Today with the popularity of movies like “The Last Samurai” “Kill Bill” etc…a lot of people are taking a look at one of mankind’s oldest weapons. While the two movies focus on the Japanese tradition and the two handed Samurai sword, there are other cultures that have a very long tradition with the sword.

In the Indonesian Arts the long sword is referred to as the Pendang. The Pendang is usually a one handed sword. With the heat of the Indonesian Sun, heavy body armour was not worn. The sword had to be fast, manoeuvrable for in close jungle fighting. In Pukulan Cimande Pusaka we have an extensive sword curriculum. Juru’s or movements alone and with a partner are taught in two formats. In the first the use is mostly medium to close, second another set of Jurus ( Pendang Sulwa) involve longer range techniques as well as combination empty hand and sword blows being used together.

Firstly however begs the question why?Why pick up the ancient sword, and what does the Indonesian art have to offer you in this regard? The use of the Pendang is a Spiritual quest and is a vital part of this art. As above so below, as without so within, everything that exist is within you, only by first finding something essence within your being, and then moving it mentally in a physical representation, can you master anything. But that which is without can sometimes be used as a key, to find that which is within. To do this it is imperative that the union of spirit and form be merged by using Gerak Pendang Baden ( Sword Body Movement) and Tacktic Pendang Badans (Sword Body Tactics). These exercises become a series of moving mediations I call “Washing the Body with the Blade” The student is taught how to place the thick back spine of the blade against the body and begin slowly move rhythmically, while you endeavour to keep the blades back edge wedded to your body, in over and back until the blade is gliding over every surface, disappearing from the thought of the student as a separate entity. At first the student only feels the cold steel against the body, than it will begin to disappear in short intervals from conscious thought. Eventually like the sun that has burned the last remnants of a wispy cloud away only to reveal itself with one move, aware of only the movements. This then is the thread I speak about in my books. It is the ideal one aspires to. But it is illusive like a wild bird that sits on your hand of its own will. It will fly off in an instant. But if you persisted it will return more and more as conditions suit it.

In these moments you may even notice emanations rising from your blade as heat waves, perhaps a soft glow. You are there for a moment. Of course this all requires careful instructions from a qualified teacher so one does not cut oneself in the process. Even with experience practioners this is possible, especially with a sword not design correctly for this training. This then is a type of mediation where one’s will is fused with an object outside of the body so both function as a unit. This is very important in actual combat with one or more opponents. No complicated angles to learn which can only slow one down in the thought process necessary to execute them. The body learns to position the blade, exactly where it is needed and unlike other swords arts, that can be directly against the body. So the body turns and twists and spins, it is thought the body itself has now become the Blade! And so this is why I call this process “The Blade within the Body”

Proper breathing is required, a student needs to learn to breathe through the entire body ( Badan Rogan Napas). As your conscious realization of a separate entity in your hands fades, you and your sword will move as one thing. The blade appears hers and there all over the body. As the blade within the body merges to join with its physical counterpart a Jimat Sakti (Supernatural Shield) which is Izim( Shield Of the spirit) is created between flesh and steel. Now the blade flows on the surface of the skin as a drop of water, following every contour. As the thought goes, it is there. I hope these words give you an ideal of the depth of physical and spiritual developments that goes into the art of the Pendang in Pukulan Cimande Pusaka. As a Master of the art and the Pendang. I will be giving seminars on the Pendang through out the year in Europe.