Ways you can use a sword without holding the hilt

A lot of swords over history have only been sharpened at the tip, for the very purpose that the wielder could grab the blade and handle simultaneously and use the blade for pushing, shoving and blocking strongly.

Maybe habe him hold by the scabbard though, and use bludgeoning, punches and kicks.

Maybe he could jam the hilt into the scabbard and hold the scabbard?

Prehaps a single bladed weapon (War scythe with the handle cut off?) and holding it by the back (holes optional)? He could use like that stupid useless Klingon weapon!

Old thread is old.

But the solution is blatantly obvious. Use polearms or bows. Both varieties of weapons were dominant and important weapons around the world and within feudal Japan. Horseback archery in particular. Hōzōin-ryū is one of those warrior-monk spear schools and archery is itself well-regarded as one of those Zen-like pastimes that can be shoved full of ritual and asceticism. Even without the Eastern flavorings, professional archers were highly skilled and well-regarded soldiers which were trained throughout their lives to be effective.

A "master" probably wouldn't have trouble working his way through another kind of weapon like an axe or a mace since his training with a sword is supposed to instill in him an instinct for timing, leverage and so forth. I've heard some HEMA scholar say that the longsword is the best gateway for obtaining these skills and opening him up to a broader array of fighting with daggers, staves, spears, grappling and so on. Kenjitsu was probably regarded the same way. And I'm guessing the sword is regarded as the quintessential and "noble" weapon of war for this reason.

Personally, I'd throw in that meditate on the broadness of the "Way" and that an over-fixation on one thing (the sword as a weapon rather than a discipline) causes a person to lose the big picture. Of course, none of this complete without a cryptic riddling question from a wizened Yoda. (What is the Way? And Riddle of Steel type of stuff.)

Furthermore, it may not prevent him from practicing with wooden swords or using sticks to teach students. Otherwise, it's a way to shoot an unreliable prophecy at him. A stick used as sword stops being a stick or a club when explicitly used as a sword-by-proxy; assuming that the powers that be are cheeky bastards.

edited 27th Jun '11 1:10:31 AM by WASD

Old thread is old and I didn't read all of it, so I apologise if it was already stated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordstreich

You require some armoured gloves but you can use the sword as a warhammer. (I also assume he has to use the sword, because he can always cheat and just use other weapons)

Yes, the versatility of the longsword is part of why it was so well respected in the western world, before the advent of guns made it obsolete and fencing as a sport began to takeover. And this segues into my point about it being a "gateway" weapon. The various half-swording techniques and grappling was supposed to be part and parcel of swordplay beyond the clumsy bashing you see onscreen. You don't bash armor, you try to work the tip in through a slit, preferably after throwing the armored man.

John Clements of ARMA has a video on Youtube about how it's actually possible to grip swords barehanded, since longswords are not razors. They don't slice quite the way katanas do, they *chop* and consequently have a springier and sturdier bevel than found on katanas, which prefer harder but more brittle steels. And this is well-accepted in serious HEMA circles. The longsword is not just a chopping weapon, it acts as a grappling aid, a blundgeon or even as a part-time spear. The hilt guard was intended to augment these functions (in addition to playing into the idea of combining deflecting parries with striking blows in one single action).

(That said, John Clements is also regarded as the megalomaniacal tyrant of the HEMA world and his falling-out with other ex-ARMA "free scholars" is infamous. Whatever his talent with the longsword may be, many object to his rather draconian and secretive practices.)

Samurai, as far as I'm aware, never needed to develop such techniques with katanas, because frankly, Japan is a resource-poor dirtball. Putting it succinctly, they had enough steel to make the swords. Traditional samurai armor was more like brigandine or splint mail if I'm not mistaken. Although this didn't prevent particularly well-off samurai from accepting or purchasing suits of plated European armor. So techniques for developing armor don't really matter much, particularly since the spear-bearer and bow-cavalry mitigate some of the actual need to engage sword-on-sword.

All this said, if you're going to use a sword primarily as a warhammer, you may as well use a warhammer.

edited 27th Jun '11 6:23:47 PM by WASD