Reverse mounted Moro kris

[Ian]

It is surprising to me how often Moro kris are found with the hilt mounted backwards. That is to say that the beak of the kakatua pommel appears on the greneng side of the blade rather than the elephant trunk side.

This backwards feature occurs so frequently that it is unlikely to be a mistaken mounting by an ignorant collector. These seem to be deliberate arrangements that occurred mainly in the second half of the 19th C.

Here is an obvious example of such a kris. The hilt has been mounted backwards and the kakatua crest has been amputated rather crudely. The blade is well forged, with hardened inserted edges, and of good quality. It is well balanced and the fullers on each side give it a slimness and "lightness" that make it easy to wield. I believe this blade shows a strong Malayan influence, with the long central fullers running down the blade almost to the tip.



If the kakatua pommel were in its correct orientation and the two baca baca in place (strips for attaching the baca baca are still present beneath the wrap on the grip), I think this sword would have been dressed originally in a Sulu or a Brunei/Malaysian Borneo manner.

The question arises as to who changed this sword and why? I believe that the vast majority of these transformations occurred during the last period of the Spanish-Moro wars. In the latter part of the 18th C the Spanish and Moro groups had fought each other to a draw. The Spanish could not maintain garrisons in Moro territory at that time and decided to withdraw. This state of armistice persisted into the 19th C until steam-powered gun boats were adopted by the Spanish and this tilted the balance of power. The Spanish could now effectively patrol coastal and inland waterways and could maintain coastal and riverine outposts that were defended and reliably provisioned. Spanish-Moro hostilities thus resumed in the last quarter of the 19th C.

I believe that it was at this time that 19th C kris were captured by Spanish military units, and some of the better quality swords were converted to a more European version. This involved altering the blade orientation by reversing the hilt. Moro kris have a downward blade tilt while the reversed blade has an upward tilt, more closely resembling the shape of a saber that may have felt more familiar in the hands of a European-trained soldier.

Thus, I think we can date many of these reverse-hilted kris to the last quarter of the 19th C. The removal of the crest on the pommel may have been done either to accommodate the different orientation of the blade or perhaps a larger European hand.

This custom may have continued under the subsequent American occupation and their conflicts with the Moro groups. I don't have any information to suggest that is the case, but it seems possible.
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