Philippine weapons in Spanish museums

[migueldiaz]

Thanks again to Carlos and Engar, for the pics they've shared to us earlier, here and here.

Am now in Spain, trying to visit museums with Philippine collections. The first one I saw was the Victor Balaguer museum in Vilanova i La Geltru near Barcelona. The museum directress and staff are quite helpful and accommodating, incidentally.

Sample pics are below, and the rest of the pics are HERE.

I'm still organizing the pics of the items in storage. I'll post the link very soon.

Next would be Museo Naval, in Madrid ...

[migueldiaz]

At Museo Naval in Madrid, I was able to take more than 200 pics. Some samples are below.

As can be seen in the pics, together with the Phil. weapons are Chinese and Oceanic clubs, spears, etc.

Some of the items regarded as Philippine will surely raise questions (e.g., the shark teeth club with a kris-like handle, which 'Philippine' shark teeth club can also be found in Victor Balaguer museum).

Then there's that kampilan with no crossguard and an interesting steel structure.

The complete 200+ pics are HERE.

[migueldiaz]

Some more preview pics are below, from the Museo Naval set.

The detail of the painting is from a huge painting depicting the fall of the Balangingi "pirate" stronghold in Mindanao, which was a much celebrated victory by Spain.

[Battara]

What wonderful pictures! Never seen a triple twistcore kampilan before. I looked through the flicker link - please post the rest of them! Thanks!

[Nonoy Tan]

Beautiful! Thank you.

[migueldiaz]

One room in Museo Naval is dedicated to the salvaged items of the Spanish ship 'San Diego', which sank in 1600 off Luzon, after a sea battle with Dutch ships.

At the national museum of the Philippines, another room is also dedicated to the recovered artifacts of San Diego.

Anyway, the pics below are from Museo Naval. An intriguing thing was the presence of Japanese katanas. One theory thus was that Spain used Japanese mercenaries then. Yet perhaps another possibility is that some of the Filipinos who joined the Spanish military then were armed with imported katanas.

In San Buenaventura's 1613 and Ruiz's 1630 Spanish-Tagalog dictionaries, they used "katana" to refer to a sword in the Tagalog dialect. It's a loan word of course, as there's no native "katana" word in Tagalog.

But the presence of katanas in the Philippines then, and the usage of the term to refer to the common sword actually makes a lot of sense. And that's because the Philippines then has been trading with China, Japan, Siam (Thailand), etc., long before the Spaniards came.

The complete San Diego pics are HERE.

[Gavin Nugent]

Outstanding, thank you Lorenz.

It is amazing where our passions take us.

I certainly enjoyed the vast variety and beauty of these items pictured.

Thank you

Gav

[Battara]

After a closer examination, the triple twistcore kampilan looks like it once had guard that is now lost.

[VANDOO]

THANKS!! THESE PICTURES MAKE MY MOUTH WATER IF I GET THE CHANCE TO VISIT THE AREA THESE MUSEUMS WILL BE ON MY LIST TO SEE. IT WOULD APPEAR THERE IS A MIX OF WEAPONS REPRESENTED FROM INDONESIA, BORNEO AND PERHAPS INDO CHINA NOTABLY THE POLEARMS WITH LARGE BLADES AND THE 3 PRONGED TIGER FORK. QUITE POSSIBLE THEY FOUND THEIR WAY THRU THE PHILIPPINES NATURALLY EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT THE LOCAL FORMS AS MANY GROUPS RANGED OVER A WIDE AREA.
THE KAMPILIANS ARE VERY IMPRESSIVE AND THE BEST TWISTCORE DESIGNS I HAVE EVER SEEN. I WOULD AGREE THAT THE KAMPILIAN HAS BEEN DAMAGED AND LOST ITS HANDLE WHICH APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN REPAIRED BUT THE GAURD WAS NOT REPLACED. I HAVE A COUPLE OF KAMPILIAN WITH DAMMAGE TO THE GAURDS SO I SUSPECT THEY COULD HAVE BEEN DAMAGED OFTEN.
I NOTICE THERE ARE 2 SAWFISH SWORDS PICTURED AND THAT SOME OF THE ARROW HEADS LOOK JUST LIKE ONE OF THE FORMS ALSO USED ON ONE OF THEIR FLAMBOYANT SPEAR HEADS. CAN'T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THEM RIGHT NOW I MUST BE GETTING OLD.
I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SEEING ANY GENUINE PHILIPPINE WAR CLUBS AS I KNOW NOTHING OF THEM EXCEPT THAT THEY SURELY EXHISTED BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF METAL. LOOKING THRU THE OTHER PICTURES
I SEE QUITE A FEW CLUBS BUT MOST ARE IDENTIFIABLE AS FIJI AND SOME OF THE OTHER OCEANIC ISLANDS THAT WERE TOO FAR AWAY FOR EVEN THE EARLY PHILIPPINE MARINERS TO HAVE BROUGHT BACK NATURALLY. THERE IS EVEN A MODERN TOURIST SOUVINEER FROM THE MARQUESAS IN ONE CASE. SO I SUSPECT THEY CAME TO THE MUSEUM AS DONATIONS FROM A COLLECTOR OR WERE PURCHASED. I WONDER IF THERE ARE ANY TRUE PHILIPPINE CLUBS WITH PROVENANCE.?

[kronckew]

fantastic collection. will be looking at the rest of the photos.

especially noticed the moro kris with the atypical point, seem to recall us discussing one like this earlier... (extracted from photo above)

[migueldiaz]

Thanks for all for the comments and insights.

I went back to Museo Naval this morning, and I was able to interview the curator and the staff. Once again, they are most helpful and accommodating.

They said that all of their items that are Filipino (and the ones coming from the neighboring islands) were collected in the 19th century. They added though that it's very much possible that some of them were actually made in the 18th century.

With regard to the sawfish sword at Museo Naval, I remarked to the curator that it's probably not Filipino (though the hilt's shape certainly looks familiar). The curator said that perhaps it's really not Filipino, but the piece was collected at Sulu-Mindanao in the 18th century (thus they grouped it under the Phil. items).

I made the same remark about the Chinese halberds(?), that they are not Filipino. They remarked again that they do realize that, but the items were collected in Sulu-Mindanao, thus they grouped it under Philippines.

I was inquiring whether I can see the items in storage. They told me that they are more of the same, and many are not in good shape.

With regard to Filipino war clubs, I saw one at the storage room of Victor Balaguer museum. I'll post pics of those later.

Tomorrow I go to Toledo to see the Army Museum, which has the most collection of Filipino weapons. We will see

[Sajen]

Thank you for sharing the pictures and informations!

[kai]

Lorenz, thanks so much for all your efforts! Hope you'll make it to central and northern Europe sometime soon...

Those are gorgeous pieces and your pics are a great resource!

I do wonder whether these are mainly battle pick-ups - blades from the Visayas and northern PI seem to be quite underrepresented except for those few axes and shields; also not that many Lumad pieces.

A few more of the single-edged Sulu kris are shown in this thread:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6140

Regards,
Kai

[CharlesS]

WOW! Mouth watering!

Thanks for the pics!

[carlos]

Great pictures!! I´m very happy to see you are in the best museums in Spain!! I must return someday to the Naval Museum In Madrid, maybe this winter...
best regards
carlos

[migueldiaz]

Charles and Sajen, thanks too.

Kai, yes the displays are always skewed in favor of Moro pieces (and it's well deserved, of course).

Carlos, thanks too. And your countrymen are most helpful, wherever we go

Was at Museo del Ejercito [army museum] yesterday, in Toledo. Unfortunately, the museum does not allow picture taking anymore. Just the same, the museum staff was quite helpful. Also, instead of displaying as many artifacts as possible, the new philosophy is to display just a sampling of each type.

The museum staff also told us that some Philippine pieces can also be found in the following Spanish museums: (a) Museo Cerralbo, Madrid - but I think the museum is now being refurbished; (b) museum of the America, Madrid; (c) Cuatro Vientos museum, which I think is the air force's museum; and (d) some items in various provincial museums like in Avila, San Sebastian, etc.

The rest of the day in Toledo was spent in checking out the paellas, mazapans, and various souvenir shops. More pics of those shops are here

Hope you guys in Spain will have the chance to visit those other museums!

[migueldiaz]

Moving now to Museo Nacional de Antropologia, below are sample pics. There's not much weaponry in this museum. But ethnography-wise, the museum probably has the best sampling of items pertaining to Philippines of old.

[migueldiaz]

description of the spears --

[migueldiaz]

more sample pics from the same museum are below.

the photo album where the sample pics were taken is here.

for those wishing to get an overview of philippine ethnography in general, here's the link -- it's not for the faint of heart, though. the album contains more than 300 pics!

[Sajen]

What a beautiful kris pommel!

[Nonoy Tan]

Thank you for sharing these photos...

I love that bamboo spear with anthropomorphic designs, showing the procedure of tattooing. Fine documentation using the spear as medium.

[Battara]

Yeah great pictures! Thanks! Noticed that one of the figures on the spear is cutting into the head of another figure with a Kalinga head axe over his Kalinga shield!

And I have always wanted to see other pictures of this ivory-gold kris with Arabic on it.

[Dimasalang]

Thanks Lorenz for taking this trip and your time in doing this. Not just the photos, but also for "sharing"! What a wealth of info! Some of these pieces opens up a whole new world for us! Keep it comin! Maraming-maraming salamat!!

[Spunjer]

Originally Posted by Nonoy Tan

Thank you for sharing these photos...

I love that bamboo spear with anthropomorphic designs, showing the procedure of tattooing. Fine documentation using the spear as medium.

yep. i know what to add next time
lorenz, do you have an even closer pic of the whole design?

the figures looks like it's telling a story tho. looks like the one on the far left is getting his head cleaved, while the far right looks as if she's (?) getting fondled, lol.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Sajen

What a beautiful kris pommel!

Lorenz, simply amazing!!! Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated, greatly!!!

Gav

[Dimasalang]

Originally Posted by migueldiaz

Anyway, the pics below are from Museo Naval. An intriguing thing was the presence of Japanese katanas. One theory thus was that Spain used Japanese mercenaries then. Yet perhaps another possibility is that some of the Filipinos who joined the Spanish military then were armed with imported katanas.

In San Buenaventura's 1613 and Ruiz's 1630 Spanish-Tagalog dictionaries, they used "katana" to refer to a sword in the Tagalog dialect. It's a loan word of course, as there's no native "katana" word in Tagalog.

But the presence of katanas in the Philippines then, and the usage of the term to refer to the common sword actually makes a lot of sense. And that's because the Philippines then has been trading with China, Japan, Siam (Thailand), etc., long before the Spaniards came.

The complete San Diego pics are HERE.

Lorenz, check out "Events in the Philippine Islands"(or the original Spanish version: Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas) by Dr Antonio de Morga published in 1609...they are now released in English or Tagalog as "History of the Philippine Islands Vol I and II". Im sure you know of this book, but maybe you haven't looked in to it for the Japanese connection. For those that don't know Morga, he was a high ranking colonial official, but he is best remembered as a historian...and his book documents the history of the Philippine islands from 1493 to 1603. He also led the Spanish naval battle with the Dutch in 1600(which Lorenz mentioned previously). Jose Rizal and many historians today study his work. Morga makes mention of the Japanese in the Philippines on several hundred accounts, and some being of war. In one instance Morga speaks of one Japanese mestizo and his Japanese counterparts living in a Japanese community in Manila. They are hired men and collaborated at one time with Spanish forces. In 1594 the King of Cambodia fled to Laos after being invaded by the King of Siam(Thailand). In 1596 Luis Pérez Dasmariñas(son of Gomez) set sail for Cambodia with 3 ships consisting of Filipino, Japanese, and Spanish warriors...they planned to reconquer Cambodia for the Cambodian king. This plan failed once two of the ships reached the docks and made conflict with the residing community.
Morga also mentions he received notice of a possible invasion by Japan, but explains, due to their lack of ships and navigational skills they would never succeed. These are just bits and pieces I just looked up in the book...I myself still haven't really sat down and looked through it completely or thoroughly...I think I'll do that now. Katanas and samurai swords were possibly traded for goods in and around the Philippines, but as you can see also, there were in fact documented Japanese warriors roaming around the Philippines. Interesting don't you think...these Samurai warriors as hired men during the 15-16th century settling in the Philippines.

[migueldiaz]

sajen, nonoy, jose, gav, thanks for the comments.

ron, i don't have the pic of the whole design. in some museums for pieces like this, they put a mirror behind the item.

dimasalang, thanks for the comments on the samurais in the phils. i should read again morga as i missed that part

talking about phil. history, at the agustinianos' library in valladolid, spain (where museo oriental is located), i spent merely about half an hour at the library and i already found interesting titles (excerpts of some articles are below, and the entire articles are here .

i think [dimasalang] should spent at least a month there at valladolid!

[migueldiaz]

below are some more pics from museo naval in madrid.

the shipyard was in cavite (along manila bay), where many ships were built during the colonial period. the parao is a type of "pirate" ship that was used also in southern philippines then, i suppose.

the entire photo album is here.

[migueldiaz]

Another museum I saw was Museo Oriental in Valladolid (about 1 hour by train from Madrid).

I can't post the pics I took because of the museum policy. I bought their books on Phil. items, and below are sample pics from the book (the other pics are here).

[migueldiaz]

The last museum I saw is Museo de America, in Madrid.

Below are sample pics. Most of the items are inside a cabinet, which glass is textured(!) thus the poor pics.

All of the pics I took are here.