Collection of Sajen

[Jean]

Hello Kulino,
I am also very interested by this thread and amazed by the diversity of your pieces. You should focus on the number of views rather than the reply posts as most of us have no relevant comment to make, but we are enjoying the pics!
And if you intend to publish a catalogue or book, I am reserving one copy!
Of course if you know anything about the origin of some of these pieces, please tell us!
Regards

[Sajen]

Hello Kulino,

agree with the above made statements! Over 300 views in such short time shows that there is a great interest!

Best regards,
Detlef

[A. G. Maisey]

David, the reason I have not made any comment is because I have no comment to make. There is a page in my site where I have put some photos of these small talismanic keris, but even there I have virtually nothing to say about them.

Here below is most of the text from that page, it says probably everything of any value that I can say about this keris form:-

" These are not weapons in any sense other than being weapons to guard against misfortune, they are not weapons intended to be used against humanity.

In a sense, this could probably be called a "non-information" page. Not enough is known about these items of wesi aji to allow a definitive discourse on them. My purpose in making these photos available is to assist researchers in this field.

The items hereunder that resemble a keris are known as "keris sajen" in Indonesia, and by many collectors in the western world as "keris Majapahit". The keris sajen is reportedly a keris used in offerings, notably the ceremony of bersih desa which is carried out after the major rice harvest (panen raya). Dates for the harvest can vary, and each village has its own day and own requirements for bersih desa, so offerings can change from village to village.

In the ceremonies I have seen, no keris sajen has been used. Suryo Negoro in his book "Javanese Traditional and Ritual Ceremonies" describes the general form of bersih desa and mentions two other forms specific to individual villages. Nowhere does he describe the inclusion of a keris in these ceremonies. Bambang Harsrinuksmo in "Ensiklopedi Keris" claims use of this keris form in the ceremony of bersih desa, and other writers have also claimed this. It is possible that some villages could have the requirement for a keris sajen to be included in the ceremony and other villages not have this requirement.

David van Duuren records that in the colonial days, these small keris were known as talismanic weapons.

My own observance has been that present day Javanese regard them as talismanic objects.

At the present time insufficient research has been carried out in relation to this form of wesi aji to allow any certain definition of their place in Indonesian or Javanese culture.

In respect of the age of keris sajen in general, and this is also true of the examples shown here , it is not possible to be at all certain of how old any particular item may be. The form is clearly an ancient one, and an example was found under the central stupa of Candi Borobudur during its restoration, however, whether it was placed there at the time Borobudur was built, or at a later date, we do not know. However, although ancient, it is doubtful if the form can be linked to Dongson daggers with similar handles. The time gap between Dongson culture and early classical Javanese culture is too great.

Some writers have attempted to classify this form of wesi aji into types and sub-types, and wish to make true weapons of the longer examples of the keris sajen. I do not intend to attempt any such classification. Too little is known of these objects for such a classification to be of very much use. The design of the gonjo of the longer examples would seem to indicate that these were not intended for use as a real weapon, any more than was the shorter version. Anybody using one of these long examples as a weapon would be likely to do severe injury to their own hand, because of the narrowness of the gonjo.

I think it is highly probable that the alternate keris sajen as in #'s 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, were forged from recycled old keris blades. Further, I believe that recycled old keris blades were sometimes used in the manufacture of certain other talismanic keris, those with the handle forge welded to the base of the blade. Whether this was done simply as a use of recycled material, whether to preserve a valued blade, whether to save costs, or for all these reasons, we have no way of knowing.

Apart from those items of wesi aji that are positively identifiable as keris sajen, a number of other items of talismanic wesi aji are also shown here. Some are keris-like, with the handle in a different plane to the blade, one is of cunderik form.

I regret that I am unable to provide more information on these talismanic objects, however, I am open to questions or discussion in respect of them."

This link will take you to photos of keris sajen in my site:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/kerissajen.html

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I think it is highly probable that the alternate keris sajen as in #'s 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, were forged from recycled old keris blades. Further, I believe that recycled old keris blades were sometimes used in the manufacture of certain other talismanic keris, those with the handle forge welded to the base of the blade. Whether this was done simply as a use of recycled material, whether to preserve a valued blade, whether to save costs, or for all these reasons, we have no way of knowing.

Apart from those items of wesi aji that are positively identifiable as keris sajen, a number of other items of talismanic wesi aji are also shown here. Some are keris-like, with the handle in a different plane to the blade, one is of cunderik form.

I regret that I am unable to provide more information on these talismanic objects, however, I am open to questions or discussion in respect of them."

This link will take you to photos of keris sajen in my site:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/kerissajen.html

Thanks Alan. Having been to your linked page above many times i was well aware that you didn't have much solid information to add to a discussion keris sajen in general, though i thought you might have some comments on some of Kulino's individual pieces. While what you have copied from your website above solves no riddles and answers few questions it does present a platform from which some further discussion might take place. You have said what can be said with assurity, but perhaps it can inspire some thought and further researching.Though the link to your page had already been presented i don't assume that everybody noticed or followed the link to it and i like having your words from that page here for our own archival purposes. I would not have assumed to copy and paste them myself so thank you for added them here.
I should note, just to avoid any possible confusion, that the keris sajen you are specially referring to in the quoted part above in this post refer directly to the keris sajen on your page, not the ones Kulino has uploaded.

[Kulino]

Dear all,
Thank you for your feedback. I'll continue with the remainder of the collection.
Again, many things have been said about this type of keris but virtually none of these statements can be supporten by facts. I agree wit Alan's observation about the recylced blades. These and maybe more were added to the collection to show variety. It doesn't say anything about the extent these specific keris were revered and maybe also nothing about their age. In this box there is at least one which I consider to be recent. ( The one with the detailed hermit/putut is well made but recent.) When the collection boxes are done I'll post a couple of keris in their own 'shrine' boxes as they were collected.

[Kulino]

Next batch

[Kulino]

Next. Most of these are fairly log.