I am a little hesitant to enter this conversation when so little about the origin of this keris is know and the photos are so bad. Where do people believe this keris is originally from. From what i can see, to my eyes it looks a little Balinese. Certainly the hilt form, though a bit different from later styles, looks that way due to the type of selut and figurative hilt. Also what appeas to be two fullers reaching down most of the blade is a common feature on Bali blades. If indeed we are looking at a keris that has been unchanged since it's collection in the early 1600s i'm not sure that we can really say without a full understanding of the origins of this keris whether of not this is a proper ensemble or not.
And Barry, if it was collected in the Philippines it may well be something pick up in travel, not a formal royal presentation, because this clearly is not of the Philipinnes. Given that scenerio it would be unlikely that the hilt was made specially for the Japanese ruler. It may well have had some age at the time.
If the diplomat had made his way to Bali or Jawa to receive this then the story might be different. But i doubt that they would create a hilt depicting a Japanese deity for this. Certainly figurative hilts like this were being created in Bali at that time.
