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Old 20th June 2019, 08:05 AM   #21
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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David, while it is true that one of the meanings of "wedono" (wedana, wadana) is "face" (kromo inggil for "rai"), that is not the meaning in this context. A wedono is the head of an administrative district.

The idea of re-shaping the blade and thus transmitting an East Javanese "feeling" is very wide of the mark. The blade may have been cleaned up in Solo, it may not have been, but by a Madurese Empu? Is there any Madurese empu anywhere? Plenty of Madurese pandai keris, in Madura around Sumenep, and some in Surabaya and Malang as well, but in Solo? News to me.

Still, the term "empu" is pretty loosely applied these days.

Solo & Jogja originate from East Jawa? The people who live there will be real pleased to hear that.

Lots of Madurese craftsmen in Jawa Tengah? The only Madurese I've met in Solo & Jogja have been Madurese keris runners.

David, whoever gave you this story needs to do just a little bit of fact checking.

The reason I was thinking East Jawa was simply because of what I could see. If I were to describe a typical East Javanese keris from around Surabaya-Malang, it would not look remotely like yours, but an old blade from the far East Coast of East Jawa, just opposite Bali, might look like yours.
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