Opinion, Observation ???

Walosi

Walosi

Joined
Jan 10, 2001
Messages
2,618
It is interesting to look back and view the differences of opinion, kamis vs. khuk nuts, over individual kami's marks. Ben just posted a list of kamis and their marks, including some which pre-date my experience with HI. Uncle, along with his aviation background, must have had several degrees in psychology tacked on to his resume. When I read Ben's list, like Pavlov's dog, I had an instant craving to see blades from the previously unknown makers.
Golok posted a question as to the other Khukuri makers in Nepal. Certainly there are several others, in addition to the village kamis and BirGorkha. Some of them may be able to produce blades nearly the equal of BirGorkha's, but not consistantly, IMO. The reason of course is the insistance by Bill and Pala that quality is the first requirement, and secondly, that appearance must reflect that level of quality. "These blades are made by the finest kamis in Nepal" isn't just something to spiff up the logo, and the personal touch - individual kami's marks - are the nail that drives that truth home. I don't know where the middle ground is, but I know that the appeal would be weaker if the blades had only a company mark. The blades themselves are addictive - in my case they dulled a years-old interest in Bowies and boot knives to the point of almost eliminating them from my mind. The kami's mark is like adding sugar to coffee....it just makes something you're already hooked on that much sweeter. Perhaps the Nepali ego doesn't include a need to brag, but to me, the kami's mark would say "This is me - I am good enough to work at BirGorkha".
 
Many of the kamis who have come and gone never reached the status of having their own mark. Almost all kamis who come in start as helpers to the established clan. A week or two as a helper tells the story. They either move up to master kamis status or can stay on as a helper or perhaps if they are lacking in the basics they go down to apprentice status. I'd guess we have about a dozen who had marks of their own. Prakash had the fish and Murali the trisul as I recall. Somebody had a little khukuri as his mark but I can't remember who.

I like the notion of the marks primarily because I have met and worked with most of the "regulars" Bura, Sanu, Kesar and Sher and when I see the mark it makes me think of the man and how he worked -- and lived. Also Prakash and Kumar both of whom I liked a lot. I'd like to see both of them return and who knows. Prakash may get tired of the women (It does get old after 4 or 5 wives and a couple of dozen live ins) and Kumar will get fed up with Arabia.

I think the marks are a good thing -- the kamis just think I (and the rest of us) am crazy for wanting them. East is east and so it goes.
 
I had copied this post and e-mailed it to myself when I still had the WebTV.
I taped it inside my computer desks cabinet door for a ready reference to the kami marks and the date on it told me where to lok for the original post.:)
I figured it would be easier to go back and find the old post so everyone that was interersted could go back if they wanted.
Notice that this was on Feb.24th,2,000.
I'm not sure when I got my medallion with all of these marks on it, but the marks do reflect the names on the list and were the kamis working at what I think was still being called Shop 2 at the time, not sure when the name changed to BirGhorka.
I hope this is of help.:)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=126399&highlight=kamis+marks

Bill Martino
Moderator

02-24-2000 05:26 PM

Registered: Mar 1999
Location: Reno, NV, 89509
Posts: 21150
Marks of the kamis. Important for those who wanted blade ID.
Here are the marks of our seven full time kamis:

Bura -- cresent moon
Kumar -- six pointed star
Kesar -- half sun
Prakash -- small khukuri
Sanu -- cross
Sher -- full sun
Khadka -- fish

Part timers and visitors will not mark blades. This was what the kamis felt was the right thing to do. We get a lot of visitors and trying to come up with a symbol for each one seemed a little crazy.

Ten marked khukuris went in the air today.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ



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Originally posted by Walosi
The blades themselves are addictive - in my case they dulled a years-old interest in Bowies and boot knives to the point of almost eliminating them from my mind.

The kami's mark is like adding sugar to coffee....it just makes something you're already hooked on that much sweeter.

Perhaps the Nepali ego doesn't include a need to brag, but to me, the kami's mark would say "This is me - I am good enough to work at BirGorkha".
Click to expand...

I think Bro is spot on here. "This is me - I am good enough to work at BirGorkha".
Perhaps if this could be conveyed to the kamis and the importance of it stressed to them they might return to their old marks and be proud of them.
A little pride can go a long ways in self respect and dignity IMO no matter who you are or what part of the world you live in.
It's always nice to at least "feel needed" and that you do excell at something.
Perhaps at one of the Khuk Khons a kami could be brought over so that everyone who attended could talk to him and let him know just how much the kamis are appreciated and that almost all of us have our own favorite kami, but do appreciate the talent of all the others.
It's a dayumed shame all the kamis couldn't experience something like that in their lives at least once!!!!
 
Bura knows he's the best. Sanu and Sher think they're the best. Kesar doesn't give a damn who is best. He just wants to make khukuris and get paid. It's the same story with all of them.

I would like to bring a kami or two over to a convention and rig up a forge for them and let them show us how they do their stuff.
 
Easier to do would be videotape a bunch of us at the Khonventions or if Bill has a videocam, when folks drop by the Cantina. Or several of us could send tapes and then the various clips could be copied onto a single tape. Then Yangdu could dub in a translation into Nepali.

I assume the telvisions over there are pretty standard, but the videoformat may be different than here ( VHS vs. whatever they use in Europe, for example ) though once put together on VHS it could be transfered to their format. There are services that will do that, just don't ask me where.

It would make it even more fun if Gelbu could tape their reactions as they listened to it, and then let Yangdu translate it into english for us. I'd love to see them take a trip thru JP's collection, and hear John point out problems he sees, then have Yvsa in his spare bedroom workshop giving them praise and hell at the same time, and then...

Done right it would definitely be a religious experience for the lot of them to hear several customers discussing each kami's strengths and weaknesses.

Least I think so.
 
Me too - What little we know of them, from the site and Uncle's writings, has to be 1,000 times more than they know about us. They've seen tourist trekkers, movies (?) and embassyiots (idiots in suits). To see and hear descriptions of people who work with steel, leather and wood because they _enjoy_ it, and have a hands-on understanding of what they do and a real appreciation for the quality of what they do just might stand them up straight in amazement (along with their present amusement). No one here is "buying quaint trinkets, made by smiling natives in the bazaar, to decorate Granma's nice little etegere". If so, may your blade slip at the most inappropriate moment, and you sing soprano forever. These are men I respect,but will never meet. Regardless of nation, station, or location, they produce something beautiful, useful, and, in extremis, beyond price. Just the sight of a 12" Sanu Sirupati has saved me some grief, at the very least. To the other party, Sanu remains unknown. To me, there was a confidence that only my own abilities were in question - the blade was capable of anything I was able to do with it, and more. After all, it was made by Sanu Bishwakarma, of BirGorkha.
 
The video system is different than ours (NTS vs PAL, I think) but they have plenty of shops who can convert from our system to theirs --without these the guys who pirate all our movies would be out of business and that's a big business in Nepal -- and everywhere else in Asia just about.

I don't think it would do anything more than convice the kamis even more than they are now convinced that we are just a bunch of rich crazies.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
The video system is different than ours (NTS vs PAL, I think) but they have plenty of shops who can convert from our system to theirs --
Click to expand...

so far as I know, North America (I don't know about South America) and Japan are the only ones to use NTS.


B.
 
Originally posted by Walosi
These are men I respect,but will never meet. Regardless of nation, station, or location, they produce something beautiful, useful, and, in extremis, beyond price. Just the sight of a 12" Sanu Sirupati has saved me some grief, at the very least. To the other party, Sanu remains unknown. To me, there was a confidence that only my own abilities were in question - the blade was capable of anything I was able to do with it, and more. After all, it was made by Sanu Bishwakarma, of BirGorkha.
Click to expand...

Now THAT I'd like Sanu to hear.
 
From BSing with the kamis I get the impression that Bura is probably the only one with an inkling of what the mark actually means to the end owner of the khukuris. Although I didn't ask him simply because I didn't think to I'd bet that he marked the khukuris he made for the king -- not sure if he used the cresent moon or not but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he did.
 
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