Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Introduction and Assistance request

A. G. Maisey · 24th January 2026, 09:21 PM

Thank you for your compliments Jay.

I doubt very much that anybody understands "--- all about keris --- ". We all understand a little bit, and even putting together all of today's more or less generally accepted understandings, we still fall short of all understandings over the time that the keris has been with us.

It is probably true to say that there really is no single universal understanding of the keris, so we all just gain what we can.

In Jawa, we find that some things that might be accepted in one keris study group are not accepted a different keris study group. There are many aspects to keris study.

The pamor motif of your keris appears to be a random motif, something that we call "beras wutah" (wos wutah) = scattered rice grains, the talismanic value of this motif is that the possessor will never know want, he will never go hungry. It is the most common pamor motif. Keris blades that have been heavily carved with nagas or some other enhancement very rarely have complex pamor motifs.

In respect of learning about keris. I plodded along for around 30 years scratching away at keris related literature available in English. Then when I was around 40 years of age I was accepted by Empu Suparman as a pupil. By this time I had gained a more or less acceptable ability in Bahasa Indonesia. I was actually accepted by Empu Suparman when I was 39, but he delayed the commencement of my training until I had passed the age of 40, he, and many other senior Javanese men, at that time held the opinion that a man needed to be settled & married & with children & possessions before he was ready for any advanced knowledge. They were very reluctant to impart any advanced understandings to people whom they believed to be still immature.

The principle that Empu Suparman adopted in his teaching was that he would not provide gratuitous information nor instruction. He would answer any question that I asked, but he would not deliver lectures on things I was not ready to understand. I was expected to illustrate my readiness to receive information by asking questions that demonstrated my readiness.

My own approach is somewhat similar:- ask questions and you will get answers.

In your research you should always have an objective, & once that objective has been identified, you can then pursue it.

In my experience, the "shotgun approach" of trying to learn everything at the same time does not produce particularly positive results.

Here is a link to a page in my site, you might find it to be of interest:-

https://www.kerisattosanaji.com/forge-work

Pesi.

I would most definitely remove the wrapping on the pesi, lightly clean & oil the pesi, and replace the wrapping with knitting wool.

24th January 2026, 09:21 PM	#19
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,152	Thank you for your compliments Jay. I doubt very much that anybody understands "--- all about keris --- ". We all understand a little bit, and even putting together all of today's more or less generally accepted understandings, we still fall short of all understandings over the time that the keris has been with us. It is probably true to say that there really is no single universal understanding of the keris, so we all just gain what we can. In Jawa, we find that some things that might be accepted in one keris study group are not accepted a different keris study group. There are many aspects to keris study. The pamor motif of your keris appears to be a random motif, something that we call "beras wutah" (wos wutah) = scattered rice grains, the talismanic value of this motif is that the possessor will never know want, he will never go hungry. It is the most common pamor motif. Keris blades that have been heavily carved with nagas or some other enhancement very rarely have complex pamor motifs. In respect of learning about keris. I plodded along for around 30 years scratching away at keris related literature available in English. Then when I was around 40 years of age I was accepted by Empu Suparman as a pupil. By this time I had gained a more or less acceptable ability in Bahasa Indonesia. I was actually accepted by Empu Suparman when I was 39, but he delayed the commencement of my training until I had passed the age of 40, he, and many other senior Javanese men, at that time held the opinion that a man needed to be settled & married & with children & possessions before he was ready for any advanced knowledge. They were very reluctant to impart any advanced understandings to people whom they believed to be still immature. The principle that Empu Suparman adopted in his teaching was that he would not provide gratuitous information nor instruction. He would answer any question that I asked, but he would not deliver lectures on things I was not ready to understand. I was expected to illustrate my readiness to receive information by asking questions that demonstrated my readiness. My own approach is somewhat similar:- ask questions and you will get answers. In your research you should always have an objective, & once that objective has been identified, you can then pursue it. In my experience, the "shotgun approach" of trying to learn everything at the same time does not produce particularly positive results. Here is a link to a page in my site, you might find it to be of interest:- https://www.kerisattosanaji.com/forge-work Pesi. I would most definitely remove the wrapping on the pesi, lightly clean & oil the pesi, and replace the wrapping with knitting wool.