Weapons from Sumedang Regency 1880 − 1912 +/-

DaveA · 4th March 2015, 03:25 AM

Ideal musing that may become something interesting:

I have found the book by Donn F. Draeger, "The Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia" to be a useful source of information on the great many weapons of the region. While the book focuses primarily on the (to me, dizzying) array of Silat forms, each of those is tied to a region and to preferred weapons. (As is usual, one has to see beyond non-standard transliterations of certain words.)

Viz. the topic of this thread, all of the pentjak-Silat forms of West Java are named with the prefix TJI. "Tji" is a Sundanese shorthand for the word "tjai" which means "water from a river". All of the older forms originated (or were perfected) in lowland basin areas of Java The suffix of the name of the Silat form is a word that identifies an animal whose characteristics are thought to match and inspire the distinctive martial mechanics of the form.

The sword making hamlets of West Java, identified earlier, also all have names prefixed by "TJI".

It would be interesting to discover if there is a linkage between the hamlet name, a particular silat style, and that style's preferred (or unique) weapon. This might be through particular animals or their characteristics. Doing so may shed light on common weapon forms, design and decoration, and influence on other weapons and the martial styles that employed them.

Almost all the styles utilize the golok, so that is not much help!

Your thoughts and rumination? As always, I acknowledge lack of my own expertise. Information from experts is most welcome.

Rick · 4th March 2015, 03:56 AM

It seems to me that the preponderance of these examples shown have a fairly strong Western European stylistic influence; many having a sort of Hirschfanger-like appearance to their hilts .
I would be most interested to see stylistic examples that could be attributed to pre-VOC times .
I'm a bit skeptical about these weapons being at all a native concept; rather I think one could posit that they were made (and quite well in many cases) solely for the eyes (and purses) of the Dutch .

I am led to understand that the town of Tjikeroeh aka Cikeroeh(sp?) is the modern day location of some of the best (air) gunsmiths in Jawa .

DaveA · 6th March 2015, 05:32 PM

Rick, I agree with you. These swords were likely custom made for the colonials and their army. What would be interesting is if any of these custom swords inspired designs that were thereafter adopted by the indigenous peoples.

4th March 2015, 03:25 AM	#1
DaveA Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin, USA Posts: 416	West Java village names & silat Ideal musing that may become something interesting: I have found the book by Donn F. Draeger, "The Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia" to be a useful source of information on the great many weapons of the region. While the book focuses primarily on the (to me, dizzying) array of Silat forms, each of those is tied to a region and to preferred weapons. (As is usual, one has to see beyond non-standard transliterations of certain words.) Viz. the topic of this thread, all of the pentjak-Silat forms of West Java are named with the prefix TJI. "Tji" is a Sundanese shorthand for the word "tjai" which means "water from a river". All of the older forms originated (or were perfected) in lowland basin areas of Java The suffix of the name of the Silat form is a word that identifies an animal whose characteristics are thought to match and inspire the distinctive martial mechanics of the form. The sword making hamlets of West Java, identified earlier, also all have names prefixed by "TJI". It would be interesting to discover if there is a linkage between the hamlet name, a particular silat style, and that style's preferred (or unique) weapon. This might be through particular animals or their characteristics. Doing so may shed light on common weapon forms, design and decoration, and influence on other weapons and the martial styles that employed them. Almost all the styles utilize the golok, so that is not much help! Your thoughts and rumination? As always, I acknowledge lack of my own expertise. Information from experts is most welcome.

6th March 2015, 05:32 PM	#3
DaveA Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin, USA Posts: 416	Western influence Rick, I agree with you. These swords were likely custom made for the colonials and their army. What would be interesting is if any of these custom swords inspired designs that were thereafter adopted by the indigenous peoples.

4th March 2015, 03:56 AM	#2
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,339	It seems to me that the preponderance of these examples shown have a fairly strong Western European stylistic influence; many having a sort of Hirschfanger-like appearance to their hilts . I would be most interested to see stylistic examples that could be attributed to pre-VOC times . I'm a bit skeptical about these weapons being at all a native concept; rather I think one could posit that they were made (and quite well in many cases) solely for the eyes (and purses) of the Dutch . I am led to understand that the town of Tjikeroeh aka Cikeroeh(sp?) is the modern day location of some of the best (air) gunsmiths in Jawa .