Moro or Kalimantan ?

[paolo]

Hi Kai,
To me the elephant's trunk seems intact.
Regards
Paolo

[VVV]

I have noticed that quite often swords that don’t look like "they should" per default gets labelled Borneo. On this forum it has happened several times to especially odd-looking Kampilan and Kris.
Alan Maisey once told me that he has experienced the same regarding unusual-looking Keris. The difference is that the Malays in coastal south Borneo actually produced Keris. But not with such a great variation of strange styles as sometimes is suggested.

As far as I have seen, and read, nobody has actually been able to prove that there really exists a special "Borneo look" to f.i. the Kris and the Kampilan?
None of them are indigenous Borneo weapons and were used by the immigrated, non-Dayak, Malay or Moro tribes.
I have tried to find proof in old sources of Kris being produced in Borneo.
But so far I have only found out that they were imported from mostly the Sulu Sultanate.

If somebody knows a good source as proof that this isn't the cause I would be happy if you could share it?

Michael

[Ian]

Michael:

If one includes the Brunei Sultanate as part of Borneo, and indeed part of the "Moro" community, then the answer to your question is yes.

Ian.

[VVV]

Ian,

Do you mean that there is proof of a special "Brunei look" in Kris that is different from f.i. the Sulu Kris or Malay Sundang?

Michael

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by VVV

...Do you mean that there is proof of a special "Brunei look" in Kris that is different from f.i. the Sulu Kris or Malay Sundang?
Michael

Afaik, I haven't seen any typical 'Brunei look' for Kris, but based on the one at Asian Civilisation Museum's, it leans more toward Sulu archetype. Some samples could be found in Frey's The Kris (3rd Ed), in the Kris Archives.

[Alam Shah]

Afaik, by the middle of the 15th century, during its 'golden age', Brunei had started to expand. The sultanate's control extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. Keris were manufactured and kris imported from the Sulu regions.

Some useful references:

The Phillippine Islands: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and their People, their History and Records of the Catholics Missions, as related in contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts. Vol. IV-1576-1582. Eds. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson. Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1903.

Ongkili, James P. "Ancient Chinese Trading Links." East Malaysia and Brunei. Ed. Wendy Hutton. Tuttle Publishing, 2001.

Saunders, Graham. A History of Brunei. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.

Wright, Leigh. "Brunei: An Historical Relic." Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. 17 (1977).

[VVV]

Thanks Shahrial for the references.

Obviously I have to study Brunei better instead of focusing on the other Borneo regions.
Do I understand you correct that your listed sources states that it was only Keris that were produced in Brunei and that the Kris were imported from the Sulu archipelago?
Or do they state that Kris also were produced in Brunei?

If so, is there a special Brunei style of Kris with characteristic features?

Michael

[Bill]

"The Keris Sulok or Sundang" by E. Banks has been discussed in the past. While he doubts the keris was made by Bornean Malays he states the Sulok/Sundang "certainly" was made in Brunei for a time. There you go back to the common sense problem of explaining how smiths that never made the keris come up with Cato's "18thC" kris, a sword with remarkable workmanship. Although I haven't see any accurate discription of the swords, early western explorers were impressed with arms of early Brunei.

[VVV]

Thanks Bill,

I have always assumed that Keris Sulok means Sulu Kris?

But obviously, according to Banks 1940, he was told that they were once made in Brunei also.
Still, looking at the picture in the article, it seems as if it was the Sulu Kris being made there and not a Borneo, or Brunei, Kris?
And at least one of the Kris in the picture seems to be Maranao (maybe imported)?

Michael

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by Bill

...There you go back to the common sense problem of explaining how smiths that never made the keris come up with Cato's "18thC" kris, a sword with remarkable workmanship. Although I haven't see any accurate discription of the swords, early western explorers were impressed with arms of early Brunei.

Could it be a smith who migrated to these area, from Sulu or Mindanao? In the Asian Civilisation Museum, Singapore, there is a sundang which is attributed to Brunei. It is of fine worksmanship as well.