"It was almost definitely the Americans or Spanish who introduced the fan knife to Batangas, or a well-heeled Filipino; they were (and still are) called lancetas, or daggers, by older folks. The name lanceta goes back to well before the name balisong.
There definitely weren't any German occupiers in the Philippines, and as for the Japanese...I've heard that a few balis may have been made with pieces of Japanese bone on the handles!"
