javanese keris kulture and sword

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

On your comments about Saparman Sodimejo, who was better known as Mbah Gotho, he did just die a few days ago and was purported to be 146 years old at his death, though his date of birth had no third party verification and many doubt the veracity of the claim.

Yeah, but Mathusalem was supposed to have lived for 969 years so this guy is just an amateur!
I would comment that this is well in line with the Javanese practice for estimating the age of old kris blades....
In France the eldest woman ever was Jeanne Calmant and she died at the age of 122 years after meeting famous artists like Vincent Van Gogh when she was young. Soon before her death she claimed to have only one wrinkle and to be seated above it...
Regards

[Johan van Zyl]

So there you have it, ikkirosiki, now you already know you have a decent keris. There are points of comparison with my own Javanese keris, except for the gambar.

I did notice it was said Saparman was a Christian; I reckoned as he was living in and amongst the keris culture, I thought he perhaps could not have helped to become very knowledgeable about the keris. In some cultures in my country we have Christians who find it very difficult to distance themselves from an original religious tradition. But of course it is true that he might never have been a keris owner. He seemed to have been lovingly supported by his family.

Ikkirosiki, what kind of pendok does your scabbard have?