Kujang (weapon)

The kujang is a traditional bladed weapon of the Sundanese people of West Java, Indonesia. The earliest examples are dated to about the eighth or ninth century. A kujang is forged from iron, steel or pattern-welded steel, measures roughly 20 to 25 centimetres in length and weighs about 300 grams. Its curved, widening blade is recognised by features such as a pointed tip, a bulging curve at the base, an inward curve along the belly and small holes in the blade that were sometimes filled with gold or silver. Old Sundanese writing describes it as the weapon of farmers, and it is thought to descend from an earlier tool called the kudi, so it began as an agricultural implement. Sundanese tradition distinguishes ceremonial, protective, warfare and farming kujang, and a family of blade shapes named after a rooster, an egret, a rhinoceros and other forms. It remains one of the traditional weapons of Sundanese pencak silat and a blade of spiritual and sentimental value, comparable to the keris.