Wedung from Java
 

Last week I was able to add this nice wedung to my humble collection , was looking for a while for one that i liked. The are not so easy to find as a keris here in Holland but have one now.

It's a ''simple''one but elegant and in a good condition.
There are some questions i have, hope someone can help me out.

* What are indicators to look at to find out if it is from Jogjakarta or Solo ?

*Do we need to consider a wedung also as Tosan Aji ?

* Is it possible to put a time or age for this one ?

The wedung by its very nature is simple:- it symbolises the willingness of a subject to cut a way through the jungle for his lord. Women wear it as well as men, however, its wear is restricted to abdi dalem above a certain rank, that rank is supposedly the rank of a bupati for men, for women I do not know. This is all hearsay, it is what I have been told, it may or may not be 100% accurate.

What does appear to be accurate is that in the Surakarta court wedung with a pamor blade were restricted to wear by princes.

I have never seen a wedung that was positively identified as a Jogja wedung.

The wedung shown here has all the features I would expect to see on a Surakarta wedung, but it does appear to be quite short, which might indicate that it is a woman's wedung. However, I do not think that this wedung is Surakarta, the pamor has the appearance of the North Coast, and to the west, maybe Cirebon. In respect of origin I could only give a defensible opinion if I had it in my hand.

The same goes for age, but a good bet might be 19th century.

Tosan (krama) means iron, aji can be understood in a number of ways, in the context of the keris there are two possible ways, maybe three, in which to understand the word:- respected or honourable, honoured, valuable, or as associated with magic. It is usually taken as "honoured". Any item that is made of iron and that has pusaka status, or even the potential of pusaka status, can be regarded as "tosan aji", this can even extend to items such as stirrups.

A wedung is definitely "tosan aji".

Hello Alan,

Thanks for looking and the comments.

About the size and that the blade is appearing short , maybe it is because of the photo or it is short I don't have a clue because this is the only one i have so nothing to compare.

The size
* including the hilt 37 cm.
* only the blade 24 cm.

Maybe other members are willing to measure the size if the own a wedung ?

Regards,
Danny

Hello Danny,

have posted my one not long ago here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=wedung

Dimensions:

length total: 33,3 cm
length blade: 21 cm

Regards,
Detlef

Hello Danny,

Nice to see the blade washed !

Hi Detlef ,

Nice wedung you have !

Thanks for the measurements , let's hope more members will attribute some sizes of wedung so we can compare ..

When i see your measurements it looks that mine is bigger than your's :rolleyes:

Ha Willem,

yes it looks different now it is in stain again , happy with it.

My impression was wrong, that's about a normal size. Very old ones can be quite a lot bigger, but women's ones are much smaller than yours.

Hello Alan ,

I think that it was because my great photo's ;)

Hi Danny,

Maybe you can take a nice picture with a pedang and keris ?
This will give a better idea of the measurements. :)

I was looking for something in my notebooks, and I came across these notes that I had forgotten:-


In the Karaton Surakarta a wedung must be worn instead of a keris in the following instances:-

1) by a lurah if he is the head of an office or in command of men
2) by a mantri if he is an administrator
3) by a penewu, who is the commander of 1000 men
4) by a bupati anom ( deputy bupati) if acting in the position of bupati, but not otherwise
5) by a bupati if he is an administrator
6) by a pangeran if he is an administrative head

Ranks up to bupati anom may only wear a plain black wedung, ranks of bupati and pangeran may wear a pamor wedung.

I think this clarifies exactly how a wedung fits into the hierarchy of dress, at least in the Karaton Surakarta.

Great info Alan .