Between Solo and Yogya

[A. G. Maisey]

Pak Ganja, I fear that you may have been just slightly misled; I'm afraid your court informant was a little deficient in his knowledge.

The photo of the implement and signage from the karaton musium is in itself misleading. If you are able to investigate this matter, you will find that the cis of which you show a photo was previously displayed along with some taji. It would seem that the taji have been removed, leaving only the cis , however, the sign has not been altered.

Your photo shows an excellent example of a cis.The cis is not a weapon, it is an angkus, used to control an elephant.

The taji that used to be displayed were the ones used on animals when they were matched against one another, or against macan tutul. They were used mainly on goats in these matches, and the taji were mounted on a frame that strapped to the goat's head. You can still see examples of these taji in the Musium Radyapustaka, on Slamet Riyadi, just near Sriwedari. There's probably some cis there too.

As you have indicated the word "taji" is associated with fighting cocks, however, its usual usage is not for the cock's natural spur, rather, it is used to refer to the steel spur that is bound to the cock's foot when they fight.These spurs are straight, or sometimes waved like a keris blade,but they are not curved, and most definitely not curved to the extent of the hook-like blade of a cis.