Class Notes for Wednesday, October 29

In our class I am teaching you first about movement and how not to get hit.  We are studying distance and timing.  Today I am going to continue with this and then talk about strikes and blows.  You might be realizing that there is a lot to learn.  That’s good!

In my class notes to you I am providing you with more information than I will probably cover in class.  You should use this information to further your own study.  I am expecting you to find things that interest you and to pursue them yourselves.  I want you to come to class with questions and thoughts that you have dug up.

On to the class notes:

• Evasion continued
• The effect of range on evasion
• long range means more stepping and whole body movements
• the closer you are the more you start to rely on moving body parts out of the way rather than the whole body
• at some point you need to further control with blocks
• further = more time= larger movements
• closer= shorter time= smaller  movements are required
• Range also affects and is affected by the choice of weapon.

• Biomechanical correctness
• lines of power
• finding the void
• balance, rooting, and the base
• ways to take balance
• below the center
• at the center
• above the center
• actively or passively

• Unarmed strikes and blows
• Power generation is important
• size and strength, vital areas, biomechanics, emptiness and fullness

• Anatomy of a sword
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• How to hold a sword

• Sword Strokes
• The Cardinal Directions
• With a sword and weapons in general, size, strength, and vital areas are less important
• Precision, speed, agility, emptiness and fullness are important
• Fiore emphasizes these qualities in swordsmanship: caution, speed, courage, and strength
• Names of the Sword Guards

Italian	German	English
tuta porto de ferro “full iron gate”	alber ‘fool”
posta de donna “guard of the woman”	vom tag “the roof”	hawk ( a kind of blow)
posta realle de vera finestra “true window guard”	ochs “ox”	roebuck
posta longa “long guard”
mecana porto de fero “middle iron gate”
corona “crown”
posta de zenchiare “boars tooth”		boar
posta breve “short guard”	pflug “plow”
stancha posta de vero finestra “false window guard”
posta de coda lunga “guard of the long tail”		dragons tail
posta de bicornio “two horned guard”
posta di falcon “guard of the falcon”

The German and English manuscripts talk about types of strokes. The Germans have 5 master strokes. The English manuscripts refer to the Hawk, Rabbit, Quarter and full strokes et cetera.

• The dynamics of the fight
• In a real fight lots of things are going on at multiple levels.   You and your opponent  will feel fear on several levels.  There are matters of distance and timing and the proper use of techniques.  Fiore goes through play by play presentations of techniques but George Silver talks more about timing.
• Three timings
• George Silver talks about three timings for an attack:
• The first is to strike or thrust at him, the instant when he has gained you the place by his coming in.
• The second is to ward and after to strike him or thrust from it, remembering your governors.
• The third is to slip a little back & to strike or thrust after him.