Just to clarify a point Penangsang:- what I write on these historical topics is never my interpretation, it is simply the repetition of what can be found in any number of books written by professional historians.
On the other hand, what I may write about keris is sometimes what I have been taught, sometimes from my own observations or reasoning and research.
It is certainly true that Majapahit and the coastal political entities were not reluctant to use the skills of foreigners, being situated close to trade routes, foreigners were seemingly never in short supply in the coastal settlements.
Mataram , however, was an inland kingdom. The rulers of Mataram were very much pre-occupied with trying to demonstrate their legitimacy, but I feel that they also would not have been reluctant to employ skilled foreigners, had these people been available.
However, perhaps it is best not to try to link these matters to keris style. Mataram was preceded by Pajang, Pajang by Demak, and these are all moderately sized keris.
Some of the keris that are attributed to the western parts of Jawa are quite large, others are of normal size; Tuban is North Coast, some of its keris are enormous, but others are normal size. My own feeling is that the variation in size is related to firstly, easier availability of material in coastal locations than in the hinterland, and secondly size related to social standing of the owner. Then there is the esoteric factor, as reflected in numeric values.
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