Lessons in Phillippine Weaponry: The Ginunting
Dec 9, 2009 2:40:01 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2009 2:40:01 GMT
More bladed goodness!
Here's a little history on a blade known as the Ginunting! First a pic:
The modern Ginunting gets its name from the Tagalog word "gunting", meaning 'Scissors'. From my understanding it has earned this name from the foreward curve and beak-like tip of the ginunting, which makes the blade look like the blade of a pair of scissors.
It is a blade predominantly made for fighting, as would suggest its width. Usually, phillippine blades have fat bellied tips from older working or farming implements the fighintg blades came from. If there was such a farm implement that the Ginunting can call a predecessor, it would be the Binangon. They were wider and heavier than the ginunting and is believed to predate its thinner, more agile relative by at least a few centuries, again as a farming tool rather than a fighting sword:
The Ginunting's claim to fame is that Today is it used by the phillippine marines as the official Sidearm of the armed forces. It is used to fight insurgents at close quarters and is a great all-purpose tool for their wilderness survival needs. Recon Force, the company that provides the phillippine Marines with their Ginunting, is headed by a Bladesmith and Filipino Marine who goes by the name of Sgt Prado. Here is his version of the Ginunting:
My favourite of the bunch is made by none other than TraditionalFilipinoWeapons. The design deviates from many modern and older more traditional ginunting because it has a raised false edge that is sharpened as hard as the foreward edge is. The false edge is also longer than normal. They take the time to smoothen out the lines as well.... while other modern made phillippine blades are just as good but have crudely carved and uncomfortable hilts. The handle on this one just plain looks comfortable.
The reason why I like this deviation of design a little more than the rest is because of the circumstance in which is was made. Ron Kosakowski and Daniel Forondo, the men who run TFW, are both instructors of a style of phillippine escrima known as Pekiti-Tirsia Kali. This style is the combat system taught to the phillippine marines by none other than Pekiti Tirsia's Grand Master: the Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje Jr. He's a member of the very well respected Tortal Family, who are known for producing heirs to some of the more deadly combat arts in the phillippines.
Being that this particular Ginunting was designed amd made by practitioners of Pekiti Tirsia, which also claims the Ginunting as their signature weapon, leads me to believe that the modifications made to this version were done so lovingly to provide the best possible version of the weapon to date
Aaand to finish off this post, some more eye candy. On the very left of this next pic you'll see an antique Ginunting. I like it a lot. It's a straight blade rather than having a foreward curve, which is kinda nice.
Here's a little history on a blade known as the Ginunting! First a pic:
The modern Ginunting gets its name from the Tagalog word "gunting", meaning 'Scissors'. From my understanding it has earned this name from the foreward curve and beak-like tip of the ginunting, which makes the blade look like the blade of a pair of scissors.
It is a blade predominantly made for fighting, as would suggest its width. Usually, phillippine blades have fat bellied tips from older working or farming implements the fighintg blades came from. If there was such a farm implement that the Ginunting can call a predecessor, it would be the Binangon. They were wider and heavier than the ginunting and is believed to predate its thinner, more agile relative by at least a few centuries, again as a farming tool rather than a fighting sword:
The Ginunting's claim to fame is that Today is it used by the phillippine marines as the official Sidearm of the armed forces. It is used to fight insurgents at close quarters and is a great all-purpose tool for their wilderness survival needs. Recon Force, the company that provides the phillippine Marines with their Ginunting, is headed by a Bladesmith and Filipino Marine who goes by the name of Sgt Prado. Here is his version of the Ginunting:
My favourite of the bunch is made by none other than TraditionalFilipinoWeapons. The design deviates from many modern and older more traditional ginunting because it has a raised false edge that is sharpened as hard as the foreward edge is. The false edge is also longer than normal. They take the time to smoothen out the lines as well.... while other modern made phillippine blades are just as good but have crudely carved and uncomfortable hilts. The handle on this one just plain looks comfortable.
The reason why I like this deviation of design a little more than the rest is because of the circumstance in which is was made. Ron Kosakowski and Daniel Forondo, the men who run TFW, are both instructors of a style of phillippine escrima known as Pekiti-Tirsia Kali. This style is the combat system taught to the phillippine marines by none other than Pekiti Tirsia's Grand Master: the Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje Jr. He's a member of the very well respected Tortal Family, who are known for producing heirs to some of the more deadly combat arts in the phillippines.
Being that this particular Ginunting was designed amd made by practitioners of Pekiti Tirsia, which also claims the Ginunting as their signature weapon, leads me to believe that the modifications made to this version were done so lovingly to provide the best possible version of the weapon to date
Aaand to finish off this post, some more eye candy. On the very left of this next pic you'll see an antique Ginunting. I like it a lot. It's a straight blade rather than having a foreward curve, which is kinda nice.