End of an Era
I have never Empu Djeno met personally, though I have viewed him at work in a CD on keris culture produced by Malaysia's Museums and Antiquities Department.
In the footage, almarhum Empu Djeno explained the components needed to construct a keris, as well as the process of creating pamor patterns. Next, there was extensive footage of him and his nephew working on a new keris (if I could recall, it was a Singa Barong with a straight blade.) It was quite a sight to behold, to see this thin old man begin his work by reciting prayers and scattering flowers over the furnace, toiling in the heat, hammering the blade to perfection, tempering it.
A friend was fortunate enough to meet him and he came away from the visit awed by the old man's quiet wisdom.
At the back of my mind, and in the minds of many keris collectors I trust, almarhum Empu Djeno is somewhat like a grandfather figure, one of the few to perpetuate a centuries old tradition.
With his passing, an age comes to a close, just as a chapter of post-revolutionary Indonesian literature ended with Pramoedya Ananta Toer's passing a few weeks ago.
He will be missed. May Allah bless his soul.
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