Subtle strokes

Permit me, dear reader, to digress for a couple of paragraphs. It'll be worth it in the end (?) I am currently dipping my toes into the world of Japanese calligraphy or Shodo. Whilst my efforts are still totally amateurish I am learning a huge number of interesting things as I go along. There are many different types of script in Shodo ranging from the formal seal Kaisho script to the informal grass Gyosho script. It's fair to say that the strokes and characters are easier to assimilate in Kaisho as they are less abstract. I can 'get' the formality more easily whereas some of the characters in gyosho style are a mental test indeed. They really are the abstraction of the formal character to a degree when it almost becomes an intellectual puzzle, where the look of the final character only reflects the direction and spirit of the brush rather than the character itself. In some ways gyosho script is the distillation of the character of the particular words being inscribed. I am still puzzling this out, but perhaps that is where I am going wrong! A lot of the art of Shodo is based on spontaneity and the mind (or lack of) that is behind the brush.
But what, you cry, has this to do with fencing? Well, it dawned on me the other day in the salle that some fencing moves are like calligraphy. The basic move, say for example an engagement of sixte followed by a disengagement and attack is almost like the seal script; defined and formal. It is only when we start to look beyond this, into the character of the stroke that we see it's subtleties. For instance, if the initial engagement is too rapid or staccato your opponent will not feel obliged to push back, thus denying you an opening to attack. Chances are they won't even react at all to it, which means your whole strategy will fail. If however you understand the subtlety of the stroke you will exert just enough pressure, with just enough obviousness, to cause your opponent to push back, leaving themselves vulnerable to your ultimate intention of hitting with the disengage. Sometimes the subtler strokes are harder to master but they are all the more aesthetically pleasing and effective for it! Cool huh?