A few words from Yagyu Munenori

Yagyu Mumenori was a great swordmaster back in 17th century Japan. He was the master of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu and knew a thing or two about duelling. I was on the bus this morning going to work which gave me the time to read some more of his treatise "The Book of Family Traditions" or Heiho Kadensho. The next few posts will be things I gleaned from this reading that I thought worthy of sharing. Every time I read this book and the Book Of Five Rings by Musashi I discover more....

The First Sword
The "first sword" does not literally refer to a sword. The "first sword" is a code word for seeing incipient movement on the part of opponents. The expresssion "the critical first sword" means that seeing what the opponents are trying to do is the first sword in the ultimate sense. Understanding the perception of impulses and incipient actions of adversaries as the first sword, understand the weapon that strikes according to what they do as the second sword.

So what does this mean? To me Munenori is talking about being able to anticipate the movement of your opponent before they act. Imagine the skill and concentration needed to achieve this state, but also imagine the acuteness of observation; scanning the opponent for the merest clue to their intentions. If Munenori could manifest this presence he must truly have been a terrifying opponent. Is it possible to develop such awareness in modern fencing? I believe it is. With time, patience and application you will be able to start anticipating your opponent's attacks. The next trick is neutralising them, but that's another post.....

Bentley Beats 'em In Brum

Congrats to Anna who won the Birmingham International last weekend. A nice Easter present and maybe better than chocolate...?!

Shared Principles

Fenced in the first rounds of the epee competition last night and rather enjoyed myself. Was a bit nervous at the start and then noticed this other strange feeling... what was it... By Jiminy it was a combat rush! I'm not going to dwell on my scores but suffice it to say I did better than I thought I would. There were a few things that I wanted to find out, namely whether some of what I call the universal principles of fencing held true for epee. Not surprisingly they did:
Keep your point in line - particularly helpful in epee where you can attack down your opponent's line to reach their wrist or forearm, but equally applicable in foil. In general if your point is in line with the target area you can always stop thrust as a last resort, although this is more effective at epee.
Reach is important - if you've got a long arm... use it! If you haven't, get close enough to negate the advantage.
Simple things work well - lunges, beats and engagements are very effective. More complicated moves are risky and opponents will respond differently. In epee compounds are almost unheard of as they take up valuable time and leave you vulnerable to a stop. With foil and a right of way the whole thing is different though....
A good parry riposte in time works wonders - rare at epee but vital at foil; practice it well!
Thinking and observing really help - watch your prospective opponents to see what they do. Works at any weapon!
Now we'll see how I do next week in the DE!

A change is as good as a rest?

On Wednesday I shall be taking part in an epee competition at my club. It's a friendly Easter type thing but I've never actually competed at this particular discipline. Nevertheless I thought I'd have a go (after some coercion) as it's a different experience. I have fenced with an epee before and it is certainly a completely different style. I find it's much more mentally tiring as you are concentrating much more on a smaller target area, usually the arm or wrist. It's funny how concentrating mentally is tough physically but I guess this shows that mind and matter truly are linked!
Tactics are also different in epee as you can counter if you are quick enough and still score a point. Reach is also more of a factor from what I can see so far. In a lot of ways I have to switch off my foil brain and do something completely different but similar at the same time! Sometimes this is a good thing though as stagnation is something that all fencers should strive to avoid. I'll let you know how I get on in the first rounds....