Aswang
A source-specific account of the osuang in Juan de Plasencia’s 1589 report, read through Frederic W. Morrison’s 1903 translation.
Quick answer
Plasencia’s osuang is reportedly a flying killer that eats human flesh. This profile covers that particular account. Source, p. 183.
Source status
A colonial missionary report, mediated through a later English translation. Its Christian demonological framing requires caution: this is evidence of reported belief, not verified supernatural events or a comprehensive indigenous account.
- tradition
- Visayan beliefs as reported by Juan de Plasencia
- source scope
- Juan de Plasencia, Customs of the Tagalogs (1589), second relation, eighth entry, p. 183; Frederic W. Morrison’s translation in Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands, volume VII (1903).
- aliases
- ["osuang"]
Source account and terminology
The eighth entry names osuang, glossed as “sorcerer” in the translation. The alias preserves this edition’s spelling; it should not imply that every account grouped under Aswang describes the same being.
Supported abilities and description
Flight, killing and flesh-eating are reported. The passage supplies no anatomy or flight mechanism; wings and animal transformations cannot be inferred.
Source realm
Plasencia assigns this account to the Visayas and denies its presence among Tagalogs. Treat that geographical restriction as his claim, not a timeless boundary. No separate supernatural realm is specified.