The peculiarity of these objects lies in their shape, but above all in their spiritual magic power called Tuah. The real Kris (which differs from the Kris for tourists) has the power of helping the owner attain his goals. Yet, they are far from being talismans or lucky charms. Their creation or purchase should take into account the personal characteristics of their future owners and be adjusted in order to favour them. Otherwise their effect might be a negative one. So there are types of Kris able to facilitate a smoother life (visibly marked by a “flowing” motif on the blade) by pushing away negative forces; whereas other kinds of Kris are especially made for businessmen or for people devoted to the most diverse life occupations.
The strength of the Kris is infused at the very moment of its making throughout all its phases, especially due to Empu. That is not a mere forger, but a master who complies with precise behavioural rules, since his task is to match the earthly iron with the metal coming from the cosmos: the meteor. Out of this physical and spiritual union between earth and heaven, the pamor (i.e. the motif born of the combination of the two metals) eventually originates.
In the chapter of the book dedicated to forging, we understand that there are several techniques for obtaining the desired motif: from the simplest ones like the flatting (pamor mullah), to the most complicated ones which involve the perpendicular flatting of metals (pamor miring). The pamor can be planned by the master forger to get what he had previously arranged (pamor rekan); or else during the forging you can let the Gods’ will reveal itself through unforeseen motifs (pamor tiban); being that the case, the Kris acquires a particular force when well defined shapes like persons or animals appear on the pamor”.
“The book is meant to be just an elementary approach to the world of Kris and intends to provide the basic knowledge to those who, like me many years ago, didn’t know much about this strange thing which, however, enchanted me at first sight. For the ones who may wish to go deeper into the matter and discover more about it, there is a useful bibliographic list at the end the book”. “Considering the objectives, it is obvious that the subjects included are not dealt with extensively. In fact, each chapter would deserve a specific book itself”. I have tried and use a simple language – however indispensably technical - which may also be understood by amateurs, even because the difficult jargon and specialized words and expressions are in the original language with the Italian translation, or vice versa. Moreover, the text is easily comprehensible and memorisable thanks to a number of pictures and details which better explain the whole matter”.
Sandro FORGIARINI, coroner, lives in Gemona del Friuli. Manufacturer of custom knives, he has been collecting Kris as well as other oriental weapons for over twenty years. He collaborates with reviews focused on arms writing articles about oriental weapons. He has participated in presentations about forging and Kris nomenclature in Gemona (Lions Club), Udine (Rotary) and Milan (Cultural Centre Italy-Asia)
