Big sized Indonesian Tombak

[A. G. Maisey]

In Jawa tombak were a more generally used weapon than the keris, and although a tombak can have a pusaka character, it does not encapsulate the same, or even similar cultural roots nor values as the keris.

For simplicity think "weapon". However, for a very long time that weapon has usually been kept without its shaft, which can be between 2 and 4 meters or more in length, making it very inconvenient to keep in an ordinary house, usually tombak are now mounted on short display shafts or as daggers.

Rulers and lords used to keep armouries stocked with tombak that were issued to levies in times of conflict, but ordinary people also kept tombak for personal defence as well as duty when called upon. In Jawa poorer people would simply use a sharpened bambu stake instead of a tombak with an iron blade.