Review : Harimurti

A traditional style developed in the palace grounds of Yogyakarta. It was first taught outside the palace by RM Harimurti (Raden Rio Tedjonegoro), and the school was formally organised by his student Suko Winadi. RM Harimurti, born in 1905, was a Hamengku Buwono VII’s grandson from GPH Tejokusumo and RAy Mangkorowati. He grew as a kid who was interested in learning olah kanuragan (art of body) from Java and also martial arts from abroad like Jujutsu, Karate, Shantung etc from Chinese and Japanese immigrants. When he was adult, he taught Pencak to the public in Pendopo Ndalem Tejokusuman. During that time, his martial art style was known as Pencak Tejokusuman. Dutch East-Indies Police was suspicious with his activity in teaching Pencak because he was also active to support Pergerakan (National Movement) Budi Oetomo. According to Bapak Suko Winadi, RM Harimurti used dance movement to cover his Pencak (martial arts) to avoid police’s suspicion. In 1932, he delegated his school to Bapak Suko Winadi, who formalized this school as PerPi (Persatuan Pencak Indonesia), which later changed its name to PERPI ( Perguruan Pencak Indonesia) and finaly known as PERPI Harimurti. Bapak Suko Winadi was also known as 2nd grandmaster of this school. Although he had delegated his school to Bapak Suko, RM Harimurti was not totally retired from his activity to teach pencak. Some times, he directly taught his students. RM Harimurti at the end of his years was well-known as Commander of Royal Jogjakarta Guardian Troop and also as medicine man or spiritual healer and paranormal. However, he always objected if people recognized him as paranormal or dukun.
He passed away on September 18, 1962 and was burried in Pakuncen Cemetery. Under the leadership of 2nd Grandmaster, Bapak Sukowinadi, Harimurti School became more popular since its participation to found the Pencak Silat Association of Indonesia (IPSI). Bapak Suko Winadi was born in October 23, 1915 in Sawahan, Bantul, Jogjakarta.

His given name was Raden Sukamdi. He learned Pencak from his fathers friend, RM Harimurti. In 1932 RM Harimurti gave him permission to formalize his school as PerPi. Before revolution of independence, Bapak Suko was well-known as great pendekar. According to Bapak Suharmadi (Bapak Suko’s cousin), Bapak Suko hit ten Japanese soldiers and made them collapse. In the revolution era Bapak Suko joint with TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) and did his duty in the battle in Ambarawa as an officer in 10th Brigade of TNI.

After the end of the war, he worked in military as Military Police officer. Although he was activitve in military, he still taught pencak silat with his assistant Bapak Tarsono who are a senior master of PERPI Harimurti in present day. Under the leadership of Bapak Suko, PERPI Harimurti was taught in military. Bapak Tarsono was delegated to train RPKAD (now Kopassus, Special Force) in Surakarta, army training unit in 403rd Infantry Battalion in Jogjakarta and this brotherhood also sent Pencak Master to train martial arts in Kodam Iskandar Muda.

In 70s, the name of PERPI Harimurti was wellknown in movie industry because of its role in some movie making e.g “November 1828” and “Api Di Bukit Menoreh”. In his old age, Bapak Suko managed his perguruan and trained his students in his small sasana (training hall) behind his house in Jalan Veteran No 13 Yogyakarta. He had many students from Indonesia and also from Europe specially from Austria. He passed away on June 26, 2004 and was buried near his childhood house in Sawahan, Bantul.