The Tagalog word for a toy top is turumpó (trumpó).
For thousands of years now, the top has been played by boys all over the world. When diggings of ancient city sites were made, clay tops were found among the ruins. From these discoveries, it has been proven that ancient peoples like the Greeks and the Romans used tops for playthings. Some of the tops were made of bone – aside from clay – which was the reason why they were intact even after thousands of years.
Surprisingly, these ancient diggings are halfway around the world from the land where, it is said, the tops were first played. This land is Japan. Very old paintings of children and grown-ups at play in ancient Japan show pretty tops made of bamboo. Fine decorations of fern and bamboo leaves marked these ancient tops.
Even today the tops that are made by Japanese artisans are prettily decorated. There is a kind of Japanese top which has holes on the sides so that it whistles while it spins. Another unusual kind of Japanese top is played on a flat board with a handle. Instead of spinning this top on the ground, it is set on the board which is held steady in one hand by the player. It needs double talent: to spin the top and to keep it steady on the spinning board.
From Japan to other parts of Asia, including the Philippines, the top traveled its happy way into the hands of young boys. The homemade top has always been a special treasure. In the early days, young Filipino boys carved their own tops from the many marvelous kinds of wood around them. Although few Filipino boys today make their own tops, the art is still alive in many little towns in southern Philippines, especially among the tribal groups. Their tops carry simple decorations like S-shapes and vine tendrils and some hints of fern leaves.
A boy just by himself spends many happy hours spinning his favorite top. But it is competition that makes the top a most interesting and exciting toy. There is the simple contest for which top spins the longest time. Every other boy knows how to play this game with his friends.
But there are also the more exciting battles of the tops. By spinning them cleverly, boys can get tops to hit each other and even to split them into two. The secret is in how the tops are thrown from above or sidewise after they have been fired with their strings.
