The sword that felled Ferdinand Magellan?

Drawing of a Visayan Timawa (Freeman) couple (Boxer Codex, late 1500s).

Take note of the scimitar-shaped broadsword carried by the male.

Based on the description of Pigafetta, it appears that the same type of sword was used by Kali Pulako (aka Lapu-Lapu) and his men, in slaying Fernao Magalhaes (aka Ferdinan Magellan) and his son, at the Battle of Mactan.

The first Malay Jedi...

Meet our High-Carbon Barong...

Just call me Han Bolo...

FMA chooses You...

The Colt 1911 in FMA History...

Two major events that occurred in 1911 had significant long-term impact on Sulu blade culture:

1.  US Gen. John Joseph "Blackjack" Pershing banned the carrying of weapons, and;

2.  The US Army adopted the Colt M1911 .45 ACP Pistol as its standard-issue sidearm.

"American units fighting Moro guerrillas during the Philippine-American War using the then-standard Colt M1892 revolver, in .38 Long Colt, found it to be unsuitable for the rigors of jungle warfare, particularly in terms of stopping power, as the Moros had very high battle morale and frequently used drugs to inhibit the sensation of pain.  The U.S. Army briefly reverted to using the M1873 single-action revolver in .45 Colt caliber, which had been standard during the late 19th century; the heavier bullet was found to be more effective against charging tribesmen.  The problems prompted the then - Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier to authorize further testing for a new service pistol.

Of the six designs submitted, three were eliminated early on, leaving only the Savage, Colt, and DWM designs chambered in the new .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) cartridge...

These three still had issues that needed correction, but only Colt and Savage resubmitted their designs. 

 

...a series of field tests from 1907 to 1911 were held to decide between the Savage and Colt designs. 

 

Among the areas of success for the Colt was a test at the end of 1910 attended by its designer, John Browning.  Six thousand rounds were fired from a single pistol over the course of two days. When the gun began to grow hot, it was simply immersed in water to cool it. The Colt gun passed with no reported malfunctions, while the Savage designs had 37...

 

Following its success in trials, the Colt pistol was formally adopted by the Army on March 29, 1911, thus gaining its designation, M1911 (Model 1911)..."

(Wikipedia)

#FMAhistory #FMA #Colt1911 #TheFilipinoPeople

Bodhidarma was a Blue-Eyed Barbarian!

Here's an excerpt on what Wikipedia says on Bodhidarma under the topic "Greco-Buddhism":

• "Bodhidarma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, which later became Zen, and the legendary originator of the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu, is described as a Buddhist monk from Central Asia in the first Chinese references to him (Yan Xuan-Zhi, 547 CE). (Ref #1)  Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely-bearded, and wide-eyed barbarian.  He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (碧眼胡:Bìyǎn hú) in Chinese Chan texts. (Ref #2)"

REFERENCES:

1. Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999), The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-21972-4. pp. 54-55.
2. Soothill, William Edward; Hodous, Lewis (1995), A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, London: RoutledgeCurzon https://web.archive.org/web/20140303182232/http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu.tw/glossaries/files/soothill-hodous.ddbc.pdf

#GrecoBuddhism #Bodhidarma #Pankration #MalaySilat #ShaolinGongfu #FMA #MMA

Was Bodhidarma a Pankration practitioner?

"Pankration, as practiced in historical antiquity, was an athletic event that combined techniques of both boxing (pygmē/pygmachia – πυγμή/πυγμαχία) and wrestling (palē – πάλη), as well as additional elements, such as the use of strikes with the legs, to create a broad fighting sport very similar to today's mixed martial arts competitions... 

However, Pankration was more than just an event in the athletic competitions of the ancient Greek world; it was also part of the arsenal of Greek soldiers – including the famous Spartan hoplites and Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx...

Dioxippus was an Athenian who had won the Olympic Games in 336 BC, and was serving in Alexander the Great's army in its expedition into Asia. As an admired champion, he naturally became part of the circle of Alexander the Great. In that context, he accepted a challenge from one of Alexander's most skilled soldiers named Coragus to fight in front of Alexander and the troops in armed combat. While Coragus fought with weapons and full armour, Dioxippus showed up armed only with a club and defeated Coragus without killing him, making use of his Pankration skills..." (Wikipedia)

After Northern India was conquered by Alexander the Great, Greek and/or Macedonian kings ruled the territory for at least the next 200 years...

According to legend, some early Malay kings descended from Alexander the Great...

Bodhidarma, a Buddhist monk from India is accredited with separately creating the first preset forms of both Chinese Shaolin Gongfu and Malay Silat...

Was Bodhidarma also of Greek and/or Macedonian descent?

Where did Bodhidarma get his groundbreaking martial arts training methods? Could it be from Pankration?

#MartialArts #Pankration #Bodhidarma #ShaolinGongfu #MalaySilat #MMA #FMA

The Barong Dance - Sulu Version

This is the first time I became aware of this Sulu fighting dance.

How come it never survived into present times?

My suspicion is that this fighting dance slowly went the way of the Dodo when Blackjack Pershing banned the carrying of weapons in Sulu in 1911.

The FMA Hip-Hop Song

This definitely appears to be an improvement over that 1980s Karate Rap Song.

No offense meant, of course...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cng7YevTogo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sundaland: the cradle of SE Asian, Austronesian, and NE Asian civilizations

Here are the key excerpts on Sundaland from Wikipedia:

"Previously, humans were believed to have migrated southward, from the East Asia mainland to Taiwan and then to the rest of Maritime Southeast Asia...

...A 2009 genetic study published by the 2009 Human Genome Organization Pan-Asian SNP Consortium found that Asia was originally settled by humans via a single southern route. The migration came from Africa via India, into Southeast Asia and what are now islands in the Pacific, and then later up to the eastern and northern Asian mainland.

Genetic similarities were found between populations throughout Asia and an increase in genetic diversity from northern to southern latitudes.  Although the Chinese population is very large, it has less variation than the smaller number of individuals living in Southeast Asia, because the Chinese expansion occurred very recently, following the development of rice agriculture - within only the last 10,000 years. (underscoring mine)

Oppenheimer locates the origin of the Austronesians in Sundaland and its upper regions.  Genetic research reported in 2008 indicates that the islands which are the remnants of Sundaland were likely populated as early as 50,000 years ago, contrary to a previous hypothesis (Bellwood and Dizon, 2005) that they were populated as late as 10,000 years ago from Taiwan...

Botanists often include Sundaland, the adjacent Philippines, Wallacea and New Guinea in a single Floristic province of Malesia, based on similarities in their flora, which is predominantly of Asian origin..."

I guess this throws the Out-of-Taiwan Migration Theory... out of the window.

#FMAhistory

#MalayaIrredenta

#WestPhilippineSea

#MAPHILINDO

#SriVisaya

#TheFilipinoPeople

Philippine Hero Rev. Fr. Gregorio Aglipay, the source of Yambao & Mirafuente's "KALI"...

 

 

REV. FR. GREGORIO AGLIPAY, 1860-1940 (center), the first Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church (Wikipedia photo)...

Rev. Fr. Aglipay was the source of the information that the original name of the Filipino Martial Arts is KALI in the book “Mga Karunungan sa Larong Arnis” authored by Placido Yambao and Buenaventura Mirafuente (University of the Philippines Press, 1957):

'Ang KALI na Dinatnan ng mga Kastila ay Hindi pa Arnis ang Tawag nuong 1610.... Noong unang panahon ang larong ito'y kilala sa tawag na "KALI" ng ating mga ninuno, nguni't sa hindi maiwasang pagbabago ng panahon at pangyayari (underscoring mine) ay pinamagatan nila ng "Panandata" sa Tagalog, "Pagkalikali" sa kapatagan ng Kagayan ng mga Ibanag, "Kalirongan" sa Pangasinan, "Kaliradman" sa Bisaya at "Pagaradman" sa Ilongo nuong 1860, at "Didya" sa Ilokos at muling naging "Kabaroan," ayon kay Rev. Fr. Gregorio Aglipay na bantog din sa arnis nuong 1872.'

TRANSLATION:

'The indigenous martial art that the Spanish encountered in 1610 was not yet called Arnis at that time. During those times, this martial art was known as "KALI" to our ancestors.  Due to the unavoidable changing of the times and circumstances (underscoring mine), this martial art became known as "Panandata" to the Tagalogs, "Pagkalikali" to the Ibanags of the plains of Cagayan, "Kalirongan" to the people of Pangasinan, "Kaliradman" to the Visayans, "Pagaradman" to the Ilonggos in 1860, and "Didya" to the Ilocanos (but later on changed to "Kabaroan").  This is according to Rev. Fr. Gregorio Aglipay, who himself was a famous Arnis practitioner in 1872.'

The first written account of "KALI" as the pre-Hispanic name of the Filipino Martial Arts

u

“Mga Karunungan sa Larong Arnis” by Placido Yambao and Buenaventura Mirafuente, University of the Philippines Press, 1957... the first book on the Filipino Martial Arts that we know now... its section on the history of the Filipino Martial Arts stated that when the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, Filipino Martial Arts was not yet called "ARNIS" but "KALI" (“Ang KALI na dinatnan ng mga Kastila ay hindi pa ARNIS ang tawag noong 1610")... The book also mentioned that a KALI demonstration was once performed in honor of the newly-arrived Conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi on the order of a tribal leader in the Island of Leyte...