Rencong Knowledge Share

[utami]

Dear all

Introduction
Since early 2005, I looked for an Indonesian-traditional-weapon blacksmith all over Indonesia. Finally, I found a few people (families) who had the expertise of making them. They mostly got the mastery in their blood, handed by their ancestors. And now, I would like to share some knowledge I’ve got with all of Vikingsword.com’s members. This knowledge has actually been passed for many generations. However, even many Indonesian may not know about this due to the lack of information. Happy reading..

Rencong
Rencong is basically a traditional weapon of Acehnese. It’s a kind of dagger. It’s used to stab someone, and not to cut something. The maker of rencong is called “utoh” (similar to “empu”). Most utoh were the people who controlled and knew the characteristics of the iron very well.

In the old days, a famous utoh made rencong with their bare hands. They made a rencong blade by forming the iron with their hands, instead of forging and burning it in fire. What I’ve heard from the elders who understand a lot about rencong, rencong is made not only by pure finest or meteoric iron, but it was added with the utoh’s charm/spell/prayer.

Old and antique rencong was believed to have a special relation with its owner. Therefore, when something dangerous/crime coming to its owner, it was believed that the rencong would tell or gave its owner an insight about the threat. And another believe was a particular charmed rencong could never be used to harm or hurt its owner and his family. These beliefs rooted so deeply in most Acehnese, that made them hand a rencong down only to their off-spring and not sell it to other people. The receivers would also carefully take care and preserve the rencong they’ve received. That’s why old and antique rencong is quite hard to find in the market. Another cause of this condition was the devastating disaster of tsunami in 2004 which made lots of old and antique rencong vanished.

Old and antique rencong is hardly used daily. It’s usually used in an emergency and in traditional rituals and events. These rencong were made before and during Aceh war.

Utoh (Rencong maker)
At the moment, only several families left in Tanoh Anow, Aceh Besar and in Tanah Pasir, North Aceh that can make rencong with traditional tools and methods. In 1992, there was a 93-year-old utoh, who was also a poet, whose name was Tengku Ibrahim Nukman or was well known as Tibranus. He was one of the last utohs back then.

Another famous utoh was Tengku Meulaboh, who was Tibranus’ pupil and younger brother. He lived in Tanah Pasir, where he passed his expertise down to several local people. Up to now, we can still find a few of last utoh.

The Making of Rencong
Rencong is usually ordered by its blade length. Different from Indonesia’s standard measurement, i.e. metric measurement, in ordering rencong, you need to use international measurement. So instead of using “cm”, you need to use “inch”. The length of rencong blade is usually 3 – 10 inchies. The length of blade tells the value and the status of the owner. The longer the blade, the more valuable and can only be possessed by high rank people. For example, a 10-inch blade can only be ordered and possessed by noble or highly respected people.

The rencong blade is mostly made by white iron, steel, brass and car spring. The sarong (scabbard) and gagang (hilt) are usually made by buffalo horns, deer horns, elephant tusks, wood, silver and even gold.

Rencong is made at a workshop called teumpeung, where some men forge burning steel; some others pump the air to the stove with a simple pump made from used cement bag or goat leather, usually called pupout; and some other men use traditional drills to drill buffalo horns to make the scabbard and the hilt, and afterwards filed them. The smell of burnt meat is the typical smell or aroma in this workshop when a blade is struck into its hilt.

During the making of the scabbard and hilt, an utoh uses a grindstone, a knife and wooden tweezers to straighten a curved horn. And then to scour them, an utoh uses a sandpaper, “serumpit” leaves and “abu gosok” (special wooden ashes).


The Difference of Souvenir Rencong & Rencong
The blade of souvenir rencong is usually not sharp and pointed. While rencong is usually sharp, pointed and charmed.

Rencong made for war is usually charmed by this spell, “Haram kau minum darahku, haram kausentuh kulitku, haram kaumakan dagingku. Urat kawat, tulang besi, kulit baja. Aku keluar dari rahim ibunda. Aku masuk pada kalimah la ilaha illahu." In English, “I forbid you to drink my blood. I forbid you to touch my skin. I forbid you to eat my flesh. Wire vein, iron bones, steel skin. I came from my mother’s womb. And I believe in “La Ilaha Illahu” (There’s no other Gods, but Allah).”

A good quality rencong usually has these characteristics:
- the scabbard and hilt are made of finest materials (buffalo horn, deer horn, wood, silver, gold, tusk)
- the hilt is comfortably grapped, making it easy to stab the chest part
- the tip of the blade is sharp and pointed
- the blade bends in various arch.


Generally, there are 2 kinds of rencong.
- Reuncong Meucugek ( meucangge / canggei ) :
* Black Buffalo Horn



* White Buffalo Horn






- Reuncong Pudoi (puntung, puluen) :
* Black Buffalo Horn






This article was compiled from various sources, such as interviews with elders, utoh, related parties and also from books and manuscripts. This article is a part of my personal efforts in preserving Indonesia’s culture, especially traditional weapons. By doing this, we hope Acehnese rencong would not be extinct for I believe there are still many people who love Indonesian traditional weapons.

We are open to any thought and response that would come in the future. Please kindly use this article as something that gives you more information on rencong since we’re just trying to share our knowledge and exploration. And we expect and welcome any comment, response and question to make this information more valuable for all of us, in terms of accuracy and actuality.
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Zola
Cibubur, Indonesia

PS: All image is my rencong collections, made from tanah pasir