Origin of the Kalinga Axe

[Nonoy Tan]

Indeed, the weapons had their smaller-sized counterparts for young boys - axes, bolos, shields, bows and arrows, etc. Sometimes, "female" (for use by women only) counterparts are also available. Isneg women had the female version of the axe.

Nonoy

[Jim McDougall]

I just wanted to note here, along with Rick's earlier comment, this thread is absolutely fantastic! From the initiation of the thread, focused on a single weapon, the 'kalinga' axe of the Philippines, and throughout are posts developing the history and use of the tool/weapons, beautifully illustrated, cited references and outstanding discussion and observations.

This is 'textbook' perfect gentlemen!!! Exactly the way we should study these weapons. Until I saw this thread, I really knew nothing of these axes, though I'd seen examples thumbing through Stone. After reading through this thread,I feel like I have experienced a true course on them as a subject, and now have a good understanding of them. Also, this thread will stand as a most current resource for others who might be researching these now or in the future.
Well done gentlemen!!!! and thank you!!!

All the best,
Jim

[migueldiaz]

More, from The Bontoc Igorot --



On the Bontoc battle-axe [left side in pic]:

"Baliwang [Cordillera] has four smithies ... Baliwang alone makes the genuine Bontoc battle-ax. It is a strong, serviceable blade of good temper, and is hafted to a short, strong, straight wooden handle which is strengthened by a ferrule of iron or braided bejuco. The ax has a slender point opposed to the bit or cutting edge of the blade ... The bit of the ax is at a small angle with the front and back edges of the blade, and is nearly a straight line. The axes are kept keen and sharp by whetstones collected and preserved solely for the purpose. Besao, near Sagada, quarries and barters a good grade of whetstone."

On the sleek Balbelasan battle-axe [right side in pic]:

"A slender, long-handled battle-ax now and then comes into the area in trade from the north. Balbelasan, of old Abra Province, but now in the northern part of extended Bontoc Province, is one of the pueblos which produce this beautiful ax. The blade is longer and very much slimmer than the Bontoc blade, but its marked distinguishing feature is the shape of the cutting edge. The blade is ground on two straight lines joined together by a short curved line, giving the edge the striking form of the beak of a rapacious bird. The slender, graceful handle, always fitted with a long iron ferrule, has a process on the under side near the middle. The handle is also usually fitted with a decorated metal ferrule at the tip and frequently is decorated for its full length with bands of brass or tin, or with sheets of either metal artistically incised.

"The Balbelasan ax is not used by the pueblos making it, or at least by many of them, but finds its field of usefulness east and northeast of Bontoc pueblo as far as the foothills of the mountains west of the Rio Grande de Cagayan. I was told by the Kalinga of this latter region that the people in the mountain close to the Cagayan in the vicinity of Cabagan Nuevo, Isabela Province, also use this ax."

On the variations in the use and non-use of the battle axe:

"In the southern and western part of the Bontoc area the battle-ax shares place with the bolo, the sole hand weapon of the Igorot of adjoining Lepanto, Benguet, and Nueva Vizcaya Provinces.

"The bolo within the Bontoc area comes from Sapao and from the Ilokano people of the west coast. The southern pueblo in the Bontoc area, Ambawan, uses the bolo of Sapao to the entire exclusion of the battle-ax. Tulubin, the next pueblo to Ambawan, and only an hour from it, uses almost solely the Baliwang battle-ax. Such pueblos as Titipan and Antedao, about three hours west of Bontoc, use both the ax and bolo, while the pueblos further west, as Agawa, Sagada, Balili, Alap, etc., use the bolo exclusively—frequently an Ilokano weapon."

On the Sapao bolo and the Moro barong:

"The Sapao bolo is, in appearance, superior to that of Ilokano manufacture. It is a broad blade swelling markedly toward the center, and is somewhat similar in shape to the barong of the Sulu Moro of the Sulu Archipelago. This weapon finds its chief field of use in the Quiangan and Banawi areas."

One of the pics below shows a Sapao smithy.

Note also in the pics below that it was the same "Malay forge" [also called the double-bellows forge, a 2,000-year old design?] that was used throughout the Philippines, whether it was in the highlands of the Cordillera in northern Luzon, or down south in the Moro areas of Mindanao.

Finally, the color pic below is from the Ayala Museum dioramas. It depicts what a foundry in ancient Phils. must have looked like, i.e., about 1,500 to 2,000 years ago.

[Tim Simmons]

More of the same, nice weapons here. Does anybody have one like in the large picture.