In a previous article I examined Pinto's journal for every reference to the Philippines. This time I will be looking at references to the Ryukyu Islands (that's the Lequios Islands) which show beyond all doubt that they are not Batanes, Luzon, or anywhere else in the Philippines. As of this writing Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has not mentioned these passages or offered an explanation of them. It's highly probable that when he reads this article he will be encountering them for the first time.
The first reference from Pinto places the Lequios Islands in the north along with China and Japan. If the Lequios Islands are the Philippines why would Pinto mention them separately from other Southeastern Asian locales and placing them in the north?
However, before I go any further, I thought it necessary to relate the outcome of the Achinese war and what they eventually accomplished with their huge armada, the point being to provide a basis for understanding the reason for my gloomy predictions and why I have been so worried all along about our fortress in Malacca, whose importance to the State of India has apparently been forgotten by those who, by right, should remember it most; for the way I see it, and it stands to reason, we have no alternative but to destroy the Achinese or face up to the fact that, because of them, we will eventually lose the entire area to the south, which includes Malacca, Banda, the Moluccas, Sunda, Borneo, and Timor, to say nothing of the area to the north, China, Japan, the Ryukyus, and many other countries and ports where the Portuguese, thanks to the intercourse and commerce they engage in, are assured of far better prospects for earning a living than in any or all of the other nations discovered beyond the Cape of Good Hope, an area so vast that its coastline extends for more than three thousand leagues, as anyone can see by looking at the respective maps and charts, provided, of course, that they are accurately drawn.
pg. 46
Here it is in the first English and original Portuguese versions.
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| https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nc01.ark:/13960/t0ns8c57t&seq=50&q1=lequios |
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| https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0005237763&seq=116&q1= |
This passage effectively and singlehandedly refutes Tim's claim that Pinto located the Lequios Islands in the region of the Philippines. There is nothing ambiguous about the passage. Ryukyu is located in the north along with Japan and China. If Tim claims north is ambiguous, then what does that say about Japan and China? Is their northern location relative to the Moluccas and Borneo to be disputed as ambiguous?
This description of Ryukyu's location also affirms what Pinto writes about the Lequios Islands being situated at 29°N.
This Ryukyu island is situated at twenty-nine degrees latitude.
Pinto, pg. 300, Rebecca Catz, translator
There is no ambiguity here. Tim's solution of making this a range of places between 9° and 20° contradicts the plain words as well as the previous passage which explicitly says the Lequios are in the north along with Japan and China.
This passage locating the Lequios Islands in the north near Japan and China also lends weight to Pinto's claim that he could see Japan from the Lequios Islands.
We proceeded on our voyage in the battered condition we were in, and three days later we were struck by a storm that blew over the land with such fierce gusts of wind that that same night we were driven out of sight of the shore. And since by then we were unable to approach it again, we were forced to make with full sail for the island of the Ryukyus where this pirate was well known to both the king and the other people there. With this in view we sailed ahead through the islands of this archipelago, but since at this time we were without a pilot, ours having been killed in the recent battle, and the northeast winds were blowing head on, and the currents were running strong against us, we went tacking with great effort from one board to the other for twenty-three days until finally, at the end of that time, our Lord brought us within sight of land. Coming in closer to see if it showed any sign of an inlet or harbor with good anchorage, we noticed a huge fire burning over to the south, almost at a level with the horizon. This led us to believe that it was probably inhabited and that there might be people there who would sell us water, which we were running short of.
As we were anchoring opposite the island in seventy fathoms of water, two small canoes with six men on board came rowing out from shore. They came alongside, and after an exchange of greetings and courtesies in their fashion, they asked us whence the junk had come. Our answer was that we had come from China, bringing merchandise to trade with them, if they would give us leave to do so. One of them replied that as long as we paid the duties that were customarily charged in Japan, which was the name of that big land mass outlined ahead of us, the nautoquim, lord of that island of would readily grant us permission. He followed this up by Tanegashima, telling us everything else that we needed to know and showed us the port where we were supposed to anchor.
pg. 274
Again, there is no ambiguity here. The Lequios Islands are in the north, located at 29°, and Japan can be seen from there. Taken together these three sections from Pinto's journal decidedly refute Tim's claim the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. There is simply no getting around these passages except to ignore them by claiming the plain text of the Portuguese is ambiguous, the translations are flawed, and Pinto is unreliable. That has been Tim's method every time he encounters a passage in Pinto that contradicts him.
The next passage says that Pinto encountered a Ryukyu Island junk that was carrying a "prince of the island of Tosa, which lies at latitude thirty-six degrees."
Keeping to our course for seven days, we came in sight of an island called Pulo Condore at eight and one-third degrees north latitude that lay almost northwest by southeast with the bar of Cambodia; and after rounding it completely we discovered a good anchorage called Bralapisão on the eastern side, a little over six leagues from the mainland. And there we found a Ryukyu Island junk that was bound for Siam with an ambassador on board from the nautaquim of Lindau, prince of the island of Tosa, which lies at latitude thirty-six degrees, who immediately got under way when he saw us.
pg. 68
Rebecca Catz, a noted translator and scholar of Pinto's journal, has a comment on Tosa.
Tosa: Former name of the Japanese island of Shikoku, and name of a former province on south Shikoku Island, now Kochi Prefecture. Home of the influential Tosa clan.
In this next passage Pinto relates a story about Antonio de Faria in the Chinese port of Ning-po. He mentions the presence of Ryukyu Islanders "seeking the protection of the Portuguese against the pirates infesting those waters."
Antonio de Faria embarked on this lanteia and when he arrived at the pier there was a deafening racket of trumpets, shawms, timbals, fifes and drums, and many other instruments used by the Chinese, Malays, Chams, Siamese, Borneans, Ryukyu Islanders, and other nations who came to that port seeking the protection of the Portuguese against the pirates infesting those waters.
pg. 131
If the Lequios Islands are the Philippines what are Filipinos doing in China "seeking the protection of the Portuguese against the pirates infesting those waters?" When did Filipino sailors ever seek the protection of the Portuguese from pirates in Chinese waters?
In the next passage Pinto refers to the capital city of the Ryukyus, Pangor, as being the capital of a great kingdom.One should not imagine for a moment that it is anything like Rome, Constantinople, Venice, Paris, London, Seville, Lisbon, or any of the great cities of Europe, no matter how famous or populous. Nor should one imagine that it is like any of the cities outside of Europe, such as Cairo in Egypt, Tauris in Persia, Amadabad in Cambay, Bisnaga in Narsinga, Gour in Bengal, Ava in Chaleu, Timplão in Calaminhan, Martaban and Bagou in Pegu, Guimpel and Tinlau in Siammon, Ayuthia in the Sornau, Pasuruan and Demak on the island of Java, Pangor in the Ryukyus, Uzangué in Greater Cochin, Lançame in Tartary, or Miyako in Japan—all capitals of great kingdoms; for I dare say that all of them put together cannot compare with the least thing, let alone the sum total of all the grandiose and sumptuous things that make up this great city of Peking, such as magnificent buildings, infinite wealth, excessive and overwhelming abundance of all the necessities of life, people, trade and countless ships, orderly government, justice, tranquil court life, the great state in which the tutões, chaens, anchacys, aytaos, puchancys, and bracalões live, for all of them are extremely high paid governors of very large kingdoms and provinces.
pg. 218
Pungor Place Name:
Pinto describes being taken to "Pungor," the capital city where he and his companions were judged.
No town or port named "Pungor" exists in Ryukyu historical or linguistic records.
However, in the Batanes Islands of the Philippines, "pungor" or "pongor" is an ancient Ivatan word meaning "meeting place," "gathering hall," or "assembly court" — fitting Pinto’s description perfectly.
This linguistic and cultural match further confirms Pinto was describing an area around Northern Luzon and the Batanes/Babuyan Islands, not Okinawa.
Next, Pinto mentions a particular Chinese religious sect, as well as other "barbaric sects", that had spread all the way to the Lequios Islands.
This religious sect, as well as all the other barbaric sects of China—which, from what I have learned from them, number thirty-two altogether, as I have mentioned several times before—reached Siam from the kingdom of Pegu and were spread from there by priests and cabizondos throughout all the mainland countries of Cambodia, Champa, Laos, the Gueos, the Pafuás, the empire of Uzangué, Cochinchina, and over to the archipelago of the islands of Hainan, the Ryukyus, and Japan, as far as the borders of Miyako and Bandou, infecting with the poison of their herpes as great a part of the world as did the cursed sect of Mohammed.
pg. 231
Rebecca Catz says this is a reference to Buddhism.
religious sect: A confused reference to Buddhism and a pantheon of minor deities
Later on, after being shipwrecked in the Lequios Islands, Pinto mentions being imprisoned in a Pagoda in the town of Sipautor.
Close to sundown we reached a good-sized village of over five hundred house-holds called Sipautor, where we were immediately placed in one of the temples of their worship, a pagoda that was surrounded by a very high wall, and put under guard of over a hundred men, who could be heard shouting and beating the drums throughout the night, during which each one of us got as much rest as the time and circumstances permitted.
pg. 289
Pagodas are associated with Chinese religions like Buddhism and Taosim. If the Lequios Islands are the Philippines where are the ancient Philippine Pagodas?
Timothy Jay Schwab says the ancient Philippine Pagodas in Batanes are known as Ijangs.
The blogger arrogantly asks, “Where are the pagodas in Batanes?”—as if his failure to conduct a basic Google search justifies mocking the entire region and our research. But the egg is on his face.
In fact, Batanes is home to ancient fortified settlements called “ijang”, built atop hills with stone fortifications, ceremonial areas, and religious functions. Four have been found in Batanes. These were not only strategic but spiritual centers—and in archaeological studies, they have been compared directly to the Gusuku Castles of Okinawa, the very structures tied to “pagodas” in Japanese tradition. Wow!!! Another illiterate accusation flies as most are from that agitator incapable of even basic Google searches.
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/pinto-the-typhoon-and-the-blogger-who-can-t-read-a-storm/
Hilltop fortresses in Batanes which resemble Okinawan castles are ancient Philippine Pagodas? That doesn't fit what Pinto said.
Close to sundown we reached a good-sized village of over five hundred house-holds called Sipautor, where we were immediately placed in one of the temples of their worship, a pagoda that was surrounded by a very high wall,
After reaching a large village Pinto and his men are placed inside a TEMPLE, i.e a pagoda, surrounded by a very high wall. That does not describe the hilltop fortresses of Batanes.
The Ivatan traditionally lived in the ijang which were fortified mountain areas and drank sugar-cane wine, or palek.
The people of Sipautor were not living inside the pagoda. They were living inside a town which was outside of the pagoda. The Ivatan people lived inside their ijangs. Clearly a temple, a pagoda as Pinto calls it, is not an ijang or hilltop fortress.
Tim accuses me of not having done a basic Google search which is not true. I did search for Philippine pagodas while writing a previous article. Ijang's did not return as a search result. One and only one relevant hit came up.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma-Cho_Temple |
The Ma-Cho, Mazu or Ma Cho Temple (simplified Chinese: 菲律滨隆天宫; traditional Chinese: 菲律濱隆天宮; pinyin: Fēilǜbīn Lóngtiān Gōng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hui-li̍p-pin Liông Thiⁿ-keng) is a Taoist temple to the Chinese Sea-Goddess Mazu located on Quezon Avenue in Barangay II, San Fernando, La Union in the Philippines. It was built in 1977 by a group of Filipino-Chinese devotees under the leadership of Dy Keh Hio and with the support of former Tourism Secretary Jose D. Aspiras.
Lonely Planet refers to this as Ma-Cho Pagoda but it was built in 1977. The fact is there are no ancient Philippine pagodas. However there are, or were, mosques built in the style of a pagoda.
Ancient Filipinos and Filipinos who continue to adhere to the indigenous Philippine folk religions generally do not have so-called "temples" of worship under the context known to foreign cultures. However, they do have sacred shrines, which are also called as spirit houses. They can range in size from small roofed platforms, to structures similar to a small house (but with no walls), to shrines that look similar to pagodas, especially in the south where early mosques were also modeled in the same way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Philippine_shrines_and_sacred_grounds
A mosque that looks like a pagoda is not a pagoda.
Here's a picture of a pagoda-like Mosque which was in Lanao del Sur. This is a before and after picture.
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| https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=123478723389586&id=103234338747358&_rdr |
According to a Philstar article written in 2014 this Mosque is 300 years old which means it was built sometime around 1714.
Within the municipality is where Baab Ur-Rahman Masjid, the oldest mosque in Lanao, is found.
The Masjid, which is almost 300 years old to date, is one of the earliest historical landmarks of Islam in the Philippines and is the second earliest mosque built in the country.
https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2014/06/16/1335294/taraka-lanao-del-surs-cultural-hotspot
That post-dates Pinto which makes it irrelevant. It is not clear why some Mosques were built like pagodas.
One of the earliest types of mosques in Lanao is a five-tiered building resembling a Chinese pagoda. A variation of this type is a three-tiered or seven-tiered edifice.
As of the moment, there is no exact explanation why the earliest types of mosques in Lanao look like a Chinese pagoda, What is certain is that some Maranaos are proud to possess Chinese jars as posaka. This is evidence of the strong Chinese influence among the Maranaos, some of whom are proud to trace their descent to Chinese ancestors.
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/a-look-at-philippine-mosques/
The author of this article concludes by noting that Timothy Jay Schwab did not write the article about Ivatan ijangs being Philippine pagodas.
Note: Timothy did not even write this blog.
If that is true then it is proof that The God Culture Research Team is very incompetent. Imagine comparing a hilltop fortress with a pagoda. It doesn't match the context of Pinto's journal in the slightest. Earlier Tim wrote that Sipautor means "a burnt field where children play" but now apparently, with the context of the pagoda, it's a hilltop fortress.
This reveals a common pattern of behavior Tim engages in when he is informed of something in a passage that contradicts him. Instead of reading the whole passage to determine the context he isolates that one thing and spins it. When it turns out his spin does not conform to the context of the passage in question he has to spin it again. If Tim had interpreted the passage in question holistically, including the name and size of the town along with the existence of a pagoda, instead of attempting to interpret them in isolation from one another he might have a better thesis. As it stands this kind of inconsistent and arbitrary analysis of Pinto's journal undermines Tim's credibility and the credibility of any research team.
While Buddhism did find its way to the Philippines it has never been a majority Buddhist country or part of the larger Buddhist sphere of influence.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_the_Philippines#/media/File:Buddhist_Expansion.svg |
If the Lequios Islands are the Philippines why does Pinto describe them as being infected with Chinese Buddhism? An infection indicates a significant presence of Buddhism in the Lequios Islands. There has never been a significant presence of Buddhism in the Philippines.
The final reference to the Ryukyu Islands to consider concerns a festival for the dead. The Ryukyus call it Champas.
And we, in the same way, spent our time now on one thing, then on another, though most of the time we just looked, listened, and asked questions about the laws, pagodas, and sacrificial rites we observed there, which were extremely fearsome and terrifying, only five or six of which I will describe, as I have already done in other instances, because I believe that should be enough to give one an idea of what the others are like that I will not describe.
One of them took place at the time of the new moon in December, which fell on the ninth day of the month. It is the day on which these heathens are accustomed to celebrate a festival called Massunterivó by the people of this land, Forió by the Japanese, Manejó by the Chinese, Champas by the Ryukyus, Ampalitor by the Cochinese, and Sansaporau by the Siamese, Burmese, Pafuas, and the Çacotais; so that even though, because of the diversity of their languages, the names in themselves are different, they all mean one and the same thing in our language, which is “remembrance of all the dead.” This festival we saw them celebrate here on this day, with so many different things never before imagined that I cannot decide with which one of them to begin, because the very thought of them, coupled with the blindness of these wretched people, in such disparagement of the honor of God, is enough to make a man fall speechless.
pg. 339
If the Lequios Islands are the Philippines then what is this festival for the dead celebrated on the 9th day of December called Champas which is shared with the Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, and Burmese?
