Esko Ronimus
Esko Ronimus
Traditional and historical martial arts instructor
Esko Ronimus on ammattilainen arts instructor, teaching traditional Chinese martial arts and historical European martial arts as a full-time job. He has a background of over 25 years in Chinese martial arts and six years in historical fencing. He lives in Tampere, Finland, and is the head instructor and founder of Tampere School of Arms martial arts club, which has currently around 60 students across its groups. Esko also gives classes, courses, workshops, and seminars both in Finland and abroad on regular basis. He also coaches individuals martial artists over distance and other historical fencing clubs in Finland and Spain.
Background
Esko started training purposefully around the age of fourteen with Choy Lee Fut Chinese boxing, and at 2005 he started training Qi Xing Tang Lang Quan (Seven Star praying mantis boxing) Chinese boxing, which he still trains and teaches today. Before starting training martial arts in elementary school, he also trained Aikido and Taekwondo as a child in addition to other sports such as football, volleyball, basketball, and athletics to name a few.
His historical fencing career started at 2018 with Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) club practicing after Italian Fiore dei Liberi’s teachings. However, the club did not meet his requirements for training a serious martial art and he departed to found his own club Tampere School of Arms in 2020. At the change of training groups he changed the system he wanted to specialize into the tradition of 16th century Bolognese fencing tradition after Manciolino, Marozzo, dall’Agocchie and Anonimo Bolognese.
For most of the time of his martial arts training career, he has also been an assistant instructor. He has also trained and taught children’s classes since 2007 and is teaching a class now as well.
Esko has lived his life so far in Tampere, Finland. He has been training, competing and teaching in countries such as Spain, China, Germany, Poland and France. He lives with a spouse and a dog in Tampere.
Values
Esko’s approach to martial arts is guided by values he sees essential for both the traditional and historical martial arts. His goal is to train, teach, and promote martial arts from their historical premises. It is his understanding that all martial arts are born in very specific circumstances and environments. Thus it is imperative that the arts are not separated from their original contexts in order to not lose the qualities that make the arts functional and realistic. The guiding principles for him are that the arts trained and taught must be martially realistic and they must be functional – this is gained through following the traditions of the arts and adhering to the contexts in which the arts were originally practiced. This is essential especially when practicing the traditional and historical martial arts in modern times.
The training must be consistent and it must require hard work – there are no shortcuts in learning the traditional and historical way of fighting.
Goals
Esko’s goal is to bring both the traditional and historical martial arts forward so their value – both as martial arts and historical heritage – can be better appreciated for study and training. In order to learn to use the arts as they have been intended to be used and to make them functional again, it is important that the training is rooted in the historical context and the tradition of learning from one’s teacher.
Teachers
Esko considers having three major teachers, who have influenced the most to his training, life and professional career.
Slawomir Milczarek
Poland
Shifu Slawomir Milczarek has been his first and foremost Chinese boxing teacher ever since they met in 2005. Esko considers his biggest martial art achievement to have been taught the Qi Xing Tang Lang Quan system completely by his shifu Milczarek, as shifu Milczarek was taught by his teacher Master Yu Tiancheng. Having been the first one to learn the whole system from his teacher is an honor Esko will never stop appreciating.
Brendan Tunks
Australia
Shifu Brendan Tunks, who is a brother to shifu Milczarek, has been a huge influence on Esko’s martial arts career. Having met and trained under shifu Tunks’s teaching on several memorable occasions are events that will never be forgotten.
Ken Harding
United States
Ken Harding has been Esko’s most important and influential historical fencing teacher. Without his effort of giving him advice and material to work with Esko would never have been able to become a professional martial arts teacher.
Along the three major influences presented above, Esko has had the honor and chance to learn from master Yu Tianlu, who was Esko’s teacher’s master’s brother; master Wang Xiuyuan who is a brother to Esko’s teacher’s master, master Zhou Jingxuan who was a friend to Esko’s teacher.