Yamashita Treasure Codes and Signs

I have a friend who claimed that he was a descendant of a Japanese General during the war and that he was born in Laguna. He said that he ran away from home because of his cruel mother and a substance user. He was always receiving maltreatment from his mother which led him to go and find the treasure that was given to him by his great grand father, a general during world war 2. As he was alone and trying to find where the place on his map, he was lost several times and kept on struggling to find the place until he gained some friends and tried to find that place. After several months of trying to find the name of the place he finally found it but he was already too late because someone already had dug where the treasure. He was very disappointed and no money left to go home, and then we met him at that time.

He showed us his map and he claimed and still believed that there are still some left from the map that may be it was not yet recovered. I tried to analyze the map but it was barely unreadable specially the written "kanji" and some signs and symbols are also included. He had the idea of retracing the map using a pen which made it worse and unreadable. The story behind this map was that the official drew this map on a piece of clothing then they have divided among with other officers. Until the death of his grandfather, he gave this to my friend because he was the one who had taken care of his grandfather during his hospitalization.

The only thing I could understand in this map was the tree symbol, since "Kanji" was really complicated and needed to be learned for years. "Kanji" was still used in during the war until it was reformed and standardized today. People now in japan don't know how to read "Kanji" however it can be learned and taken into a University in Japan. He even tried to consult a fellow Japanese to decipher the map but he was scolded because of what he did on the map, he said that he had a certain chemical to restore to clearly see what is written on the map. The Japanese told him that there are booby traps indicated on the map and he should be very careful because bombs are included on the treasure and those bombs were greased and could still detonate once the contact point is triggered.

There were treasure signs also were visible such as the tree which is pointing at two boxes, and the two boxes is believed to be the treasure. Road was also a very visible indication and some codes are there but we could not decipher it. Every map has its own legend depending on who was the one in charge in cartography, Yamashita's treasure map was a very popular one and the most deciphered one and every sign and codes were already known to treasure hunters. Some were common signs but some are unique which is the hardest to decipher.

If you want more to see other treasure signs go here.

In the past months, we have been working on some projects and it was almost of them are near water or waterfalls and heard a lot of stories from folks where we stayed. They claim that they have seen some signs and some Japanese tourist asking for directions as where the waterfalls located but they did not tell the tourist where the waterfalls is. Curiously, they went to investigate the waterfalls because they know the location and based from what the Japanese have described them they have found out that he was telling the truth but they don't know where they have place the treasure and so they have asked our help.



The place was beautiful and mountainous surrounding that place, it was a perfect spot to place or hide something because of the topography and plenty of water. The old folks who had witnessed the tragedy of war and Japanese soldiers marching through this place carrying heavy loads and POW's many locals that time were afraid and had sought refuge on other places but some witnessed that they have seen Japanese army pouring shiny things from the waterfalls. The person who had told this had already passed away but he told this story to his children.



When we were at the place and started to work on digging, we had used our metal detector but it does not pick up any kind of metal and thought that it could be really deep. We use large water hose to divert the water and prevent water going to were we are digging, it was really hard because water could still go through and this can be very dangerous since the soil above is wet and loose. We could be instantly buried alive if we were not that careful. As we have dug further, we noticed that the soil was very loose and it was like dug before recently. And we have found out after a few days that we were months too late because some of the locals have seen foreigners digging to the same exact spot where we are. We have left this project once we had found out that it was already taken.

This was suspected to be a platinum so the finders of this consulted us if this is a real platinum however when we had it assayed by an expert he said it contains only a small amount of platinum and contains more lead. We did some tests if this would be a real platinum it should not be melted easily using a blow torch but this test failed because this piece of metal had burn marks when blow torched. Some markings also indicates that it is rusting but it is hard to notice it.

They have found this at a seashore, the original of this is big and heavy so they decided it to cut it into small pieces so it would be easy to transport. The original had a size of approximately 12" x 16" and there are engraved markings of "Faraloi" and some sort of serial numbers. The owner of this thought of this as a part of a ship that was sunken by the Japanese during world war 2.

We were dismayed by the result of the assay report however we have gained another experience in identifying a real platinum. Platinum today costs more than gold and are much rarer to find because of its many uses the demand is quite high these days.

I just happen to browse some online items on ebay and a metal detector showed on my screen and it seems that the prices are really ridiculous. Then as I search further, I have found out that some people render metal detecting for a fee of 75k pesos. I wasn't really surprised knowing some of treasure hunters who have invested in metal detectors that are expensive but having no success in finding a treasure seems to have an alternate way of having their ROI ( Return Of Investment) atleast.  And as I was scrolling down to their description saying that they had invested almost 2 million pesos for their metal detector which is an OKM exp 5000, it is really that expensive because it penetrates deeper into the ground. I looked at some of the pictures that they took and I think they were able to have recovered a treasure using that metal detector.

I could say that the metal detector that they were using was pretty accurate in recovering buried treasure here in the Philippines and if somehow I would like to invest one too if time and money is available. The advantage of this metal detector is you would easily know if there is a high concentration of metal underground by just scanning the ground and calculating the size and how deep is the object. From my experience in metal detecting by just using a simple metal detector could sometimes misled to either a iron ore or high concentration of iron from the ground and sometimes large pieces of junk. And by just relying on instinct and signs is hard and could take months of digging, time and money.

From my point of view, either you want their service and or you are confident that your project does have a positive sign that there is a treasure it might be worth a try. But if budget is not enough then I think it is better to rely on instinct and signs around your project.

On my numerous quest in finding a treasure, I meet a lot of different people on my journey which inspires me more to not give up on my conquest in searching. They tell me stories which are true that some recover treasures successfully and now richer than ever before a life with just enough food in their table and for everyday needs. One friend whom I have known for a while was one of the most lucky person and that gave me inspiration to not to stop with this kind of hobby because their group found rough diamonds on a small piece of bottle (with a label "Clifford Wilkinson TANSAN").

They have sold it and made millions of money and living a luxurious life however he did not boasted it to everyone of course because he might endanger his family and he is very humble when we had met again. He built a small business then later it grew until he put up some grocery store as a front so people would not suspect because he was just a part time carpenter and it would seem impossible for his wage to reach at a stage wherein he has a large grocery store in an instant. He settled a lot of debts and paid them little by little when he got paid from their treasure. Until now he kept their life very simple and showed them that it was all hard work behind from his success.


As a fellow treasure hunter he shared me how did they recover the bottle full of rough diamonds on it. At first, one of their comrade called for a project that he had seen a nail marker on a tree pointing to some stone with another symbol. I have asked on what was the symbol but he forgot already but he described it to me like it was a lizard with a long tail pointing downward. When they began digging the site, at 3 feet, they found remains of human bones and they were shocked and their conviction came strong that there is really a treasure nearby.

They continued to go down deeper, and found a cement barrier at 9 feet it was at about 5 by 4 feet and 10 inch thick. It was hard to break down the cement using tools for breaking rocks and they almost give up when they tried to break it. After trying for several days, they have gone through the cement and found a small metal box, like an ammunition box, containing the bottle with rough diamonds and some jewelries were included and thought that those rough diamonds were just shards of glasses that could cut them when they touch it, luckily one of their comrade is an educated one and had seen a rough diamond on the internet and he told them about it.

They were really happy and distributed their loot evenly and they had gone separate ways. He also told me that they wanted to give up when they could not break the cement and he has issues regarding his family due to lack of finances and his wife calling him crazy because they have nothing to feed to their children and still he is searching for hidden treasures. But it was all worth it when they were successful. He showed me the bottle and took a picture of it. And I asked him if he is still interested in treasure hunting, all he replied was no. As I look to his eyes, he seems to be very contented with what he has now.

A friend Discovered this heart shaped sign and it is really an obviously man made. According to old folks around here there had been numerous Japanese soldiers were marching here and had an encampment nearby because a river is nearby and water is accessible. Near this rock is a big white stone and the only white stone  that is not ordinary to me because it was like man made rock that was assemble through the use of cement. I see peels of the rock which is quite the same with a cement and some colorful rocks were also seen from the formation of the rock. The rock is shaped like an egg and its size is SUV car. We plan to break it but locals seem to prevent us from doing this when they have noticed our presence and have known that we are treasure hunters. Alas we had no choice but to move out and find a better project.

According also to locals and the farmer near this place claims that there are many spirits around  and they hear a marching foot, a crying lady and child, footsteps of horses and many spirits that are really scaring people. There is a possibility that a big cache of treasure is hidden by the Japanese Soldier here because of the strong spirits that wander around the place.

According to the Treasure Hunting Codes that was published by the Treasure Hunting Association of The Philippines, Heart sign means that there is a big cache/value of hidden treasure.

We recently found this when a friend called us asking if this is a possible treasure sign as this was a very old cement which existed during the war and nobody knows it why it was there. As shown from the above picture, it was erected sideways and there is a written numbers and letters then at the middle there is a noticeable arrow pointing downward. The arrow has a small hole nearly at the center and I think this is not just an ordinary PSU land markings. I have heard stories that the Japanese mimics or clones PSU's land markings but they make it differently to avoid confusion and put some of their codes or signs. Then they mix some gold bars or jewelries on to the cement.


This project will be updated soon when we would work it out as we are still saving for another project. Happy treasure hunting everyone. :D

We have encountered many tunnels during treasure hunting and mostly were closed tunnels bearing codes and signs near a slab of stone and perfectly etched. Sometimes it is pointed by a large nail that was put on an old tree or a large one. Inside a tunnel may lead to an empty room but in some stories that I have heard, there are large volumes of treasure were put and at the middle of the room there is golden Buddha surrounding other treasures and gold bars around. Other tunnels may also have booby traps which may be triggered when stepped on as some are bombs or landmines that are still very active due to they have put some oil/grease to prevent corrosion over time.

Above picture was taken in Nueva Ecija, this is just one of the open tunnels that we have found on the mountain. Near this tunnel are closed tunnels which was dug by fellow treasure hunters and found some old relics during the war including old curtains that was used by the Japanese officials as their door inside the tunnels. Water is near and it is probably their water source during the war. According to the Old locals whom have been residing during the war told has that it was the Japanese hideout until their surrender and many still unknown tunnels in the mountain were still there until now.

Letter signs that were used to indicate a nearby tunnel etched in a stone based from the code that I have borrowed from fellow treasure hunters. And below are some of the symbol that the Japanese used as a code for a tunnel containing deposits.

There were many stories that most treasure hunters encounter this type of sign and are very successful in recovering hidden treasures. I have too experienced to see one Foot or either 2 Feet that has been drawn and etched on a rock but mostly were destroyed by fellow treasure hunters to prevent others from seeing it and some had been already recovered. This indicates that a large volume of treasure has been buried under if it is seen above ground, and this is the last trail or the treasure is very near when seen over the dig site. From each site, there are various indication of foot from what I have seen. From simple art to very detailed ones. Mostly, the detailed ones are far more accurate that a treasure is present rather than forcing your imagination that it is a drawn foot even if it is natural and not man made.



We have ventured again to a place in some part of Nueva Viscaya, when a comrade called us to check on the project that they have. In fact, it was a really positive site however it was dangerous and the place is mostly populated. Dangerous in a way that a large pile of rocks which is taller than a normal person is buried beneath and must be lifted by using heavy machinery. On the site before it was dug up, there are round rocks that were beautifully arranged in a circling pattern. When our friend and his companions were removing the rocks and dirt, at 3 feet deep they found shards of old pottery scattered then as they go deeper larger rocks appeared and one rock had a perfectly etched foot sign. They were too afraid because they have gone deep and large pile of rocks were at the side and one mistake they could be buried alive by those rocks or might fall to one of them. So they have stopped working and decided to plan their next move but they never did return. The folks around and the cousin of my friend which is the owner of the land told us that there are American Nationals came looking for that pile of rocks but they told that they don't know anything about those which I used to think and confirm that there is really a buried treasure. I am happy to update this soon and we would return to this project because this would cost a lot of money and time.

So if you happen to see one like these sign or symbol don't rush in, it is better to plan and take a quick survey on how to quickly recover treasure specially if the place is populated, people would be intrigued and might do harm when you have successfully recovered a treasure. Confirm and investigate if some old locals witnessed or know the history of the place if there is an encampment or military base nearby. And finally, do some Metal detecting. Treasure Hunting is a very expensive, time consuming hobby, and dangerous so be very careful.

Maybe many of you have encountered skeletons in your dig and just wondering what it is for. Historically, These are the POW's (prisoners of war) either from other countries or a local from the Philippines. I have heard from old folks who is a living witness to a beheading and burying of these prisoners, they use their sharp samurai in decapitating heads easily. Along with the buried treasure, they use the POW's to guard the treasure by killing them on the site and making a sacred prayer like binding their spirit to guard the treasure.

Many treasure hunters such as we, experienced ghosts on our sites. Once I have experienced,they entered my dream and warned us that we should not continue because one of your comrade has a greedy heart. And we dd not continue to dig because we noticed a change on our comrades attitude the following day.

A lot also do not believe in spirits guarding these treasure but based from my experience they really do and sometimes they can manipulate minds of a person. So in working on a project everyone should be spiritually fit and should have clean heart and mind.

I have heard from our recent project that our guide and the one who called us had told us about a skeleton from their dig but they were afraid in continuing it because of supernatural causes struct them while they were working. They claim that when they were working it suddenly dark clouds approach and it rained hard. And a black bird was watching them always. They did not continue their project for months until they called us. But unfortunately we were too late already, the site were already dug up and there were broken pieces of a jar. And the bones were left there scattered, but we did arranged it and buried the bones. So if you happen to have found some thing like this be sure to have a metal detector.

Last year we went for a project to the mountainous region of Ifugao, a place where the tiger of Malaya surrendered to the Allies. Locals told me that the mountain in the photo above was the original place which is the Nabigihan Mountain where Yamashita had surrendered but due to the place is a forest. They have declared that it should be near a community near by, thereby declaring Kiangan as the official place where Yamashita surrendered because it is just a few miles from the mountain. When I have known this, I realized that it was not written from any books but old locals from Ifugao knew the real story.

General Yamashita stayed in this place and in this mountain I think one of the locals told me that this was chosen by the General as the seat or center of the Empire, In this mountain they planted 4 Cherry trees on 4 locations of the mountain. But treasure hunters destroyed these trees because they have thought that it contains buried treasure by the General. Sad to know that instead of destroying a historical evidence they should have nurtured it. Old folks tell stories to me which are very historical during the time of war, many died and they have feared intensely just upon seeing a Japanese soldier. Japanese Soldiers were very hungry during the near surrender and they were delaying the Allies to bury most of their stolen loots. One road near to the place where I have taken the photo, old folks told me that during the war, Japanese soldiers exchange gold coins for food to the locals but the locals don't know whats the value of gold at that time.

This picture is where General Yamashita officially surrendered and until now this house still stands as one of the historical site in Ifugao beside from the Rice Terraces which recently was removed from the 8th Wonder of the World.

This War should never be repeated, many lives were lost and forgotten. Let their death be not in vain nor fade away. Japan had altered their textbooks regarding this war but many still knows the truth about the real history.

This was found by my uncle's friend, my uncle took this picture and he described it that it changes color when water is poured and when it is dry. I have seen some treasure hunters also encountered this type of rock that has been recovered on suspected treasure sites. Although I do not know if this has something of value since from my view, it is not a type of diamond or some gem with a high price at stake. Some say that this kind of rock is being used as a decoration in their home and it is really beautiful to see specially if light is near to it. I have also heard that there are buyers of this kind of rock and pay for a cheap price.

The story behind this rock where my uncle's friend got this on a rice field which has a rich history where Japanese used a camp site near to that field. They were plowing when he suddenly felt a strange flat rock and then to his curiosity, he tried to flip the flat rock and found out that there are some black soils. He called his brother and they started digging until they have found this egg shaped treasure. There were 12 pieces in all and I think they have sold it somewhere for a high price. I think this is closely looks like a moonstone to me. And the Japanese soldiers used this as a sign to a treasure near by. Sometimes from what I have heard is that they used stones from the river as a cover for the buried treasure and as a sign as well.

For several years, We have been using this kind of metal detector and I give this a positive review. One is because it is very compatible here in our land because of the rich mineral soil that we have and it features that it can cancel or minimize detection of minerals. We had been using this on our journey and it pick ups a lot of metals. There have been a lot of finds but no treasure has been recovered yet but relics of the WW2 have been found.

Features I have found to be positive when I use Whites TM 808

Long Battery Consumption and it is available anywhere here in our place

Easy to assemble

Sensitive and easy to configure the depth range

Accurate in Finding low depth metals

It might be bulky for some but for me it is light weight and compact

Practice is a must because getting used to settings or configuration takes a while to master

For the mastery of usage for this detector, I have dug 6 types of hole just to test and practice depth settings for the TM 808 and I have put some metal with same sizes. I have been playing it for days just to get used to the settings and from where I am most comfortable with. Small metals are hard to find even if a piece of coin at a small size, it must be in a bulk form. For a standard coin it reached at about 1 feet to 1.5 feet for the detector to sound. And I tried a larger size which is a big can of milk and it could reach it till 4.5 feet. Depending on what your technique is but first is I actually set it to auto and if the there is a positive detection, I would switch to manual to confirm it and adjust the setting for the depth. Well the manual is actually short but it is comprehensible and requires testing and practice.

Interesting Finds from my Metal Detector

When I was practicing around the house I have detected some metals and these were some coins, bullets, and something like a strainer. Bullets were found from the ground until 2-3 feet, when I asked my grandfather about those bullets if it were used during the war but he said he did not know. All he knows is that the previous owner of the land here dumped those bullets. The capsule has an 42 and EG etched on it.

I found these coins at about 2-3 feet, these were old but it was nice to find something like these. Philippine coins from 1971 - 1972 were found at 1 feet and the foreign coins with 20 centimes indicated.


This was found at about 3 feet from where the bullets also were found. I don't know what is the purpose of this but it looks like a strainer for the bathroom or sink. It has a property of brass or copper.

This rock was found on an old canteen along with 30 old U.S. coins covered in black. The old coins are silver in properties however, the rock is a puzzle. We tried to half it using a steel saw but it would not even scratch it. There three pieces of this rock and the owner had given the two to a Mayor in their place. The Mayor was able to give the owner a piece of land, tractor, and vehicles. The Mayor also is searching this piece of rock but our friend had pawned this one that is worth 50k in PH pesos. We are desperate in breaking this rock but we doubt that maybe this rock would contain nothing inside of value and that my friends 50k will not be refunded just in case.



When we asked about the coins, he said that it was tarnished because when the owner was trying to remove the black covering the coins he used a knife in trying to remove it and the coins writings were no longer visible because of the heavy markings of the knife.The owner claimed that they found this on 2 big rocks when they were Terra-forming their land for their garden and they have to remove the big rocks. And when they have removed it, they have found the old canteen including those 30 coins.

We had asked some pawn shops here in the local to see if there is a value to this kind of rock but they all said that they have to break it to see if there is something inside it. And that was we were thinking in the first place is to break it but we still have doubts in breaking it. It might contain a small piece of a diamond and it could be more worth it that the 50k that was the pawned value. So we advised my friend to talk to the owner that we should break it and return his 50k then pay the old owner that is more worth it than 50k also. And our friend returned home then we are waiting for his update regarding the rock.

On my venture to another place, one of our friend contacted us again claiming he found another sign and it is a genuine one and the place has a rich history that the Japanese Army had camp there during the world war 2. I cannot interpret it because of the different writings were etched but I clearly understood the letter "P" stands for TUNNEL.


Other treasure signs were also found in the same place. If someone knew or has encountered this sign you can contact me through my email or just comment below. We have not yet used our metal detector as we have many good projects that were coming on and we scheduled this on summer next year.

I have encountered many successful stories of treasure recovery and most were as described by them that they had seen flat rocks from their dig as main sign specially if it is found below the ground and it means that it is near the treasure already. The purpose of this flat rock is that to indicate that you are near the treasure and it serves as a heat proof preventing the gold melting underground from the extreme pressure and hot temperature of the ground.

Here is a sketched sign from a flat rock that we had found, the story behind this is really sad one. The discoverer called us to see the flat stone that they had found but when we came there to see and found out that when you reverse the stone this sign appeared and it was nicely etched on the stone. And from the history according to old folks witnessed the massacre done by the Japanese during the war of a family residing the house and then burned the whole house after encamping it for days. Today, the owner of the land wanted to plow the field to expand his vegetable farm but then he discovered the flat stone and decided to make it as a furniture and serve as a chair but to his surprise there are some etched signs. To our interpretation, the oblong in the middle is the flat stone and the 3 dots were the buried treasure or in the middle is the large volume of treasure is buried there. We haven't got the chance to work on it since there are a lot of work to do so we postponed it and work on some other day.

One of our contacts had called us and he claims he found some signs, so we decide to take a trip and find out if it is true. And when we had arrived and assessed it, it looks man made but the star with a circle is not and I think children playing here drew that one but near to this sign some had attempted to dig beneath this rock but did not continue. The land is not owned by someone so it is hard to work on this because others may see us and could disrupt our work so we decided to move on to another destination. I have looked up for several codes but this one is not included, and asked our guide what is the history of the place but all he knows is that the place was the battlefield of the Japanese and the Allied Forces. Many died in the that place and they were a witness to many lying bodies around and bloodshed. It was a furious battle even the innocent were killed merciless. But I think that there is a possibility that there is a buried treasure around this sign and it may be pertaining to the feet of this spider sign. It may be a letters in Kanji but I do not know how to read Kanji. Metal detector is important at this kind of unknown sign to explore further if there is a positive buried cache of treasure.

When we were venturing to the high mountains of Nueva Viscaya, a person came to us telling that near his house he found a strange looking rock and it appears to be man made. Then I took some pictures and it really looks like a birds head and man made to me. I have asked the owner of the land the history of the place and only told me that during the war, most of the Japanese had garrisoned and took camp near to this place. He also claimed that a lot of foreigners were coming and asking some directions. And near to this place, some Japanese used backhoe's and bulldozers to dig but they have not recovered anything. He assumes that they were at the wrong place and thinks that in his place is the right one, considering the signs that were found near his house.

During the storm here in the Philippines in 2011, typhoon Ondoy knocked this down with strong winds. We have traveled to Nueva Viscaya in search for another adventure and treasure trailing. My uncle recommended us to see this place and use our metal detector to detect and assess whether there are possible treasure signs or codes that are visible in the area. I have taken this mango tree photo several months after the typhoon. Most of the branches were blown away and this is what was left. The weird thing about this tree that is keeping me in wonder is that a branch was sticking downward and the place is rich in history that the Imperial Japanese Army had camped near this place. Well my guess is that maybe this was one of the possible treasure sign that the Japanese Army made during the war and hid something. Sometimes they make this as a marker so as I thought but we did not try  to detect this place as there are many people who are watching us so I just took some photos of the mango tree.

We have found another sign that is really intriguing and genuine, most used sign and as a pointer is an etched animal. An example that we had encountered is the Bird sign, It actually depends on what it is being portrayed. From what my friend tells me about this sign is that when a bird sign is in a standing position, it is possible that its head is pointing to the location of the treasure. And if it is resting, the treasure might be located near from where its sitting. It is really helpful to use a good metal detector as a good basis before trying to execute a project but with the sign provided, this proved to be true.


When me and my brother went to the boundaries of the mountainous region and the low lands the bird sign was sculpted as a stone. I forgot to bring some camera so I could take some photos but I clearly remember how it was really shaped like a sitting bird. It was a weird thing being there and wondering who could have done it, wondered by our comrade so he called for help to us and ask our expertise regarding this matter. Once we have confirmed it was a positive site, because it is near a river and the place has a rich history where Japanese soldiers camp there in World War 2, old folks too admit that they have seen Prisoners of war and locals carrying something heavy during that time. So we head back home to take our gears and gather some financial needs and supplies. But alas, we lost someone dearly and we have to pay our respect and have our project postponed for a few months.