I’ve been trying to imagine a cross-martial arts competition that pits kendo against sabre fencing.
The kendoka wields a shinai and wears fencing gear.
The sabreur wields a sabre and wears kendogu (kendo gear).
Matches are individual bouts, but with asymmetric scoring. The kendoka needs 2 ippons to win. The sabreur needs 10 touches to win.
Kendo judges award the kendoka ippon according to Kendo rules.
Fencing judges award the sabreur touches according to pre-electric FIE rules (because the shinai is not electric). The fencing judges must watch the shinai to determine whether the sabreur has priority, but only call “halts” when the sabre warrants it.
Both fighters reset position whenever either scores, or whenever “halt” is called.
Would it be a balanced competition? Fun to watch? I think it would be interesting.
~Max