I don’t know why I want this skill. I can’t forsee a circumstance where sword fighting would be useful, but I still want to learn. I have a 5 1/2’ Claymore[sup]*[/sup] and I always invisioned that it would scare the crap out of someone if they broke in my house. But if they had a sword as well and knew how to use it, I would be screwed.
All that aside, how do I learn how to sword fight? Do I start with fencing and move up to heavier swords? Is it something I can teach myself? Does anyone out there in doperland know how to sword fight? I do know there is at least a few collectors.
[sup]*[/sup] I know a claymore isn’t a fighting sword - but there still has to be some technique to swinging it around.
Kendo seems more appropriate than western fencing. If you’re not interested in real lessons (or they are unavailable in your area), you can find lessons on-line. Don’t hurt yourself.
Contact the Phys. Ed. department of your local college. More than likely they offer fencing as a class. As an alternative, only for show, ask whether or not the Theater department has stage-fencing classes. Depends on what you want. Since the likelihood of you actually encountering a sword-weilding intruder are rather small, the theater class might serve you better.
Western fencing bears, from what I understand, only a passing resemblance to what one would actually expect to encounter on the streets of, say, Paris circa 1700. Kendo is also sylized to some extent; perhaps less so? I’m not sure.
I’ve heard that some SCA types do something more like a ‘street-fighting’ version of fencing, but I don’t have any personal experience. Probably kendo/kenjutsu/iaido would be your best bet.
Fencing is a good place to start, but make sure the instructor or school teaches saber. The angles of attack and parry are fairly easily translated to a two-handed sword. Also, look for stage combat classes that include weapons at a community college.
You may want to see if these guys are active in your area - they try to recreate European fighting styles (iirc)
I decided to take up fencing (sabre, if anyone cares) to learn the techniques and theory. I feel I could probably adapt it to a larger sword if the situation required.
I’ve done some fighting with the SCA, as well as some live steel, and some silly boffer fighting. They’re all separate skills as they’re all separate sports. Learning these skill will teach how to participate in these sports.
Places like the Higgins Armory put on demonstrations of how real medieval combat took place. They have several books that are reprints of medieval combat training manuals. I have very hard time learning physical skills from books, so I can’t tell you how useful they are.
Thanks to all for the suggestions. Kendo sounds like what I’m looking for, but there isn’t a Dojo within 100 miles of my house. I may just see what I can find online and practice on my own.
The SCA seems more suitable to my type of sword and prefrence. I will have to look into that some more.
As for theatrical sword fighting, I want to learn the real thing, but this is what got me interested in the first place. I wonder how closely theatrical sword fighting is to the real thing. I remember seeing a movie “Rob Roy” that had some great fight scenes. Of course there’s always things like “Braveheart” and “Star Wars” as well.
Try everything. Kendo, Fencing, Historical Fencing, SCA, and whatever else you can find. Eventually you’ll find a style that appeals to you.
Many of the different styles are sport oriented, but still good for learning basics of coordination, balance and awareness of you opponents. Some teach techniques based on re-discovered European fighting manuels modified slightly for safety reasons. Some are very much fun, some are studious, all will make you a better person, in my opinion.
The Claymore was a fighting sword. A long two handed sword is useful for breaking up pike carrying formations and opening up a hole in them.
I have studied kendo, belonged to the SCA and have about two dozen historical fencing chums who play around in the back yard. I’m not that good but i have fun.
Reminds me of the time we were running through knife defense techniques in my Kenpo studio for use in a prime time cop drama. We had the main character from the show in the studio and they were going to use some us as “background students” for a “martial arts at the academy” scene. After talking with the television people about camera angles and such, the very first thing our instructor said to us was “Okay, don’t anyone ever use these techniques in real life!”
I’ll second the SCA. I did fencing for a few years with them – in fact, our own Sweetums was one of my teachers – and it was a blast! I do (if you’re reading this, O Esteemed Teacher) plan on getting back into it one of these days when life settles down.
In my defense, I meant that it wasn’t the type of sword that you would do hand to hand combat with another claymore wielding opponent. My understanding was that they were used against the Calvary. You needed a big enough sword to disable the horse (by lopping a leg off IIRC) and then something to bash in the head of the guy on horseback. Hopefully he was too stunned to do anything with a lighter and quicker sword.
If this wrong, please let me know. I’ve recently gotten very interested in medieval weaponry and I would rather be told I’m wrong than to continue to run around spewing nonsense.
Thanks for the links and the info. I’m going to poke around (heh) at swordforum and see what I find.
Where in Wisconsin are you? I am in the SCA and, like others have said, you can learn how to sword fight there. The SCA does have it’s own quirk though. Redwing had had a good idea when he suggested you try several different groups. Since most of us have jobs we need to go to the different groups have different areas that they do well as a compromise for safety and what they believe is important.
If you want some info on the SCA you can go to SCA.org and follow the “Find a local group” link. I’m in the Milwaukee area so if you are near here you can shoot me an e-mail also. justmagnus thatsymbolforat hotmail period com
If you want to look into one of the WMA (Western Martial Arts) groups Bob Charron one of the people I would recommend checking out.