Curious Moro blade

Ian · 17th April 2006, 02:04 PM

On looking through van Zonneveld again, there are three illustrations of knives from Sumbawa on p. 74 (figures 281-283) that each show the narrow neck feature. These are the only examples of this feature that I can find in van Z. after looking through the book several times.

Another reference source by Donn F. Draeger, The Weapons & Fighting Arts of Indonesia, offers some further possibilities for this style of blade. In Figure 60, Basic types of Javanese knife and sword blades (p. 100), he has a drawing of a larbango which has a long narrow neck and upswept blade. This is the closest example I've seen so far to the odd Moro blade at the top of this post.

Elsewhere in his book, Draeger shows several knives from the Celebes that also feature a narrow neck: the Bajau parang (Fig. 166, p. 213) which resembles the blade of my Sumbawa knife; and several examples from the Toradja people, including the labo topang, piso, and piso lampakan (Fig. 168, p. 215) and an ublakas or parang upatjara (Fig. 169, p.216).

None of the these knives mentioned in Draeger are included in van Zonneveld's book.

17th April 2006, 02:04 PM	#29
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,453	Additional research ... On looking through van Zonneveld again, there are three illustrations of knives from Sumbawa on p. 74 (figures 281-283) that each show the narrow neck feature. These are the only examples of this feature that I can find in van Z. after looking through the book several times. Another reference source by Donn F. Draeger, The Weapons & Fighting Arts of Indonesia, offers some further possibilities for this style of blade. In Figure 60, Basic types of Javanese knife and sword blades (p. 100), he has a drawing of a larbango which has a long narrow neck and upswept blade. This is the closest example I've seen so far to the odd Moro blade at the top of this post. Elsewhere in his book, Draeger shows several knives from the Celebes that also feature a narrow neck: the Bajau parang (Fig. 166, p. 213) which resembles the blade of my Sumbawa knife; and several examples from the Toradja people, including the labo topang, piso, and piso lampakan (Fig. 168, p. 215) and an ublakas or parang upatjara (Fig. 169, p.216). None of the these knives mentioned in Draeger are included in van Zonneveld's book.