Blades cleave to the hidden heart of Pinoy culture

To cleave to the heart of a culture, one might do well to study its blades. Much can be gleaned about a culture by studying its blades, which reveal much about a people. One look at a Viking hurstwic leads to an appreciation of the lumbering heft and blunt ferocity of those wacky bearded marauders. The broad double-edged blades of English tradition say as much about the values of the British Isles as the stiff upper lips Anglo-Saxons bandy about to this day. A Japanese katana speaks volumes about the sublime sophistication of the Nihon-jin (Japanese) as well as the confounding cutting edge of their circular logic. In many countries that have a strong history of blade bearing – Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan, Indonesia – people drive on the left side of the road. It’s an instinctive thing, perhaps. Most sword-wielders are right-handed, and a right-handed swordsman wants oncoming traffic to approach on the weapon side. America, on the other hand, has a history of firearm bearing. To a six-gun wielding pistolero, it matters naught whether a potential opponent approaches from his right or his left. Guns are just more agreeable that way. Filipinos are bladed too! And so the question remains: why do we Filipinos drive on the right-hand side of the road when ours is just as bladed a culture as Japan’s or Indonesia’s or Italy’s? Let’s recall that ours is a culture whose national hero Lapu Lapu once slew an ill-advised Spanish interloper on the shores of Mactan. But hey, without the Spanish, we wouldn’t have kare-kare (an iconic Filipino dish based on peanut sauce), so all is forgiven. Talibung and Magellan One website selling indigenous Filipino weapons argues that contrary to popular belief, the blade that slayed Magellan was likely not a Kampilan but a Talibung. According to the site, the kampilan in no way resembles the weapon Pigafetta claims was responsible for Magellan's demise, supposedly "a large 'Cutlass,' which resembles a 'Scimitar,' only being larger." However, there seems to be a flaw in the putative historian's reasoning. A cutlass is NOT a scimitar. A cutlass' profile is familiar to anyone who's ever seen a movie with pirates in it. Picture a ferocious pirate in full-on enemy ship-boarding mode and chances are you see him with a cutlass in hand. Picture a historical Arab in jihad mode, however, and chances are, you'll probably imagine him with a scimitar in hand. Here's the thing: a kampilan does look a bit like a scimitar. But wait, there's more! Popular belief has it that Lapu Lapu slayed Magellan in an epic battle on the shores of Mactan between hordes of stalwart Cebuano warriors and Spaniards armed with guns & cannons. But was that what really what happened? Romeo Macapagal, a long-time exponent of Filipino martial arts, credible scholar of all things martial and one-time professional warrior, offers an alternate hypothesis. He opines that what might have happened was, either Magellan or one of his officers was caught with one of Lapu Lapu's wives, and the Spaniard was promptly dispatched. Per Mr. Macapagal’s account, Cebuano oral tradition has it that Pigafetta and the remaining Spanish forces then tried to parley – unsuccessfully – for the slain body of Magellan. This is said to have prompted the ill-advised and tactically foolish invasion of Mactan. In any case, talibung or kampilan, the Filipinos won that one.

The talibung is rather common on the Philippine island of Panay, and has been used by jungle fighters since the time of Lapu-Lapu and probably immemorial too. When the Japanese occupied our sun-kissed shores, many a Filipino freedom fighter pitted his blade against the katana of his sloe-eyed foe. Petal attraction of the pinute Two other Filipino blades are noted for discombobulating many a katana-wielding invader within the tight confines of combat in steamy Philippine jungles – the pinute and the ginunting. Much to Japanese officers’ chagrin, their katana were so long as to be unwieldy in the tight quarters that is the bailiwick of the Filipino blade wielder. Certain facets of Filipino mandirigma (warrior) lore have it that the pinute is so named for the whitish razor glint of its blade seen edge on. Were Ang Panday himself to wield a pinute, woe betide the Fernando Poe foe who glimpses the Panday’s pinute thus, for he would surely fall. Purple prose and fatal attraction to one side for a moment, the pinute’s blade is curved and slightly leaf-shaped. The poetically-inclined might see the pinute as a petal of some demented flower. Seen from the side, the blade waxes convex at its business end and grows narrower near the sword’s hilt. Some pandays fashion kamagong handles for the pinute’s hilt. Other smiths – show-offs doubtless – are said to use bone. Still others fashion the sword’s handle from other woods indigenous to Inang Bayan’s shores. Where hilt meets blade is usually a diminutive hand guard – self-respecting mandirigmas like their hands intact, thank you – and the Pinoy sword’s handle flares into a robust pommel: the better to pound sense into heads foolish enough to get within halitosis range with, of course. Ginunting, half a pair of scissors If a pinute arcs on the edge side, the ginunting’s blade boasts the converse. This equally noble short sword sports a concave edge and a concave arc on the back of the blade. It is wholly guaranteed to ruin anyone’s day. So named because it resembles one half of a pair of scissors, the ginunting is employed to this day by Pinoy Force Recon Marines as they prey upon Abu Sayyaf insurgents and intrusive plant life alike. The official bladed implement of special Filipino Marines, the ginunting is weighted on its business end, making it ideal for cutting through recalcitrant shrubbery. While in presidential terms past, noble foot soldiers were denied both ample ammunition and decent footwear alike, these fellows were at least accorded blades worthy of a warrior culture renowned in martial circles the world over. Kampilan, another bad bad boy The kampilan is the Filipino long sword, our answer to the Scottish claymore or the Japanese dai-to (literally, “long sword"). Distinguished by its relatively large size, the Kampilan is the heavyweight of Filipino blades. While Filipino pandirigma (warriorship) tradition is largely known for its use of short swords, the Kampilan is the exception that flew the coop. This Goliath among Filipino blades is usually 36 to 40 inches (90 to 100 cm) long. The kampilan’s blade is narrow at the hilt and swells into a trapezoidal tip. Yes, geometry often ruins everybody’s day. Kampilan blades sometimes sport holes near their tips. These are often filled with brass, albeit not the military kind, sadly. Rare specimens exhibit kris-like fretwork, but sadly bear no relation to Baby James. Although the kampilan can be used with one hand – by captains who lift barbells, perhaps? – this is, in mere mortal hands, best wielded with both of those hands. At times the hilt was bound to one of the aforementioned hands by a talismanic piece of cloth. This was meant to prevent slippage. No self-respecting warrior enjoys dropping his weapon. It’s just too embarrassing. Sometimes chain mail covering was employed to keep the hands free of injury. After all, if a weaponless hand is embarrassing, a handless arm is worse. Virtually all of these bad boys boasted large metal staples which jutted from the cross guard above the sword’s hilt. Hilts were usually crafted from hardwood, but many a datu swaggered around with a kampilan whose wooden hilt was swathed in silver. The more dapper datus sported hilts encased in ivory or bone. For sure, supreme datus such as these were the life of every party. - YA, GMA News Photo of pinute courtesy of www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com. All other photos are copyright-free images from google.com.