Art of Weapon
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| Keris; A beautiful dagger photo collection of Eyang Kusumo |
In Mindanao, the form of weapon, which is also called the Keris, is
not a lot of similarities though also a stabbing weapon.
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| Luxurious carved on a body (wilah) of Keris |
The body of Keris commonly have 2 main model that are winding blade model and
straight blade model.
Javanese people assume that different form of Keris has different
supra-natural effects. Please note that for Javanese community, besides being used as a weapon, Keris is also often
considered to have supernatural powers. These weapons are often cited in a
variety of traditional legends, like the Keris Mpu Gandring in legend of Ken
Arok and Ken Dedes. Procedures for using Keris will be different depending
on their respective regions. In areas such as Javanese and Sundanese, a Keris
is placed in the rear waist in a peacetime, but then placed in front on the
war.
Warangka (Sheath) of Keris
Keris sheath is a component that has specific function, especially
in the Java community's social perspective; it could come from their assumption that the sheath of Keris actually is the 'dress' of Keris
itself and a dress will always the part that observably.
Sheath was originally made of wood (commonly is teak, sandalwood or
Timoho). In line with the times by an additional function as a reflection of
social status for its users, the top of the sheath (named Ladrang-Gayaman)
often replaced with ivory.
Wilah or Wilahan, the body of Keris
Wilah or wilahan is the main part of a Keris, wilah made of metal and
the body of a Keris. There are various styles and forms of wilah, style and
form of wilah named dapur, some famous dapur names are jangkung mayang, jaka lola, pinarak, jamang murub, bungkul, kebo tedan,
pudak sitegal, etc...
At the base of wilahan, there is a small stick named Pesi, which is
the lower end of the wilah of a Keris. This part is useful for implanting wilah
to the handle of keris. Pesi in length is about 5 cm to 7 cm, with a cross
section of about 5 mm to 10 mm, long round shape like a pencil. In Eastern part
of Java Pesi known as Paksi, in Riau called Puting, while for the regions of
Sarawak, Brunei and Malaysia called Punting.
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| Details of Wilah |
At the base or the bottom of the Keris is called Ganja (Malay
peninsula people name it as Aring). In the center there were pesi hole (round)
just to enter a pesi, so that the wilah
and ganja will always be one. Cultural observers say that the unity of them is
symbolizes the unity of the phallus and yoni. Which ganja represents the symbol
of yoni and pesi symbolizing phallus.
Luk
From its shape, Keris can be divided into two major categories,
Straight Keris and Winding Keris. Luk is
winding form of a wilah (body) of Keris, so that Luk will find only in a
Winding Keris. One simple way to calculate luk is by counting the luk from the
base of wilah toward the tip. Calculated from the convex side and carried on
both sides of this side of the (right-left), then the last number is the number
of Luk and the number of Luk is always
odd, the smallest amount of Luk in a wilah is three (3) and most Luk is thirteen
(13). If there are a number of Luk on a wilah was more than thirteen, usually
called Kalawija Keris, an unusual Keris.
