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Old 6th September 2006, 06:22 PM   #2
David
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Location: Nova Scotia
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Very interesting question Bram, and one i am sure will raise some serious debate. I am not with my books right now, but i believe Stone makes reference to learning keris fighting moves from a prince of Jawa. Though some of his keris info is suspect, this reference actually names the prince and i can't see why he would make it up. Early Chinese contact brought back reports of the Javanese using the keris as a weapon back in the 15th century. People have argued these reports because the Chinese also made derogatory remarks about the Javanese as well. I am not sure that those remarks should necessarily negate the substance of the weapon use reports however. It does seem to me that the keris was at least used as a weapon in Jawa at one time. The exact point at which that changed may be very difficult to track.
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