The Talents and Skills ofJOSÉ P. RIZAL

“His precocity since early boyhood turned into versatility in later years. Being curious and inquisitive, he developed a rare facility of mastering varied talents, skills, subjects and occupations.”

Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt

“Versatile genius.” Dr. Camilo Osias

Rizal was a polymath, with the ability to master

various skills and subject.

Rizal’s Talents and Skills

Rizal’s Talents and Skills

ACTOR

He acted as a character in one of Juan Luna’s paintings and acted in school dramas.

ANTHROPOLOGIST

He made researches on the physical and social make up of man.

ARCHEOLOGIST

Rizal studied monuments and antique currency everywhere he went. He drew most of the monuments he saw.

BOOK LOVER

He had a big library and brought many books abroad. A favorite pastime in Madrid. He stayed at home and read until midnight

This the Dao tree where Dr. Jose Rizal himself

planted and nurtured.

BOTANIST

Rizal maintained a garden in Dapitan where he planted and experimented on plants of all kinds.

BUSINESSMAN

He had a partner in Dapitan in the Abaca business there (1892-1896). One of his profitable business venture was the hemp industry.  Rizal engaged in business in partnership with Ramon Carreon on May 14, 1893, a Dapitan Merchant which has a profitable business ventures in  fishing, copra, and  hemp industries. He invited his relative Saturnina and Hidalgo to come to Mindanao for some business opportunities.

CHESS PLAYER

He played chess and bear several Germans and European friends and acquaintances.

COMMENTATOR

Rizal always expresses and publishes his personal opinion.

EDUCATOR

Rizal taught in his special school in Dapitan.

His exile in Dapitan gave him the opportunity to put into practice  his  educational  ideas.  In 1893, he established a school which existed until the end of his exile in July 1896. It began with three pupils and in the course of time the enrollment increased  to 16 and later 21.  In his letter to Blumentritt on March 13, Rizal said  that he  had 16 pupils in his school and these pupils did not  pay  any tuition.

ESSAYIST

- Reminiscence of a Student in Manila (his first essay)

- The Philippines a Century Hence (prophesied the downfall of Spain in Asia)

ETHNOLOGIST

- In his travels, Rizal was able to compare different races and he noted the differences.

He became a member of Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Society while under the patronage

of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.

FARMER

His total land holdings reached 70 hectares containing 6,000 hemp plants, 1,000 coconut trees, and numerous fruit trees, sugarcane, corn, coffee and cacao.

He devoted his time to agriculture and was able to bought about 16 hectares of land in Talisay. There he was able to plant cacao, fruit trees, sugarcane, corn and coconuts.

FENCER

He fenced with Europeans and Juan Luna and other friends in Europe.

Fencing – a sport practiced at that time only by the Ilustrados Inteligencia

GRAMMARIAN

- “Estudios Sobre la Tagala”

(a birthday gift for his former instructor, Father Sanchez who visited Rizal in Dapitan)

HISTORIAN

His annotation of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas entitled him as one

HORTICULTURIST

He experimented on and cultivated plants in Dapitan.

ICHTHYOLOGIST

He collected 38 new varieties of fish in Dapitan.

JOURNALIST

He authored several published articles in Spanish and English.

JUDOKA

Rizal was the first Filipino and Malay to have practiced and in fact, taught martial arts sport. Jiguro Kano taught him the “Way of Ju” which means the truth of the universe.

INVENTOR

- He invented a cigarette lighter, which he called sulpakan, and sent it to Blumentritt in 1887 as a gift.

- While in Dapitan, Rizal also invented a wooden machine for making bricks which turned out about 6,000 bricks daily.

MUSICIAN

He played the flute and composed pieces of music and cultivated music appreciation.

NOVELIST

- Noli Me Tangere

- El Filibusterismo

OPHTHALMOLOGIST

- He graduated in an ophthalmologic college in Spain.

-His mother who lost her eyesight in 1887, encouraged him to take advanced training in ophthalmology.

-Rizal is famous for this profession -a practicing ophthalmologist and that he was able to cure his own mother’s cataract. Rizal was known to have trained under prominent European ophthalmologists- Otto Becker and Louis de Wecker. He did practice the professional backed in his hometown in Calamba Laguna, while he was in Hong Kong and while in exile at Dapitan.

PAINTER

Title: Saturnina RizalMaterial: OilRemarks: Now in Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago

Title: Dapitan church curtainsMaterial: OilRemarks: Made in Dapitan, 1894 

PHILOSOPHER

Rizal not only loved wisdom but also regulated his life and enjoyed calmness of the life at all time. 

PHYSICIAN

He treated several patients afflicted not only with eye diseases.

POET

Rizal wrote over 35 poems including his famous Mi Ultimo Adios, To The Philippines, Our Mother Tongue, Memories of My town, Hymn to Labor, Kundiman, A Poem That Has No Title, Song of Maria Clara, To the Philippines Youth, To Josephine, Education Gives Luster to the Motherland, To the Virgin Mary, Sa Aking mga Kabata and others.

POLITICIAN

Although Rizal did not engage in politics, he exposed the evils of the political activities of the Spaniards in the Philippines through his writing. 

REVOLUTIONIST

Rizal encouraged reforms; discouraged old, impractical usage, and desired new and useful laws to benefit his countrymen. He desired changes for the better.

RHETORICIAN

Rizal has always practiced the art of persuasive and impressive speaking and writing.

SCIENTIST

Rizal’s practice of many sciences here and abroad made him noted scientist. Rizal does loved science and discovery. He was able to explore the rich virgin field of Mindanao and was able to collect great specimens of lizards, insects, bats, snakes etc. which he was able to send in a museum in Europe.

SCULPTOR

His works of his father and of Father Guerrico, S. J. typified his sculptural ability.

SHARP SHOOTER

SOCIOLOGIST

In Rizal’s study of Philippines social problems, he always encouraged and introduced solutions.

TRANSLATOR

- Christmas message (Hebrew to Spanish)

- William Tell and Andersen Fairy Tales (German to Tagalog)

- The Rights of Man (French to Tagalog)

- Zend-Avesta (Arabic to Spanish)

TRAVELER

He traveled around the world three times.

TUBERCULOSIS EXPERT

For having cured himself of this disease, he became and was recognized as an expert.

UNIVERSALIST

Rizal was the product of the very first synthesis between the civilizations of the East and the West. In his person embodied the ideals of the both.

ZOOLOGIST

- He was fond of pets. He researched later on their physiology, classification and habits.

- A regular contributor of specimens of reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates to the Dresden museum

- When he was an exile in Dapitan, he collected different kinds of species of animals. Among there were the Draco Rizali (Wandolleck), a specie of flying dragon; Rachophorous Rizali (Boetger), a hithertho unknown specie of toad; and Apogonia Rizali (Heller), a small beetle, which were later named after him.