Indonesian martial arts an umbrella term to refer for the martial arts of the Indonesian archipelago. Nevertheless, a number of fighting arts in Indonesia are not included within the category of silat. Western misconception links silat with "jungle tribes" but in actuality, pencak silat was neither created nor traditionally practised by Indonesia's tribal inhabitants, many of whom have unique martial arts of their own. Some of these traditions have been preserved as a complete fighting system, e.g. pencak silat and kuntao. Other methods are either no longer practiced or only exist in a more sportive form such as the spear-throwing of pasola or
Pencak Silat a number of ethnic groups originally from the mountains of North Sumatra. The term typically refers to the Toba Batak while others may explicitly reject that label, preferring to identify themselves by their specific group. Batak silat is known by different names in each community, namely "mossak" (Toba), "moncak" (Mandailing), "ndikar" (Simalungun) and "dihar" (Karo). Mossak is the most commonly-used due to the Toba being the most numerous. While each style is distinct, all share similar characteristics and weaponry. The Batak were historically in a near-perpetual state of warfare with their neighbours, so warriors trained daily for combat. Training was