[A. G. Maisey]

I have found this to be an almost unbelievably enthralling discussion--the way in which it has moved from Sundanese and Javanese tools and weaponry to European and now US military issue weapons demonstrates how the differing strands of weaponry are so inextricably interwoven.

Upon reflection, I think that this thread demonstrates just how very difficult it can be to define exactly what a sword is. Burton spent a chapter telling us that you can't really define a sword, but you'll recognise one when you see one.

However, we were talking about the Javanese bendho.

Here is a picture of a bendho lifted from an earlier posting by Marto Suwignyo. Somewhat more elegant than one would expect to see for sale in a Central Javanese market, nonetheless, the form---except of course for the Rojomolo tip--- is the same as for today's common or garden variety bendho.