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The butterfly knife or balisong knife is one of the most ancient tools
known to man. In its earliest form, it consisted of
a piece of wood, stone or bone with a jagged edge.
Human creativity soon led to chipping, rubbing or
flaking the material to produce a crude cutting
implement. This was the first product of human
ingenuity dating back millions of years, and an act
that led to man’s dominance over animals.
The balisong knife, or Filipino butterfly knife, is one of
the ancient weapons of Kali, the ancestral art of
all the Malaya-Polynesian fighting systems. This
mystic art is considered to be the deadliest
fighting system in the world. In some parts of the
Orient, as well as Africa, the Pacific Islands,
Central and South America, Kali was and still is
considered the art of arts.
The butterfly knifes ancestry dates back to 800 AD.
An ancient Filipino legend recalls the story of one
warrior trained in the Filipino martial arts who
dispatched 29 enemies with a folding knife. The
knife, to forerunner of today’s balisong, is
referred to by native Filipinos as the
“Veintinueveâ”, which means 29 in memory of that
feat.
The original butterfly knife took its name from a
small barrio called Bali sung, in the Batangas
region of the Philippines. The people of that town
are noted solely for producing this knife. According
to the elders of that area, their forefathers have
handed down the art of making this particular knife
for centuries.
Literally translated, “baliâ” means to break, and
“sungâ” means horn. The early handles were carved
out of animal horns. This was the “brokenâ horn
knifeâ”.
The early butterfly knives were made from available
materials, and were rather crude when compared to
Japanese blades. But unlike Japanese blades, the balisongs or butterfly knives were not meant to
pierce through feudal amour. In the heat of the
tropics, the target of a balisong or butterfly knife
was usually a nearly nude human body. For that
purpose, they were more than adequate.
The first butterfly knives were introduced to the
States by early Filipino immigrant farm laborers,
and by returning “GIâs” who brought them back as war
souvenirs. The soldiers referred to them as
“âclick-clickâ” knives because of their fancy but
noisy action. For the same reason, the
Filipino-American kids of that era called them balisongsâ - baliâ meaning to break and songâ for
the song of the blade. In the Filipino communities
like Stockton, California, the balisong or butterfly
knife was a common as baseball to American kids.
Every 5 year old knew how to open one, even though
they might not know how to use it.
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