Kepings or Barongs

xasterix · 27th May 2022, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobT

Xasterix,

Since you said in Sajen's thread that, "these blades have often been dressed up and mistaken for barungs. In many cases the dressing up is deliberate, so that the tourists will buy kepings, thinking that they're barungs", I didn't mention that the ferrule on the first blade isn't original to the hilt because I didn't think, in the case of kepings, the hilt was a reliable identifier. My bad and I apologize. The wood part of the hilt came with the blade but the ferrule that came with it was a piece of aluminum tubing which looked as if it had been just kind of stuck on. It looked horrible so I made a barong style ferrule. I was basing my id of the blade as a possible keping by the rather flattish spine (especially the distal half). That is admittedly a rather subtle feature but, if it isn't sufficient to distinguish between keping and barong, I think that the only reliable way to tell the difference between the two is to have a radically non barong hilt and/or a radically non barong blade.

Sincerely,
RobT

Dear Rob: It's all good! Another identifier for me would be the spine...keping usually have thinner spines than barung. An assessment of the sword's different parts would be best to ascertain whether a leaf-blade is a keping or barung

Ian · 27th May 2022, 05:05 AM

Rob,

I think one of the key points that xasterix was making is that the Maranao call all leaf-shaped blades keping. Thus, a traditional barung from the Sulu Archipelago, when dressed in Maranao style, would qualify as a keping in the Maranao dialect.

So we have barung (Sulu), keping (Maranao), badung (Palawan) to describe similar leaf-shaped blades from different regions of the Moro peoples. These regions also have distinctive local styles for hilts and scabbards that help distinguish them (most of the time). I'm sure we will find exceptions to this general classification, but it seems useful for the present time to help distinguish between the three forms.

RobT · 1st June 2022, 10:58 PM

Ian,

Sorry for the tardy reply. I believe you are correct in your assessment. In a way it's like the Uzbek pichok vs the Tajik kord. For my part (unless I have pretty much ironclad Maranao provenance), I think the best way forward is to call anything with a barong style hilt and blade a barong unless the blade or hilt differs markedly from standard.

Sincerely,
RobT

27th May 2022, 05:05 AM	#2
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,361	Rob, I think one of the key points that xasterix was making is that the Maranao call all leaf-shaped blades keping. Thus, a traditional barung from the Sulu Archipelago, when dressed in Maranao style, would qualify as a keping in the Maranao dialect. So we have barung (Sulu), keping (Maranao), badung (Palawan) to describe similar leaf-shaped blades from different regions of the Moro peoples. These regions also have distinctive local styles for hilts and scabbards that help distinguish them (most of the time). I'm sure we will find exceptions to this general classification, but it seems useful for the present time to help distinguish between the three forms. Last edited by Ian; 28th May 2022 at 01:15 AM.

1st June 2022, 10:58 PM	#3
RobT Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 534	Point Taken Ian, Sorry for the tardy reply. I believe you are correct in your assessment. In a way it's like the Uzbek pichok vs the Tajik kord. For my part (unless I have pretty much ironclad Maranao provenance), I think the best way forward is to call anything with a barong style hilt and blade a barong unless the blade or hilt differs markedly from standard. Sincerely, RobT