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Keris Fighting MethodsYou know I never realized how valuable and rare the Keris fighting techniques we have really are until I heard the continued rambling of a poor misinformed Indonesian who continues to rant that Keris fighting was never done. He further twists his crooked tale ever so slightly to try and throw off those that are not so astute by claiming that I say Keris fighting is part of all Cimande. I challenge him to show one place on my web site that has ever said that all Cimande teaches some form of Keris fighting! The fact is they don’t. Keris fighting seems to cross all styles and indeed each region’s blades were a bit different so I am sure various things slightly changed from region to region. You can find various Masters practicing some Keris moves in the 1980's. The Keris was seen as more than a mortal weapon but a weapon that could be used and was used for sure, that contained both a physical manner of use. Still, that manner was based a lot in how the Keris was perceived due to its necessary construction along the lines dictated by the way the Empus believed the power of the Keris was best molded into a physical shape. When I began to learn the actual ways of holding, thrusting and slashing with a Keris it was Pendeakr Jafri who opened those doors for me. I put a small clip of this site showing him moving with a Keris and our trouble brewer decided to just say that, oh well it was just there, so he played with it!
In other words he was twirling a Keris but it could have been a Pizza Pie, just happened he had one at the movement but it did not prove he taught Keris fighting, that’s a great perception! A man who had all of the weapons at his disposal, was the official rep from the IPSI to the USA basically accidently picked up a weapon that was never used to fight with and decided to be on camera on television using it as a weapon anyway! Yea right… Well of course he taught me Keris fighting, moves he gathered from all the Masters he met in his travels as he would always inquire about how they used the Keris to fight with he told me. He spent a lot of time with Mas Agung a Great Keris collector in Jakarta who he took me to meet. He had thousands of Keris and in front of Mas Agung Jafri showed the Keris moves to the full approval of this great Javanese Keris expert.
He introduced me to many who would show a parry with the case or a particular thrust and posture. I took all of this and decided to teach it to my students in MY art Pukulan Cimande Pusaka so NO you can’t find Keris fighting in just any Silat school, in fact it is VERY hard to find what with the way the Keris went as time went by. That is why I added it to Pukulan Cimande Pusaka. But here in Print from an old magazine from the 1980's is an article On Pencak Silat and here in actual photos is Pendekar Jafri CHOOSING to demonstrate one of the many Keris fighting moves he showed me in Keris to Keris encounter under a title, The Weapons of Pencak Silat. Note it does not say the Talismans of Pencak Silat or the Icons it says WEAPONS. This is only to make clear he DID openly show how to fight with the keris. He showed me all he had discovered in that realm and I searched for even more. I teach this information and have a video tape and book on the subject. The late Pendekar Herman Suwanda is one good example of a Sunda Javanese Master that not only taught Keris fighting but produced and sold a video called the Keris system. We had some good talks on the use of the Keris and he also was in possession of old Javanese Keris fighting techniques. When I showed him what Pendekar Jafri showed me he acknowledged they were basically the same as what he found and you can see this on his video. So for those who want to know who in Java said there had been Keris fighting in Java and that information was not all lost, it was two separate official representatives of the IPSI, Pendekar Jafri and Pendekar Suwanda. Both made videos and Pendekar Jafri wrote magazine articles showing the use of the keris. We continue to expand on that base, but are not limited to it as I believe the Keris crosses all Islands in the Archipelago and so we embrace all keris fighting techniques. More research is currently underway in Java.
In those times even the various special thrusts with the Keris had names, like Tikam Tunggal, a solitary or one lethal strike used to end the fight. Special names were not given to thrusts in fights from bladed weapons not used in that way. The names of the various keris strikes were not names given to me by Pendekar Jafri; he simply showed me the techniques. I then used the terms and names that I found after searching in many references. I have had people who have tried to say if Jafri said that then it was a Malay technique and I need to clarify that so it is perfectly clear - Pendekar Jafri did not show me Malay keris fighting. I would love to know that also but it is not what he showed me. However Pendekar Jafri said the keris was originally used in much the same manner with small variances of design, in handle and blade angle, due to the fact at one time all of Indonesia was in the Majapahit empire. He even used the term Majapahit Martial Arts on some of his shirts to illustrate this synchronicity across the islands at one time. We use keris techniques therefore from across the board but mostly from what Pendekar Jafri found in old sources in Java. This seems to be information they don’t want you to have as they fight against it SO hard I would suggest ALL of my students learn these techniques to keep these old ways alive and fight against those who seem to want to bury them and keep the Keris just a symbol. By the way in another article Pencak Silats Nine Deadliest Weapons Pendekar Jafri again lists the Keris as one of those and also the Kujang of course, as another. Can you believe this same guy wants you to hang your Kujang on the wall as it is really not a weapon, oh boy.
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