A Very Old Kris

[migueldiaz]

The connection between our neighbor Japan and its samurais vis-a-vis the Philippines, has long been there, even before the Spaniards arrived in the mid-1500s.

Off-hand, I can think of three solid evidences:

1. the Japanese word katana is a common synonym for sword for the ancient Tagalogs, as found for instance in San Buenaventura's 1613 Spanish-Tagalog dictionary; thus the presence of such loan word from the Japanese is sold proof that relations between our two countries had long been there;

2. when the Dutch had a naval battle with the Spaniards off the coast of Manila in 1600, the Spaniard galleon ('San Diego') which the Dutch sank was found later to have lots of tsuba (crossguard of katana) in the relics; I think there were also records that indicate that the Spaniard leader (Morga) hired lots of Japanese samurai mercenaries in that engagement; and

3. when some of the Japanese started converting to Christianity at that time, some of them sought sanctuary in Philppines which has become a Christian country by that time.

One of those refugees was a samurai warlord, which statue is right in the heart of the city of Manila (see pics). The name of this little park is Plaza Dilao (literally, yellow plaza). And here in Manila, we colloquially refer to the Japanese as having yellow skin, even up to now.

So what's my point? It's what I already mentioned in my previous post -- that Christian Manila (where the Japanese had a significant presence then, and even earlier) could have very well been the pick-up point for the quasi-Christian Sendai keris-kris.