Keris or not?

[HughChen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

The waves in the blade of a keris are called "luk".

"Lima" is the number 5.

"Luk Lima" is "five wave".

The present method of wave count is to begin on the first wave above the gandhik and the first wave on the other side of the blade is wave 2.

We continue towards the point and finish the count on the same side of the blade that we began on, often there is no wave at that point, it is often a nominal wave only.

The number of waves is always uneven, except in extremely rare cases.

Why does five wave keris sometimes doesn't need gonjo?

[milandro]

I don't think it is a prerogative of a 5 luk kris being Ganja Iras. Any kris straight or with luk may or may not be created without a Ganja.

here there is a thread with some info on this

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=Gonjo+Iras

[HughChen]

Originally Posted by milandro

I don't think it is a prerogative of a 5 luk kris being Ganja Iras. Any kris straight or with luk may or may not be created without a Ganja.

here there is a thread with some info on this

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=Gonjo+Iras

Thank you Milandro, it seems that no conclusion has been made about why gonjo iras exists.

[A. G. Maisey]

Perhaps no general conclusion, but my own conclusion is very simple:- money.

Smiths work for a living.

The cheaper one makes something, the cheaper one can sell it, the more sales that can be made.

There is a real lot of very careful, demanding work in making a gonjo and achieving a satisfactory fit.

There is much less work in punching a straight line.

Less time, less work, less fuel.

[HughChen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Perhaps no general conclusion, but my own conclusion is very simple:- money.

Smiths work for a living.

The cheaper one makes something, the cheaper one can sell it, the more sales that can be made.

There is a real lot of very careful, demanding work in making a gonjo and achieving a satisfactory fit.

There is much less work in punching a straight line.

Less time, less work, less fuel.

Alan, Why the gonjo of keris is asymmetrical，and why keris as a double-edged sword is asymmetrical? Most swords have something like a GonJo like Tsuba. But they are symmetrical even in curved single-edged swords or knifes.

[milandro]

perhaps here you find some of the answers to your questions

http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/maisey/


the shape of the kris contains both symbolic and practical elements

[A. G. Maisey]

That "Origin" paper is pretty old, the core of it, I think I can still support, but it really needs to be rechurned.

Hugh, the simple answer to your question is that I do not know why most keris are asymmetrical. We can hypothesise, but perhaps that's the best we can do. I think its probably a "form follows function" thing, given the original form of the archaic keris, & the way it was used. But we really have no certainty.