Troper Fencing Academy

... no, I suppose not. xD

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

I'm not entirely sure the two can be hybridized. They share the same fundamentals (and even some similar stances), but the ways in which they differ are so extreme they can't be melded very well.

月を見るたび思い出せ

This is more true in double-time fencing than single-time — a maki-uchi or something in that family might look like a riposte, but the timing and footwork are quite different. And double-time fencing is pretty rare among modern styles — Olympic fencing and reconstructionist smallsword are about all that you're likely to find communities for.

Eskrima sort of qualifies, but the principles it's built on are really completely different.

edited 13th Jul '11 10:11:54 PM by Nornagest

I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.

^^ Where there's a will!

Some techniques are going to be mutually-exclusive, but I could imagine some crossover. For instance, even though katanas are single-edged, you might use a false-edge strike to force a parry, then use the speed from redoubling along a single axis to make a clean strike while they're committed. This is a pretty important part of horizontal high strikes in German longsword and we call those strikes "zwerchhau".

^ I'm struggling to think of a pre-modern style that's not single-time. Examples?

edited 13th Jul '11 10:12:32 PM by MadassAlex

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

There's a tsuki-kote variant in my style that works similarly to that, yeah. We're more likely to use the false edge for beats, binds, or feints, though.

Smallsword's about all there is (although it was huge in its time), and that's only pre-modern by a hundred years or so — there are older weapons that might be light enough to support double time, but the styles that go with them are either completely unknown or based around the shield. I think you'd be more likely to find the ancestors of double-time fencing in stick fighting or something in the sword-breaker family, but that's rampant speculation.

edited 13th Jul '11 10:31:26 PM by Nornagest

I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.

There's so much more efficient ways to strike someone with a katana than that, though. It seems like a waste of effort to go to all that trouble for it.

月を見るたび思い出せ

I make it sound complex, but it all happens pretty quickly. The initial trouble for the false-edge strike pays off when the second strike whips around like your sword weighs nothing.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Kilij looks like it's usage is no different to any other sabre of the period. Other thing I'd say is that I've been sparring with sport fencers, they tend to have good grasp on distance, timing and aim but may get lost against, uh, more aggressive techniques. Though I'm pretty sure one guy I sparred with could use a foil against a bear and win.

edit reason: typo

edited 14th Jul '11 3:07:09 AM by lordGacek

"Atheism is the religion whose followers are easiest to troll"

^ Either way, I'm not experienced in saber.

So! I did some Hope backsword today. It's strange for me, since each strike takes two steps and sweeps right through. It's very flowing. A lot of diagonal and circular movement in both the feet and arms.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Scribe: About half of those could be applied to any sort of fighting style. Ah feet. Why art thou so hard to move?

Read my stories!

And now I have a question for Moony, Norn or anyone else with the knowledge:

Kenjutsu footwork, how does it work?

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Toyama ryu takes a short but somewhat wide stance for most of its techniques and wants you to keep your hips square relative to your hands; you never want to get your legs crossed relative to the blade, and your weight's usually distributed about 60/40 between your feet. The power behind its major cuts comes from hip motion, so most cuts are done off of either a diagonal shuffle or a full step; two-step strikes are taught, but they're more common in the older techniques. You transition freely between left-facing and right-facing stances depending on the needs of the moment. Steps should feel fairly natural, with weight centered and without an overly floaty feeling in the feet, but they do bear some resemblance to the familiar triangle footwork from Japanese empty hand; that allows you to deliver power off the back foot at any point in your movement. Draws, beats, and some combination strikes use half-step timing, with the draw or the first cut happening as your feet come together and the remaining cut happening as they move apart again.

There's a lot of emphasis on drawing and cutting from normal movement in Toyama ryu. Other kenjutsu styles might differ somewhat, but most of the writers I've read dislike overly stilted footwork.

edited 14th Jul '11 11:57:55 AM by Nornagest

I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.

..."anyone else with the knowledge" I think is limited to him and me.

月を見るたび思い出せ

I only know Classical European fencing. And I haven't done a thing with it in 5 years or so.

Count me in too. I sense great HILARITAY coming from this.

"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von Lewis

For a bunch of anime nerds, not many of us know how to use a katana, eh?

Thanks, Norn. That's some interesting stuff. As much as German longsword is efficient and effective, it's also extremely simple when it comes to footwork, so getting an understanding of other styles is pretty great.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

That was the point, sweetie; I wanted to teach my team-mates how to survive, not to follow the strictures of a particular style. Also...I think people don't want to move their feet because they want a solid base to plant their attack on. They view an attack like lifting something heavy, which it most assuredly is not. Like Inara says, it takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin.

Footwork, aggression, proper grip, awareness...these are things that every martial art attempts to beat into the subconscious of its students. I was attempting to mine for fundamentals, and was asking the various (and likely more experienced) practitioners if I'd even gotten close.

edited 14th Jul '11 8:07:16 PM by drunkscriblerian

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

For me, I'd love to learn the ways of the plain, regular Knight's sword. You know, the mid-length triangular shaped sword. I'm not sure why it attracts me, but it'd be something that I'd really like to try to learn.

Your best bet would be to learn longsword, which is essentially that with two hands. There's a few different styles, but if you give the links in my sig a run-through, you'll find some good fundamental information and a little extra to look at.

Then, you use one hand or a smaller sword. :D

Most single-sword is taught with a buckler. Not a whole lot of places teach sword and shield. Sword and shield can be pretty nicely adapted from longsword anyway.

edited 14th Jul '11 8:36:25 PM by MadassAlex

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

It's... curious practicing the stuff mentioned on the Blossfechten page with a katana.

月を見るたび思い出せ

^ *passes out from sudden, massive nosebleed*

bestrivalryever

A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!

...sure, nobody duels any more, and sure, wars are won with guns these days, but... that sorta thing makes continuing to practice this stuff worth it.

月を見るたび思い出せ

!!!

I made that page, Moony, and knowing that someone is actually using it made my day. <3

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Well, you keep pimping it. XD

I know how you feel, though. I make a little face every time I see someone edited my Moon Knight page.

月を見るたび思い出せ

-looks at own sig-

Every.

Single.

Post.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch