pommel throw
well, it was just a matter of time before someone had a go at this...
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
"light" cuts
SMDF 2008 Test. "Szmaty" - Hand Cuts Issue:
http://www.youtube.com/user/janchodkiewicz#p/u/16/uMkGF3EqUjU
A nicely done little test and it demonstrates the potential of even "light" cuts in fighting. It just goes to show that what might look like a "light tap" can be effective cut.
This is all the more interesting when compared with the effect of putting a bit more effort into a cut:
http://www.youtube.com/user/janchodkiewicz#p/u/15/iLPZSQTyfyE
http://www.youtube.com/user/janchodkiewicz#p/u/16/uMkGF3EqUjU
A nicely done little test and it demonstrates the potential of even "light" cuts in fighting. It just goes to show that what might look like a "light tap" can be effective cut.
This is all the more interesting when compared with the effect of putting a bit more effort into a cut:
http://www.youtube.com/user/janchodkiewicz#p/u/15/iLPZSQTyfyE
Friday, 20 August 2010
Identity...
as in: "do organizations have identities"?
Well yes, almost certainly so and in fact it seems silly to doubt this. So can one create a group identity or does the group itself determine this? Over the last several years I have had the opportunity to watch this process in action...and I can honestly say I have found that I have had only a little influence over the IDC's group identity.
Despite the effort that you put into forging an identity, in the end it is only through the eyes of others that you can truly see yourself. We did quite well at FightCamp this year, and the comments of those who met us is quite telling.
We seem a solid bunch, always ready for a fight (or a bit of frivolity as well), not too fancy or formal either (but quite adept at what we do).
The IDC can be what each of us needs it to be as long as we keep true to our core identity.
Well yes, almost certainly so and in fact it seems silly to doubt this. So can one create a group identity or does the group itself determine this? Over the last several years I have had the opportunity to watch this process in action...and I can honestly say I have found that I have had only a little influence over the IDC's group identity.
Despite the effort that you put into forging an identity, in the end it is only through the eyes of others that you can truly see yourself. We did quite well at FightCamp this year, and the comments of those who met us is quite telling.
We seem a solid bunch, always ready for a fight (or a bit of frivolity as well), not too fancy or formal either (but quite adept at what we do).
The IDC can be what each of us needs it to be as long as we keep true to our core identity.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Presenting HEMA to the public...Part Deux
Recently Pete brought "Living HEMA" (http://www.livinghema.se/index.html) to my attention. For those of you who don't read Swedish here is the translation of one of their pages:
"What is HEMA
HEMA is an abbreviation of the Historical European Martial Arts, in Swedish historical European martial arts.
This is a collective name for the old traditions of often extinct or nearly extinct martial arts that are recorded and documented from historical times. During the late 1800s and early 1900s brought a renewed interest in these forms of struggle, and then again in large forgotten. Over the past 10-15 years has once again created interest and pursue the study of historical martial arts.
Some of the most common areas of interest today revolves around the medieval martial arts, as practiced, say, Germany and Italy, but the concept of historical European martial art involving a much larger collection of martial arts. The term comes from English Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA, an acronym which is also used in Swedish) and encloses often forms of struggle are still alive, but on a reduced scale, for example, bare Knuckle boxing, Canne de combat, or the like.
Many of the older manuscripts contain detailed descriptions of both individual techniques and the whole system." (many thanks to Google Translate for this. http://translate.google.com/#sv|en|).
Now, I am honestly a bit divided on this. On the one hand I am encouraged to see quality living history interpreters adding HEMA to their displays and yet on the other hand I wonder if the historical clothing truly adds or detracts from the public's view of HEMA. In the end I think that I would rather see a proper display of HEMA (with true martial intent) by reenactors in costume than the "fives" anyday.
"What is HEMA
HEMA is an abbreviation of the Historical European Martial Arts, in Swedish historical European martial arts.
This is a collective name for the old traditions of often extinct or nearly extinct martial arts that are recorded and documented from historical times. During the late 1800s and early 1900s brought a renewed interest in these forms of struggle, and then again in large forgotten. Over the past 10-15 years has once again created interest and pursue the study of historical martial arts.
Some of the most common areas of interest today revolves around the medieval martial arts, as practiced, say, Germany and Italy, but the concept of historical European martial art involving a much larger collection of martial arts. The term comes from English Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA, an acronym which is also used in Swedish) and encloses often forms of struggle are still alive, but on a reduced scale, for example, bare Knuckle boxing, Canne de combat, or the like.
Many of the older manuscripts contain detailed descriptions of both individual techniques and the whole system." (many thanks to Google Translate for this. http://translate.google.com/#sv|en|).
Now, I am honestly a bit divided on this. On the one hand I am encouraged to see quality living history interpreters adding HEMA to their displays and yet on the other hand I wonder if the historical clothing truly adds or detracts from the public's view of HEMA. In the end I think that I would rather see a proper display of HEMA (with true martial intent) by reenactors in costume than the "fives" anyday.
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Back to basics
Its time to take things back to basics folks. A time to consider what we know, what needs work and what must yet be explored.
For the moment let's begin with how we hold a longsword (or any sword really). Recently I have noticed a tendency to grip far too tightly...we must loosen our grip, we need to relax.
First of all we must stop holding our swords in a “fist” grip. It is inelegant, overly tiring, leads to poor responses and reduces the effectiveness of your cut. A proper grip goes a long way to vastly improve your offensive and defensive skills. What we are looking for here is a kind of “handshake” grip with the top right hand, with bottom left hand mostly on the pommel. This allows the bottom hand to move as needed depending on position, allowing the pommel to rotate around yet stays mostly on the pommel.
For the moment let's begin with how we hold a longsword (or any sword really). Recently I have noticed a tendency to grip far too tightly...we must loosen our grip, we need to relax.
First of all we must stop holding our swords in a “fist” grip. It is inelegant, overly tiring, leads to poor responses and reduces the effectiveness of your cut. A proper grip goes a long way to vastly improve your offensive and defensive skills. What we are looking for here is a kind of “handshake” grip with the top right hand, with bottom left hand mostly on the pommel. This allows the bottom hand to move as needed depending on position, allowing the pommel to rotate around yet stays mostly on the pommel.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Class schedule update
Our next two class sessions (24/5 & 31/5) will be held an hour earlier at 6:00 pm and outside at Bonhay Park. This is of course weather permitting.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Presenting HEMA to the public
Although there is a long tradition of “living history” and reenactment groups putting on displays for the entertainment and potentially the education of the general public, the primary goal of those groups is the promotion of a good show, i.e. entertaining the crowd. There is nothing in itself wrong with that as a goal. However, the general public is ill served by the inaccuracies and fallacies perpetuated by some groups. In many cases, this is simply an unfortunate accident that is a result of a culture that has occurred in reenactment groups around entertaining the public. For example, if one were to view many of the groups whose focus is on the Wars of the Roses one might be led to believe that armies of the day were composed primarily of soldiers armed with pollaxes and swords and that archery was a minor component (For more on this disparity see the groups The Woodvilles, Buckingham’s Retinue, Ecorcheur, and The Clarence Houshold). Whereas in fact, in English armies especially, this ratio is inverted and the bulk of the force would have been archers. This historical fallacy is in part the result of the difficulty in using archery safely in a reenacted combat display, as well as a perception that the public would rather view combat between individuals rather than a hale of arrows. Yet in choosing to promote depictions of hand-to-hand combat to the public, they have created more misconceptions. Moreover, in order to safely allow large groups to meet and safely conduct this combat for the public, safety precautions had to be taken and guidelines for safe combat drawn up. As a former re-enactor I understand how difficult it can be logistically for all the various reenactment groups to train together and moreover without the training that would have allowed a more freeform style of mock combat a method of ‘stage fighting’ had to be adopted. Much of the combat witnessed at events is what is often referred to as “the fives”. The fives and other similar stage fighting conventions generally consist of limited target areas and a limited number of allowed angles of attack (for example a set of diagonal “cuts”, two up and two downward and a final vertical final “cut”) or an agreement to only target armoured portions of the opponent. While I might identify flaws this methodology for its depiction of actual combat, I do not seek to criticize it too harshly. It is after all simply a safe method of recreating historic combat for public consumption. However it does little to dispel the mistaken beliefs or give an accurate view of the past.
Presenting to the Public
For many years, it has been accepted practice to invite re-enactors and similar “living historians” to recreate historical battles and other events at historic locations of national interest, with the hope that this often exciting and engaging event can fulfill multiple duties for the museum or historic site. Firstly, it is hoped that an exciting event might draw larger members of the public to the site, which often relies on visitor traffic for its revenue. Secondly, there appears to be a desire to use re-enactors to make the past more approachable to members of the public. Many Re-enactors take great care in the details of the historical clothing they wear as well as the rest of their kit. However, due to balancing the needs of safety and historical accuracy, the re-enactment combat often seen at these events is often grossly inaccurate and doing the public a disservice. One of the aims of this public presentation is to avoid the pitfall of the re-enactor and avoid the historical clothing and armour issue and instead focus on correctly presenting the historic combat without worrying whether the safety equipment is correct to the period. We are not generally used to the concept of ongoing scholarly research into historical combat, especially when it involves experimental archaeology. However, it has been suggested that there are a myriad of new approaches to experimental archaeology yet to be considered and this is just one new area of study. It is of vital importance that nothing is presented to the public as fact if there is no evidence for it. In educating the public it is paramount that what is presented to them is done in such a way as to highlight what evidence there is to support an interpretation, how that evidence was obtained and how further study may change interpretations.
The main aim of this event is to put forward a more accurate image of Europe’s military history. Heretofore the depiction of historical combat has been greatly influenced for the worse by television, movies and other popular culture. The goal is to demonstrate to the public that Europe’s martial heritage was not a haphazard affair but rather an organized series of skills. The aim of this event is to highlight both careful academic research and martial practice. This event will involve the participation of various modern historical European martial arts schools in a public display of martial arts dating primarily to the 14th and 15th centuries. The decision not to present this to the public in historic costume is a very conscious choice. If historic costume were to be employed, we would very likely increase the confusion of the public, as what we will demonstrate will appear different to other displays on site. The use of modern clothing and equipment allows us to focus the attention in different ways. The clothing question allows us to sidestep the distraction of whether or not the minutia of our clothing is accurate or not and more over allows greater freedom in our ability to demonstrate fighting techniques with proper martial intent. Whereas a re-enactor would fight according to set stage fighting techniques, which are designed to keep them safe, the HEMA practitioner makes use of non-historical safety equipment, such as a fencing mask to maintain safety. Since many of the reproduced examples of medieval helms seen on the reenactment field fail to provide the wearer with adequate protection for the face most re-enactment groups do not allow the targeting of certain areas (such as the head) during combat displays. This is not an illogical line of reasoning if we consider that the re-enactor is unwilling to sacrifice the accuracy of appearance for safety. HEMA chooses to turn this reasoning on its head and has made the choice to forego the historical accuracy of their appearance in order to embrace the accuracy of the historical technique. Therefore the HEMA practitioner may fight with full martial intent in a public display, content in the knowledge that both they and their opponent are safe and there is no need to modify the technique for safety. The goal then is to see modern practitioners demonstrating something as close as possible to 'real fighting', using blunt steel and modern kit, as well as training techniques and test cutting along with anecdotes about the translation and interpretation process.
Presenting to the Public
For many years, it has been accepted practice to invite re-enactors and similar “living historians” to recreate historical battles and other events at historic locations of national interest, with the hope that this often exciting and engaging event can fulfill multiple duties for the museum or historic site. Firstly, it is hoped that an exciting event might draw larger members of the public to the site, which often relies on visitor traffic for its revenue. Secondly, there appears to be a desire to use re-enactors to make the past more approachable to members of the public. Many Re-enactors take great care in the details of the historical clothing they wear as well as the rest of their kit. However, due to balancing the needs of safety and historical accuracy, the re-enactment combat often seen at these events is often grossly inaccurate and doing the public a disservice. One of the aims of this public presentation is to avoid the pitfall of the re-enactor and avoid the historical clothing and armour issue and instead focus on correctly presenting the historic combat without worrying whether the safety equipment is correct to the period. We are not generally used to the concept of ongoing scholarly research into historical combat, especially when it involves experimental archaeology. However, it has been suggested that there are a myriad of new approaches to experimental archaeology yet to be considered and this is just one new area of study. It is of vital importance that nothing is presented to the public as fact if there is no evidence for it. In educating the public it is paramount that what is presented to them is done in such a way as to highlight what evidence there is to support an interpretation, how that evidence was obtained and how further study may change interpretations.
The main aim of this event is to put forward a more accurate image of Europe’s military history. Heretofore the depiction of historical combat has been greatly influenced for the worse by television, movies and other popular culture. The goal is to demonstrate to the public that Europe’s martial heritage was not a haphazard affair but rather an organized series of skills. The aim of this event is to highlight both careful academic research and martial practice. This event will involve the participation of various modern historical European martial arts schools in a public display of martial arts dating primarily to the 14th and 15th centuries. The decision not to present this to the public in historic costume is a very conscious choice. If historic costume were to be employed, we would very likely increase the confusion of the public, as what we will demonstrate will appear different to other displays on site. The use of modern clothing and equipment allows us to focus the attention in different ways. The clothing question allows us to sidestep the distraction of whether or not the minutia of our clothing is accurate or not and more over allows greater freedom in our ability to demonstrate fighting techniques with proper martial intent. Whereas a re-enactor would fight according to set stage fighting techniques, which are designed to keep them safe, the HEMA practitioner makes use of non-historical safety equipment, such as a fencing mask to maintain safety. Since many of the reproduced examples of medieval helms seen on the reenactment field fail to provide the wearer with adequate protection for the face most re-enactment groups do not allow the targeting of certain areas (such as the head) during combat displays. This is not an illogical line of reasoning if we consider that the re-enactor is unwilling to sacrifice the accuracy of appearance for safety. HEMA chooses to turn this reasoning on its head and has made the choice to forego the historical accuracy of their appearance in order to embrace the accuracy of the historical technique. Therefore the HEMA practitioner may fight with full martial intent in a public display, content in the knowledge that both they and their opponent are safe and there is no need to modify the technique for safety. The goal then is to see modern practitioners demonstrating something as close as possible to 'real fighting', using blunt steel and modern kit, as well as training techniques and test cutting along with anecdotes about the translation and interpretation process.
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