Errors in Keris Literature

[ganjawulung]

Why this East-West Center book?
In 1976, a keris was commissioned by Garrett Solyom as a means of documenting the process. It was made jointly by empu Yosopangarso and the youngest son, Djeno (then Jogja royal empu). The negotiations provided for the purchase of 12 sacks of finely broken teak charcoal (for burning the blades), 4,5 kilograms of "old" iron and about 300 grams of steel, offerings for the "beginning" ceremony, and labor and food for the smiths. Nickel, meteoric or otherwise, was essential for the creation of the patterns in the blade. It was hard for the smiths to obtain, so a strip of 99,5% pure nickel 1mm thick and weighing 50 grams was brought from overseas. Fifty one working days later these raw materials were transformed into a keris, 16 1/4 inches long and weighing nine ounces.... It was a putra (copy) of a (royal) Surakarta blade provided for the purpose...

And this is more interesting writing on this book:
In recent years, it had been widely thought that no practicing keris smiths remained in Java. Their art was assumed virtually gone since, traditionally, many of the rituals and secrets of the blade-making process were unrecorded and observers were not usually permitted in the smithy. But a search confirmed rumors that there were legitimate smiths still at work making truly new blades rather than "forging" new from old, unfortunately the more common practice. Three of the sons of a smith named Supowinangun had once help their father make keris. For perhaps eight years following his death, they took other work. Then, in 1972, a German visitor, Dietrich Drescher, helped refurbish the forge in the home of the eldest son, Yosopangarso, of the village of Jitar, west of Yogyakarta. With this encouragement, the sons began to smith again, selling their work to dealers in the region...

Thank you, Dietrich. But unfortunately, these all empus now had passed away...

Ganjawulung

[ganjawulung]

May be this is useful for they who want to study keris, still from Garrett and Bronwen Solyom's book:

Various iron objects, rarely keris, have been unearthed in Javanese archaeological sites such as Sragen. Keris said to have been dug up belong to a special category. They are short, straight and sturdy with a unique square-section tang, and many features of a Surakarta keris. They are plain iron; some have iron metok, a wide ring, rusted over the tang, but original handles are unknown. The Solonese call them keris buda, believing them to come from the Central Javanese Hindhu Buddhist era (ninth century of before?). Apparently no reliable dating has been obtained for them. All objects of wesi buda (buddhist iron) are believed to be powerful.

And this is also from Garrett and Bronwen Solyom:
Another enigmatic group of keris have been simple blades and stylized human figure hilts made from one piece and of forge welded iron. Western litterature generally calls them keris majapahit (a term not used in Solo) and, with little proof, popularly labels them as the oldest kind of keris....

Ganjawulung

[Alam Shah]

I agree. The World of the Javanese Keris, is a good book. Although only 65 pages, in black and white, it covers a fair amount of concise information on Javanese keris and the amount of worksmanship that goes into a quality ensemble. Excellent photography, making this book, a 'must have' for collectors.

This fine book is still available, [ here ].