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Whats the deal with Kris blades?
- Thread starter sn7
- Start date
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- Oct 16, 1998
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The wavey kris blade shape is based on the Malaysian Keris fighting blades. Balisongs are supposed to be a Filipino cultural artifact, and so a kris balisong is kind of the ultimate Filipino knife, culturally speaking. The weird thing is that the Keris is more associated with Indonesia and the butterfly knife was originally from France or there abouts. But the Filipino eskrimador has definately made the balisong what it is today in terms of its stature in fighting knife legend and lore.
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- Sep 21, 2000
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Chuck's got you covered: http://www.balisongcollector.com./kris.html
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2000
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- 626
I saw a BBC program about some very identifiable blades (or traditional weaponry) originating in the Pacific Rim. I remember there were bits about Samurai swords (w/ no differentiation between different types) and the keris blade.
From what I understood, the traditional method of forging a keris is to take three pieces of metal, and twist them together. From there they are beaten flat. It was the twisting of different pieces together that gave the blade the wavy profile. This was obviously a severe simplification of the process.
Also, part of the deal with a keris was that it was not merely an effective weapon and valuable heirloom, but it had great spiritual significance as well. I have also heard statements to the effect that the Filipino belief is that every blade has a demon trapped within it. Interesting similarities could be observed here between the spiritual significance of the keris & Filipino demon thingy, and the spiritual significance (and/or fear) of a witch's athame, but that would be a digression no one cares to hear.
This page sounds like it supports what I recall from that program.
Personally, I use the distinction of spelling (if not necessarily pronunciation) to determine between the difference between the traditional keris I've described above, and the moderately (or significantly, depending on your point of view, and the particular piece you're looking at) different kris that is much more common.
From what I understood, the traditional method of forging a keris is to take three pieces of metal, and twist them together. From there they are beaten flat. It was the twisting of different pieces together that gave the blade the wavy profile. This was obviously a severe simplification of the process.
Also, part of the deal with a keris was that it was not merely an effective weapon and valuable heirloom, but it had great spiritual significance as well. I have also heard statements to the effect that the Filipino belief is that every blade has a demon trapped within it. Interesting similarities could be observed here between the spiritual significance of the keris & Filipino demon thingy, and the spiritual significance (and/or fear) of a witch's athame, but that would be a digression no one cares to hear.
This page sounds like it supports what I recall from that program.
Personally, I use the distinction of spelling (if not necessarily pronunciation) to determine between the difference between the traditional keris I've described above, and the moderately (or significantly, depending on your point of view, and the particular piece you're looking at) different kris that is much more common.