Origin of the Tombak?
 

It seems appropriate that I ask here with the Indonesian crowd. I am researching Tombaks for a museum exhibit and find little information compared to keris. :shrug: So I thought to begin a thread on Tombaks.

Appreciate your input.

A good topic. Like to know too. Tombaks in Bahasa - Spears is English do exist all over the world, America, African, Europe, Romans, Persians, Asia (Indo-China, China, Japan, Korea), the Malay Archipelago, Aborigines.

Good idea for a topic. All I know is that they're called tombak and lembing for spears... and that oftentimes these spears are put on dagger handles or short shafts... but I guess they were once supposed to be on actual spear shafts. In the old days, the spear, shield, and side-arm was the warrior's weapon. Today's Silat focuses a lot more on unarmed techniques, goloks, pisau, etc., but in the olden days, a spear was one of the universal weapons of the battlefield.

That's the extent of my knowledge...

So, is a lembing a tombak on a long shaft? Or is it a spear?

Most of the short-shaft Tombaks I own have pamor.

I have three long shaft and they don't seem to have pamor, though I could clean and stain them to be sure. They do have scabbards.

We have a lot of literature on keris, but very little on Tombaks, yet it would seem that Tombaks have religious significance from the care taken to make the blades. Something more than just weapons.

I think lembing and tombaks are both spears, but different types.. I think that lembing tend to have a central ridge and be thinner (better for stabs) and tombaks tend to be broader. I am under the impression that these are spear-heads... which can be mounted as daggers or on spear-shafts... :shrug:

I hope I'm helpful, but I eagerly await the responses of the experts... :)

From my understanding lembing generally have a shorter shaft, and meant to be thrown while tombak have a longer shaft and use for closer combat. The note from malaysian wikipedia mention that tombak generally has a wider blade. But as long as I understand nowdays people just call it tombak and never lembing :shrug:
As for tombak, probably one of the most popular is Tombak Kyai Pleret (google should give more than enough information on this)
It classified as wesi aji, the precious steel.
But any cutting knife (and steel in general) seems to be "precious" in the past, at least it still celebrated in Bali (Tumpak Landep ceremony).
Attached is photo from KITLV website but I forget the caption. It shows many fighter with tombak in the background.

A shorter explanation to my reply above :D:
tombak = spear
lembing = javelin

Hello Bill,

From a Javanese perspective any spear with a methuk at the base of the blade qualifies as a tombak (no methuk - no tombak); the methuk can be forged seperately or being integral like keris blades with gonjo iras. OTOH, the name tombak apparently spread into many languages across the archipelago and is locally being used for spears which don't follow the Javanese construction/definition.

AFAIK, the Javanese custom of keeping tombak blades on a shortened pole is a relatively recent development for convenient storage of a weapon which has become obsolete during the colonial period. While this custom can be expected to spread, I find that most peoples on surrounding islands still prefer keeping their heirloom spears at full length...

And, yes, being probably the first dedicated weapon of mankind, spears do end up becoming heirlooms as well as status symbols quite commonly. However, beside keris, many other types of swords and local blade types can become pusaka (including royal heirlooms).

Regards,
Kai

I HAVE SEEN THE DAGGERS WITH THE PARMOR SPEAR BLADES REFERRED TO AS TOMBAK, IS IT THE CORRECT NAME OR IS THERE A BETTER NAME FOR THEM :confused:

AS TO HOW THE DAGGER MADE USING AN OLD SPEAR BLADE ORIGINATED PERHAPS IT WAS BECAUSE AN OCUPING FORIGN POWER PASSED LAWS FORBIDDING SPEARS BEING CARRIED INTO TOWN. OR IT MAY HAVE COME ABOUT AT A LATER DATE WHEN SPEARS WERE NO LONGER CARRIED AS GUNS WERE BEING USED.
I AM INCLUDING A PICTURE OF THE PHILIPPINE DAGGER SPEAR, THE SHAFT COULD BE REMOVED FROM THE SOCKET IN THE HANDLE AND CARRIED INTO TOWN LEGALLY AS A DAGGER. THERE ARE PICTURES OF 4 TOMBAK DAGGERS AS WELL. AS USUAL THE PICTURES I AM INCLUDING ARE FROM OTHER SOURCES THANKS TO ANY MEMBER WHO MAY HAVE ORIGINALLY POSTED THE PICTURES. :)

Hello Barry,

If the blades have a metuk, they certainly qualify as tombak reagardless of the fittings. I'd stipulate that the pics show modern fittings though.

High-contrast pamor is often seen in Javanese spear blades but not all tombak exhibit this feature.


Yes, just convenient storage after becoming obsolete as weapons. I can't remember having seen an antique example mounted as a dagger though.


Hinalung: http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/ifugao/index.html

Regards,
Kai

I've been kindly corrected that the name tombak is applied to any kind of spear (even without any metal tip) by Javanese, too.

Regards,
Kai

THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION KAI :)

I HAVE SEEN QUITE A FEW SPEAR BLADES THAT ARE IN VARIOUS INTERESTING FORMS, ARE THEY CEREMONIAL. I ALSO WONDER IF THEY WOULD BE REFERED TO AS TOMBAK OR WOULD HAVE ANOTHER NAME DESCRIBING THEM.

PICTURES OF A NICELY STAINED TOMBAK, AND PICTURES OF VARIOUS FORMS OF SPEAR FROM JAVA.

The Peninsula Malay Perspective
 

From what I have seen of samples in the hands of M'sian & S'porean collectors & based on my discussion wth pthers here, there is a lcear distinction of a Tombak (Spear) and a Lembing (Javelin) amongst the malays ofthe peninsula & perhaps in Sumatra too. Where such distinctions may not be apparent from the Javanese perspectiv.

The Malay Tombak appears to be broader of blade. It may take the classic diamond pattern with an elongated tip or a more rectangular appearance at the mid section before it tapers to a sharp end. Lembing blades appear to be slimmer and has a more aerodynamic appearance. The blade generally do not conform to the diamond form found for the tombak. both may or may not have a spine...

The shaft of the tombak is also generally thicker, rigid and more substantial in appearnce. It has a more regular parallel appearance through out its length with metallic counterweights found at the butt end. The lembing shaft on the other hand are more slimmer. Its construction tapering towards the but end... some what like a very slim n elongated coke bottle... Unlike a tombak shaft which are usually plane... the malay lembing shaft at times have very well crafted forms running throughout its length. Its shaft appears to be segmented and has fine standing lines carved around each segment. Lembing shaft doesnt appear to have any counter weight or if they do, this appears to be more like a decorative metallic sleeve at the butt...

I hope those wth samples that I have described wld show this egs as I have none of my own for a more easier visual reference.

Welcome to the Forums BigG . :)

Here's another spear head for consideration; the Metuk is a separate piece .

Thnx for the welcome Rick... :D

Will try to get a pic eg if I can

mine,
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ew/tombak2.jpg
9.25 in. blade, 1.25 in at widest, diamond x-section, 5.25" long 3/8" round tang. not sure what 'pamor' this one would have.

It looks like it may be an adeg (on edge) style of pamor .

Thanks, all. Good info. :)

Another fine example:

Couple more; one smooth finished and a fairly short blade; the other, recent Madura C. 1980's

It'll would be good if khalifah Muda can show his tombak stems and bases too...

Well BigG, the base and stem is just a normal finish, no frills or brass fittings.

The shape of the stem is what I am looking for.. If only Jentayu would show pics of his excellent collection of Malay tombaks & lembings especialy their decorative features on the stems and the shapes of those stems..

Hi Bill,
I am wondering whether this has anything to do with the naming of Tombaks..........

".....Tombac, as spelled in French, or Tombak is a brass alloy with high copper content and 5-20% zinc content..............The term tombak derives from the Javanese derived Indonesian (erroneously termed Malay) word tembaga- meaning copper. Tembaga entered Dutch usage concurrent with their colonisation of Indonesia (see Dutch East Indies). Likely, the term was used generically to describe Indonesian high-copper brass items, including gamelan gongs. It is one of the very few Indonesian or Malay loan words used in English, German or Dutch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombac

Perhaps, its simply due to brass decoration :shrug:

Kind Regards David

David, can't quite make the jump. Copper?

Here my tombaks. The first two are from Java and the third one I think from Bali.

Hi Bill :) ,
I was researching brass/bronze alloys and came across this information. Because of the linguistist use of 'tombak' (Javanese)to describe this alloy, I thought I would include it here......the reasoning is, that from I can see, there seems to be no definitive description of what makes a tombak different to a lembing. A number of formites believe that a tombak, by definition has methuk ....which are, in my very limited experience, often made from a brass like alloy.....perhaps this was more common in earlier times....and as a descriptive term tombak was used to describe a spear with methuk....perhaps, for instance they could have been originally called a tombak lembing / lembing tombak ....which was gradually shortened to just tombak.

It was just a though.....which may or may not 'create' other avenues for discussion.

All the best
Regards David