A Bagobo man with a single-edged sword.
PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE PHOTOGRAPHS DIGITAL ARCHIVE, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE PHOTOGRAPHS DIGITAL ARCHIVE, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
There are an enormous variety of bladed weapons in the Philippines. In my article titled Evidence of pre-colonial Filipino Martial Arts, I mentioned that the immense assortment of knives and swords in the archipelago is a solid indicator that there once existed a pre-colonial Filipino martial art. For in design, function precedes form—the early Filipinos would not have made those so many bladed weapons unless they knew how to use them.