Indonesian Sword - The Blade Within

Combat - March 2004

Today’s popularity of films like The Last Samurai and Kill Bill have caused many people to look at one of mankind's oldest weapons. While the two films mentioned focus on the Japanese tradition, we should not forget that other cultures also have a very long tradition with the sword.

The long sword is referred to as the Pedang in the Indonesian arts. The pedang is usually a one-handed sword. Heavy body armour was not worn because of the heat of the Indonesian sun, so the sword had to be fast and useful in close jungle fighting.

We have an extensive sword curriculum in Pukulan Cimande Pusaka. Jurus (movements alone and with a partner) are taught in two formats. The first mostly medium to close movements. The second (pedang sulwa) use longer range

techniques that combine multiple empty hand strikes and sword cuts.

So what does this Indonesian art offer you?

Using the pedang is part of a spiritual quest and it forms a vital part of this art. As above, so below; as without so within. Everything that exists is within you and it is only through finding an essence within your being. and then expressing it mentally in a physical form that you can master anything. Sometimes that which is without can be used as a key, to find that which is within. To achieve this means forming a union between spirit and form through the 'gerak pedang baden' (sword body movement) and 'tacktic pedang badans' (sword/body tactics). These exercises are moving mediations that I refer to as 'Washing the body with the blade'.

You are taught how to place the thick back of the blade against your body and begin by slowly and rhythmically moving your body while keeping the back edge welded to your body. Move it over and back until the blade is gliding over every surface, losing the thought that it is separate from your own body.

At first you feel the cold steel against your body. but it soon disappears from your conscious thought. During such times you may notice emanations rising from your blade. like heat waves, or perhaps a soft glow. So the body turns and twists and spins, as though the body itself has become the blade! That is why I call this. 'The blade within the body'.

This is the thread I speak about in my books. It is the ideal one aspires to, but it is elusive - like a wild bird that sits on your hand of its own will but can fly off in an instant. The more you persist, the more likely it is to return as conditions suit it.

Of course this all requires careful instruction by a qualified teacher, if only so that you don't cut yourself in the process. This is possible even with experienced practitioners, especially when they use a sword not designed for this type of training.

This then is a type of mediation in which one's will is fused with an object outside of the body, so both function together as a unit. This fusion is very important in actual combat with one or more opponents.

Proper breathing is essential. You learn to breathe through the entire body (the 'badan rogan napas'). You and your sword move as one as your awareness of holding a sword in your hands fades. The blade seemingly appears here and there - all over the body - until the blade within the body merges with its physical counterpart to give rise to a ‘jimat sakti' (supernatural shield). Now the blade flows over and on the surface of the skin like a drop of water that follows every contour. As the thought goes, so the blade moves.

I hope these words go some way towards explaining the depth of physical and spiritual developments associated with using the pedang in Pukulan Cimande Pusaka.