An important keris Kamardikan for our records

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by JustYS

Other Keris collection of Dietrich Drescher:

https://ificah-blog.com/dietrich-dreschers-collection/

Hi

Thank you for sharing, these are awesome works

[JustYS]

Originally Posted by Anthony G.

Hi

Thank you for sharing, these are awesome works

You are welcome Anthony.

Those Keris were made by Mr(s) Jeno, Joso, Haji Duraphik, Subandi, Suyanto and Yantono.

The first two are known Empu from Yogya, the last three I believe what Alan called “Anak-anak ASKI”.

Haji Duraphik, I’m not sure but probably from Madura.

[Gustav]

I can understand quite well a blade in Ngentho-Entho style is esthetically very far away from Surakarta canon, and this blade is a textbook Ngentho-Entho, a very good one at that.

It is also not mine favorite blade style, but I very much appreciate the coherent, clear stylistic idiom this blade embodies, together with the surface workmanship and a nearly perfect distribution of Pamor over the body of blade, on both sides. This blade really is alive, a true Keris.

On Keris renaissance and Jitar. For the years starting with 1973 until beginning of 80ties the more important of the brothers, head of the family, and one can say, the true master, also in quality of Keris making, was Yosopangarso. Of course they all worked together, but Yosopangarso left his character on blades they produced, an old style Javanese person. No wonder Keris making process Solyoms documented was done by Yosopangarso. Later Djeno started his own thing and was clearly more interested and talented in promoting his work.

Sadly even some of these early blades, which sometimes are almost impeccable, are now known as made by Djeno. This is a very good example for how a later fame overwrites and changes the past.

[A. G. Maisey]

There is more than a little bit of confusion and variation in reporting of the early years of the keris revival.

How many brothers did Djeno have?

Were all of them smiths?

How many Yosopangarsos were there? One, or two? Did one die in 1940?

Was the Yosopangarso who worked with Djeno through the 1970's his elder brother, or his uncle?

Was the keris produced in 1974 really the first keris that Djeno was involved in the production of, or was it the one that Djeno & his father (Empu Supowinangun) made in 1945?

Whoever the Jitar Yoso was, he was hierarchically superior to Djeno, and thus it became his responsibility to perform the rites attached to production of a keris, even though both Yoso & Djeno worked together on both Dietrich's 1974 keris and Garrett's 1976 keris.

It would appear that prior to the involvement of Dietrich, none of the Djeno family were actually working as smiths, it was Dietrich who got them up & working with fire & iron again.

However, be the back story what it may --- and there is a lot more to this back story that must remain unreported --- the fact is it was Djeno who was the active member of the clan & the driving force.

I do not believe that keris literate people have forgotten Yoso or the other people involved, its just that Djeno was around for a lot longer, made many more keris, and got a lot more publicity than anybody else.

The full story behind the 1976 keris is one that will never be told, but if it ever were to be told, a lot of myths would be blown away with the wind.

[Gustav]

Alan, I see you have done your homework and read the article by Jimmy H. This article, its BI twin and at least one website with information allegedly provided by Djeno himself is, let's say it politely, not always following the Western style "objective reality". A blatant example is the 1940 thing, which most probably is based on an unbelievable misreading and combination of two passages in an article on Djeno by Linus Suryadi from 1990:

After death of Empu Yosopangarso in middle of 80ties "Sedangan dua kakaknya yang lain, Genyo Dihardjo dan Wignyosukoyo, tidak melanjutkan tradisi warisan tersebut karena alas-alasan yang bersifat primer, langka pemesan, ongkos pembuatan tinggi, dan pekerjaan berat."

And "Selama kurang lebih 30 tahun antara 1940 sampai 1972 kehidupan Jeno Harumbrojo selaku empu keris praktis mandeg. Hal serupa tentu saja juga dialami kakaknya Yosopangarso, almarhum."

Which becomes "Djeno membuat keputusan ini setelah saudaranya, Empu Yosopangarso, meninggal pada tahun 1940, diikuti oleh kematian saudara laki-lakinya yang lain, Genyo Dihardjo dan Wignyo Sukoyo. Pesanan keris yang makin sedikit, ditambah biaya bikin keris teramat tinggi untuk ukurannya, membuat niatnya bulat untuk berhenti menempa keris."

This is how history is written.

The same can be said about IFICAH information that Yosopangarso was Djeno's uncle.

Yosopangarso clearly is the eldest brother. On old pictures from 70ties with subject of smithing we see Yosopangarso, Djeno, Genyodihardjo and Wignyosukoyo, so I think, we can say, at some time all brothers were involved in smithing (at least as spectators). Solyom writes "three of the sons (...) had once helped their father make keris.", which is something different.

As I understand, all information about Keris from 1945 comes from Friedrich Seltmann, who visited Empu Supowinangun and his sons in 1962. He nowhere explicitly mentions particularly Djeno's help in making this Keris. Interestingly, Seltmann provides a picture of a drawing of three Keris with three different Dhapur and three different Pamor from 1962, made by Yosopangarso, and Yosopangarso's name in family lineage is Yosocurigo.

Empu Supowinangun died in 1963 (or 1967), and there have been hints that the 1945 Keris (if it exists at all) wasn't the last Keris made by Empu Supowinangun together with his sons.

The maker of 1974 Keris was Yosopangarso, of course with Djeno involved in the process.

It would appear that prior to the involvement of Dietrich, none of the Djeno family were actually working as smiths, it was Dietrich who got them up & working with fire & iron again. - they did not make any Keris or Pamor work, but Yoso still was a blacksmith at the time Dietrich Drescher arrived, his brothers helping him.

[A. G. Maisey]

You're very correct about the "objective reality" thing Gustav, it really does take some getting used to, & it is something that I have needed to manage since 1966. Prior to that I had read about the way information flows in Jawa --- & I guess Indonesia in general --- but I had not personally experienced it.

There are a few elements that contribute to this interesting mode of communication, one is the "Humpty Dumpty" factor, the other major element that I like to think of as the "kill the messenger" factor. I sometimes think that this almost complete lack of objective reality is a product of the pre-colonial social management system, followed by the gentle administrative practices of the colonial years.

This mode of communication is of course the foundation of the variations in belief in respect of many things in Jawa, not only things to do with Djeno & keris. An overriding principle seems to be that we must never let truth stand in the way of a good story.

I believe that we can agree that Dietrich was the motivator in getting Djeno into the business of keris?

However, that is not at all how I heard the story from a few people in Solo. It appears that the generally accepted story of how Djeno got back to the work of a pande and began making keris again is that his father visited him in dreams several times and told him he needed to get back to the work of his ancestors, to stop wasting time and do what he was born to do. Finally, at age 43 Djeno took the hint and did what his dad told him to do. Dietrich was at best just a tool of Djeno's father.

Then there was a more or less general belief that it was not really Djeno who was doing the keris work. No, not at all:- how can a man with no real skills who has spent most of his life working in rice fields, make keris? Not possible! The spirit of his father, or according to others, the spirit of one of his other ancestors had come into Djeno and was using him.

Javanese people see & understand things in slightly different ways to the average bule.

I don't think I can legitimately claim credit for having done any homework Gustav. I have only a slight passing interest in the Jogja participation in the keris revival, even though I do acknowledge its pivotal role. At one time I was much more interested, but as I learnt more of the back story I lost interest.

However, during the period from 1978 through to 2015 I normally spent a minimum of two to three months every year in Indonesia, most of this time was spent in Solo, nearly everything I have come to understand about the Jogja role in the keris revival has come from personal contact with people and from reading Indonesian newspapers, magazines and journals.

Some of the people I know & knew in Solo knew Djeno and the Jogja keris group, a couple knew the man himself very well.

I cannot place "Jimmy H.", but if he is a journo who wrote or writes about keris, I've probably read some of his writings.

Seltman I have heard of, my source here was an American, whom I regard as probably the most reliable & open of the people who knew Djeno and the entire Jogja story. I think I was told that Seltman wrote a catalogue, or a part of a catalogue for a German museum --- it might have been Dresden? --- in any case, I have never seen anything that Seltman wrote.

I don't do the "homework" thing, for one thing I don't have time, and where Jogja is concerned, I don't have much interest, I write from general knowledge & memory --- probably not all that advisable really, my memory is mostly OK, but I find that I tend to forget a bit now & then & need to go back to notes.

Yes, you're right, Yoso was the eldest brother, that is the way it is recorded in Djeno's line of descent, and also as reported by Garrett, but when you hear various stories from various people & you hear those stories from more than one person, it does create confusion.

Regarding Yoso, the way I understand it --- and bear in mind, I am not drawing on published information, I am relating what I have been told by people who knew Djeno & his family --- Yoso's given family name was Yoso Pangarso, but the name given him by the Jogja Kraton was Yosocurigo. This aligns perfectly with the way in which names are given by Javanese kratons, for example Pauzan Pusposukadgo was known as Fauzan until the time he was taken into the Karaton Surakarta hierarchy, he was given a choice of several names & he chose "Pusposukadgo". In Javanese literary usage, "puspo" means "flower", "kadgo" is "keris". His original "Fauzan" name then became the alternate "Pauzan". The same thing happened with Pak Parman:- a choice of several names, and a new choice with each rise in rank, some of the choices incorporated elements of the previous name, all choices included elements that related to the function of an armourer.

Yosocurigo incorporates the word "curigo" = "keris or dagger". Not a family name, but a professional name. I was told that it was given by the Jogja kraton, but it could just as easily have been given by popular usage.

A m'ranggi who did a lot of work for me was named Agus Irianto, he was popularly known as "Agus Warongko", the kraton did not give him this name, it was given him by the people who knew him.

One of the little peculiarities of Javanese naming is that although many, if not most Javanese people use only one name, that name can & does vary, depending upon the field of activity in which the person is engaged. Very often the name shown on an ID card is never used except for official business.

There is one hell of a lot of generally accepted information about the early days of the Javanese keris revival that has several versions, & some of those versions must never be allowed to be made public, they would do a lot more harm than good. This applies to both Jogja & Solo, and from what I can see happening in Bali right now, it seems to apply there as well.