjak Silat Serak is ingenious. It is incredibly sophisticated. The whole system is based on maximum destructive output with minimum effort. A lot of systems are built around power or speed. Serak is all finesse. It's all physics and knowledge of anatomy, and how energy is directed. It doesn't take strength or even speed, and it is practically unbeatable. The hand traps are at least the equal of Wing Chun Kung Fu, and the footwork and body angling far surpass anything I've ever been exposed to. Serak is a martial artist's dream system."

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