Sword Play

Two contrasting styles of fencing (with different weapons).

First the two handed sword, showing techniques from Lichtenauer's style.

Interestingly these fellas are going at it full tilt with swords but their tai sabaki is excellent. Note how they attack with their *bodies*, always pushing into the centreline of their opponent. When attacking they force forward and finish with feet pointing towards their partner's centre (not always). Solid parries and attacks with the body is essential-they're not relying on their weapon even though it looks formidable. More is needed and in this case you can see how everything comes into play: body, feet, sword and (probably) breath.

Check out the intriguing ways the Fabris fighters turn around a linear attack. They curve and circle in an almost grotesque way. Equally other times the parry is very small: just enough to knock the opponent off the line of attack. At about 1m 50s you see the active agent take the initiative to attack and also protect himself from the line of attack by turning his blade up, deflecting any forward momentum. Mind you, a couple of times it looks like the passive agent was so passive he was asleep!

Great hip movement and rotation for extra reach.

Last days fencing and ki ken tai

The fencing course culminates with a competition with the rest of the club. This includes fun atmosphere and prize giving so I was fairly relaxed about going along, despite not having actually fought anyone for real!

It was quite a liberating experience for me as when I have been to martial art competitions I'm always a little anxious about technique, remembering stuff, wanting to do well and not let myself down. These all buzz around my head so calming them is a process which takes up energy. Last night at the fencing tournament however I didn't mind at all! Everyone sees you are a learner due to the blue plastron beginners wear and I had nothing to prove. I went along to see how sword combat would be and to maybe get a few points on other fencers, which I did.

One thing to remark was how tired I was after each bout. I'm sure this was because I didn't really know about the correct and most efficient way to fence, but also maybe because I was lunging too much. I think more astute and experienced fencers don't need to lunge and this takes up a lot of energy. Also I was probably chasing the hit a little too much- I couldn't rely on sitting back, parrying and riposting as my technique wasn't developed enough.

My fights ended against M, a tall left-handed fencer who was very able and who thrashed me soundly with me scoring only one point on him. Afterwards in the pub he told me he'd been working on his footwork a lot which improved his fencing. He found that this could free up his mind to work on the 'point' work and bringing these two together, he said, really improved his game: foot and point working in unison. I couldn't help chipping in to add that ki ken tai (breath/spirit or shout, sword and body) was a similar concept in kendo and other striking arts. Bringing together the spirit of the attack (the raw will of the attack) with the body movement and footwork together with the strike of the weapon (be it sword or fist) gives a unity and firmness to the offence. Ki is sometimes considered as the shout or kiai and in some martial arts if the kiai is not present the point is not scored.

This concept is important on a physical level as it improves the structure of the given attack but also on a philosophical level makes the strike more complete. Movement within a traditional martial art is considered more correct if these three elements are present. This is particularly pertinent within kata or hyung practice when intent, focus and body movement are essential.

With respect to swords

I have enjoyed my fencing beginner's course with Cambridge Sword but something I find amazing, shocking and at the same time fascinating is the complete disregard for the weapon as an object of beauty, of spirit and as something to be respected.

At the start of the lesson we collect our equipment from the main 'Salle' and transport it over to the smaller one. This entails bringing a bunch of foils which are more often than not unceremoniously dumped on the floor and sometimes kicked into a corner! I understand that in fencing this is simply seen as another piece of equipment but having trained in iaido where the blade should be shown respect it shocks me a little.

The katana or indeed the iaito can be something of beauty and article to be loved in some way. Respect must be shown not only for spiritual reasons but for practical reasons: it's a weapon and deadly! Cleaning, caring and ensuring safety is paramount. The idea of using the sword sensibly is referred to as Satsu jin ken, katsu jin ken or life giving sword, life taking sword. A sword irresponsibly wielded can lead to death and destruction whereas a sword user with good intentions can use his or her sword to 'give' life.

Counter riposte

The counter riposte in fencing refers to a continuation of an attack after the first riposte has been parried. The first attack has been defended and the attacker presses on his or her attack.

This made me think of something we worked on in boxing a week ago and that is to continue the attack even when your opponent is attacking. In other words parry and attack (in this case punch) a the same time. This tactic can of course yield great results but often in our kata work and one step techniques we can overlook this by assuming: block, punch, block, punch in sequence. If we don't understand the forms we can step through them in quite a linear fashion. The boxing counter punch is almost simultaneous.

This isn't to say that traditional Asian striking arts don't advocate this quick counter riposte, it's just something we need to bear in mind.

Some karateka often churn out the old chestnut, "Ah yes but any block can also be an attack". This is certainly true but I think there's more to it than simply banging in a block hard and claiming that the force would have hurt your opponent's arm/leg. This is too simplistic. Of course bunkai or the attitude of seeing and practising applications within kata is now more and more popular and we can use this within our visualisations during training. It's in these applications that we can unlock many of the more sophisticated block ripostes. for example see the following video outlining one of the very first moves many karateka make from Pyung Ahn Cho Dan (peinan or heian shodan). Here the actors show first the moves as they exist within the hyung then the interpretation. Here you will see a fierce multiple counter riposte sequence.

My fencing teacher made a point which might clarify the issue here. We were happily trying out the riposte and counter riposte over and over again with application and quiet dedication and thought we were doing a good job of it. When he came over he said that it was ok but we needed to spend less time on the blade when blocking. Parry and counter were quickly executed almost like one flowing technique.

It's easy to think of the blocks and counters within hyung to be linear and sequential. No matter how quickly you execute them they still seem like a block and punch combination whereas we should be mindful of the idea of a counter riposte without spending so much time "on the blade".

Fencing Foil Positions

Is her back hand supposed to be that far over?

New books

Found a book on fencing in the library and bought another on Medieval Combat.

Unfortunately the fencing book I borrowed 'blind' as I ordered it from another library over the web so didn't see the contents beforehand. This meant I was a little disappointed as what I really needed was a broad overview of the basic foot movements, stances and positions. This is undoubtedly a detailed book but this is for the advanced fencer. I have gleaned some interesting information: prime, seconde, tierce, quarte, quinte, sixte, septime, octave... but on the whole too advanced for me. (Fencing: Essential Skills Training by Ed Rogers)

Medieval Combat by Hans Talhoffer (ed Mark Rector) seems more my thing. I won't be taking any lessons from this into the salle or the dojang (particularly the illustration of trial by ordeal of a man in hole pitted against a woman with a club...!) but it's given me more to get my teeth into.

This book is a reproduction of Hans Talhoffer's fifteenth century treatise on combat and fencing called 'Fechtbuch'. Smashing illustrations showing combat covering wrestling, sword work, pikes, daggers as well as mounted conflict. Very interesting to see the parries, stances and weapon positions used plus plenty of blood with hewing of heads and murder strokes as well as weird 'judicial duels' where the loser would fight in front of his own coffin.

Great insight into medieval justice, fighting techniques and attitudes towards weapons.

Fencing debut

I can't say I am unbiased about my first fencing lesson: I was *thoroughly* looking forward to it. I've wanted to taste what fencing is all about for years and this course only runs once a year which only highlighted the anticipation.

I turned up and met a few other beginners: a big class (not surprising given its infrequency) and after an initial introduction we set to practising footwork. This didn't surprise me at all as this seems (much like other martial arts) the basis of movement and by extension of fighting. Most of the two subsequent hours were given over to this moving forward and backward in basic forward lunging stance and fighting stance. These were very similar to a classic karate front and back stance which didn't come as much as a surprise. They did have some differences but as a family these stances used in fencing and classic karate are in the same family. Not the same but siblings certainly.

It was exciting to be learning and drilling within a completely new framework outside of my order of understanding. You could say that sparring is sparring whether it's with your fists or with a length of steel in your hand. The aim is to get the opponent: tag, touch, hit or strike. Movement seems much more restrained in fencing though with it's linear back and forth, to and froing. For example I only learned fighting stance in a right hand guard and our drills were in this format forward and then...backward! There's no deviation from that (at this stage at any rate!).

The following video shows much more than what we covered in our first lesson and is a great and deep study of body movement and weight distribution:

Epee and foil

Introduction clip regarding the difference between epee and foil fencing:

I wasn't impressed with the fencing videos I found: there were no in-depth studies or good tutorials in my opinion. Please post if you've found some of note.