Light Saber Training (so to speak)

G'day Falugan here.

I just wanted to know if it is alright to begin an aikido class to get used to a sword of some kind. I know that there is no such thing as a Light Saber (I would absolutely LOVE one by the way)

It might be good for me personally and getting back into shape and all.


Falugan

Falugan wrote: G'day Falugan here.

I just wanted to know if it is alright to begin an aikido class to get used to a sword of some kind. I know that there is no such thing as a Light Saber (I would absolutely LOVE one by the way)

It might be good for me personally and getting back into shape and all.


Falugan

I would think it would be more than alright. Aikikai and Kendo are practices that I have been looking to begin learning myself.

I think everyone on earth would love to have a lightsaber btw.

MTFBWY,
Resticon

another thing you might want to consider is a group called the sca, the are all over the world and the practice a lot with sword play, medieval in nature but the art is there. it is full contact non-choreographed and is a very fun, non profit organization. the main difference is that you are wearing about 65lbs of medieval armor.

If asking for opinions, I think the focus on overpowering by manipulation of the aggressors aggression seems really suitable to a Jedi approach to conflict, and using a stick/staff to facilitate that makes sense. Its easy to pick up a stick and use it if needed but doing that would probably be seen as an escalation or invitation to conflict so I'm not suggesting anything be used for fighting. I personally do not have much interest in long bladed weapons (swords) as they are almost as impractical in the real world as a fictitious lightsaber IMO, but if its what interests you then it sounds great fun to learn and I'd agree would be good for fitness too.

I found these on Wikipedia which seem relevant;

Aiki-Ken
AikiJo

b.murphy wrote: another thing you might want to consider is a group called the sca, the are all over the world and the practice a lot with sword play, medieval in nature but the art is there. it is full contact non-choreographed and is a very fun, non profit organization. the main difference is that you are wearing about 65lbs of medieval armor.

SCA has about as much martial value as dagorhir or some other larp group. The only difference between the two is that SCA hits each other with sticks and the larp groups usually use foam swords.

If you are interested in ACTUAL historical european martial arts, you should look into ARMA or the HEMA alliance

Most LARP groups are very fictional but there are some good opportunities to learn combat skills. Several of them have “Fighter” practices and other various training activities where they focus purely on combat skills. Granted, they generally do not incorporate many of the teachings and disciplines found in traditional schools or martial learning, but one can learn a varying degree of practical and applicable combat kills or techniques.

I have several friends throughout the years that participated in these activities and when we spar they are usually very fast and well practiced in the moves and techniques they have spent years practicing.

I would actually recommend it -- certainly aikido (ai - harmony ; ki - energy ; do - way)

Just don't go there with a real lightsaber, a bokken will do nicely.

:dry:

andy:
have you ever done sca for any amount of time? if so where and when? if you think of it as larp you are very mistaken. in my experiences the sca is very practical for sword fighting. yes it is medieval, but it trains a lot of the skills you would need, and there is a certain satisfaction with each hit you land, also knowing i am not going to kill my friend is a plus. if you are talking of the SCA 30-50 years ago then i would agree with you, but the SCA of today is amazing, from individual fights to small group tactics, to major wars, the SCA is a great place to learn and develop sword fighting skills. If you truly believe that it has almost no martial value then please study history as the knights also used wooden weapons to train, and it was effective. the samurai used bamboo. many sca players spend hours every day training their ability to fight. yes we use sticks, but live steel, in my opinion is too dangerous between friends. I will say that depending on where in the sca you will change the way people approach combat. I am not saying that the SCA is the best you can do, but for full contact, non-choreographed fighting with a high level of safety, cant really be bad.

I am very familiar with SCA. And it is historical LARP.

I never said people don't enjoy it. Nor did I say they don't train. But they train to be good at their game with their rules. It's not how they trained or competed historically. People get really good at competing in their rule set, but there is far more to historical combat that the SCA does not allow. Such as halfswording, wrestling with the sword, swinging a two handed weapon more than 180 degrees, grappling your opponent, striking your opponent with anything besides your "sword" etc etc.

You can learn from anything. I could make the argument that baseball has martial value because it teaches you how to swing a club and throw an object accurately with force. But we can all assume that when you study a martial art its for combat value.

It is a sport, a martial sport, but it is too confined by its rule set. It is a lot like saying that civil war reenactment teaches you how to be a better solider.

Its fine if you enjoy it, but don't try to play it off as a martial art, it is not.

I will say it is a martial art, the only rules they have are for safety, with that said I have taken part of and see some fights where we did not abide by sca rules. It was some of the best fights I have had. With that said, almost all martial arts during their competitions have rules, wrestling, boxing,Taekwondo ect. For instance when was the last time you bit someone during kung fu? You don’t, when sparring it is against the rules. When was the last time you broke some ones neck in a spar? You dont, because for the most part you are friends helping to train each other. Part of the definition of martial art is practicing for competition which is all the sca really does. Again I’m not sure what kingdom you were in, perhaps if you could tell me I would better understand what your experience of it is. as to my knowledge as a squire and former knights marshal you can swing more than 180 degrees, grapple your opponent, half sword and grab your opponents weapon. There are just certain rules about how to do it, for instance can’t grab a great sword without gauntlets. I will agree that it is not entirely accurate, for example in real life a great sword or war hammer would destroy a shield, but ours for some reason (air craft aluminum) don’t after a few hits. again, what kingdom did you play in?

Boxing, TKD, Fencing, Kendo... Yea, martial sports. A martial art that does not allow for improvisation and limits you to a few number of "acceptable" moves is losing its martial in favor of the art. Most eastern systems have lost most of what made them useful in favor of teaching to the masses and scoring points.

You don't have to break your friends neck in practice, but you can still use the hold. You don't have to gouge eyes out, but you can get finger placement. Point is, when you make all those concessions to safety you lose a lot of its essence.

As far as the SCA rules goes, I am copying from the SCA Marsal handbook:
10. Deliberately striking an opponent’s head, limbs, or body with a shield, weapon haft, or any part of the body is forbidden.
11. Intentionally tripping an opponent is prohibited.
12. Grasping an opponent's person, shield, weapon's striking surface, or bow/crossbow is prohibited.
Page 8

1. Only weapons approved for thrusting may be used for that purpose. Feinting as if to thrust with a weapon not approved for that purpose is prohibited. Before any bout where a thrusting weapon is used, the opponent and marshals shall be informed that such a weapon is on the field, and the thrusting tip shall be shown to the opponent.
2. The blade of an opponent’s weapon may not be grasped at any time, nor may it be trapped in contact with the fighter’s body as a means of preventing the opponent’s use of the weapon. Armored hands may grasp the haft of an opponent’s weapon
page 9

Now, the grasping thing, i am not saying someone can grab an incoming blow with their hands, gloved or ungloved, but the grasping, trapping, disarming of an opponents weapon was essential to medieval combat and is show in every medieval fectbuch.

As far as the 180 degree thing, that must have been a house rule where i was. I am in ky so that was like meradas or something.

Also, somehow, back in the day, they were able to train, practice and impalement these techniques effectively with out killing each other on a regular basis. Maybe it speaks to our society, that we are afraid of a few bumps and bruises.

Then again, i remember when kids were allowed to actually play out side and only had to come home when it started getting dark.

Shoot...

Does that make me a LARP martial artist?

We don't really strike to the "ahem"s...

I pull my punches and kicks...

Don't throw anyone full force....

Oh No!

Am I a LARP parent?

I don't really know what I'm doing, although I'm trying my best...

I ground them, but often give in....

I ask for them to do stuff, and when they don't, I do it myself...

Maybe, to some degree, we are all role playing, and my life is "live action" (as the Turtle Man says...)

Maybe...

The SCA is fine and every thing if you have the money and can deal with some vary arrogant people. However if you don't I would suggest, Foam Fighting wargaming clubs. Much fun there... But if you really want to learn weapon techniques, I would take up kendo and aikido, but once again they cost some money.

I'm just going to say this here since it's a thread about lightsabers and swords (this is not aimed at anyone on this thread in particular but just anyone that might read it)

I just wanted to say (since people do ask) that: No. Learning how to fight with swords is not official Temple policy... :laugh:

andy:
i recently moved to meridias downin alabama. and one thing i have noticed is that they 1: dont hit hard at all. 2: they like shots that look "prety". where as the kingdom of the west has no finess and is all about hit as hard as you can. " ogg smash" i was in the kingdom of drachenwald (europe) for some years, and we always practiced disarming, using weapons and shields to stop, then trap the blade wether against our body or not. I will say that out there they really go for authentic. and when the event is in a castle, they should. i think to truly master sword play you need to study several styles. i have done really well in the sca and am curently looking to expand my knowledge.also i want to say thank you for taking the time to debate with me its refreshing. the people i work with dont debate, either they close up or they just say i guess your right.

I think that it would be a very good idea to take a martial arts class. There are many benefits besides just the weapons training they have to offer; and, one could learn a “style” and way of thinking for that style. I also feel that we should not discredit any other form of “fighting” or physical activity just because we may not see the validity of it or that it may offer.

I have studied a few different schools and practiced with people from all walks of life and all different backgrounds of “training.” One thing that I have noticed is that it has given me a unique perspective on how people react to different threats and deal with varying situations. Also, being exposed to so many different “things” has given me a confidence I might now have of achieved otherwise. I feel that studying one thing is a good place to start, but you cannot limit yourself to that one thing… otherwise one runs the risk of having their knowledge become ridged and unable to adapt to the situation.

b.murphy wrote: andy:
i recently moved to meridias downin alabama. and one thing i have noticed is that they 1: dont hit hard at all. 2: they like shots that look "prety". where as the kingdom of the west has no finess and is all about hit as hard as you can. " ogg smash" i was in the kingdom of drachenwald (europe) for some years, and we always practiced disarming, using weapons and shields to stop, then trap the blade wether against our body or not. I will say that out there they really go for authentic. and when the event is in a castle, they should. i think to truly master sword play you need to study several styles. i have done really well in the sca and am curently looking to expand my knowledge.also i want to say thank you for taking the time to debate with me its refreshing. the people i work with dont debate, either they close up or they just say i guess your right.

If you were integrating the historical techniques into your fighting, then you are part of the solution. If i was you, i would try to change things in your area to include what was being done in Europe. You should take it further and integrate open hand techniques and grappling. These techniques can be implemented safely and effectively in a competitive environment.

If your group likes things to be showy, break out the historical manuals. There are all kinds of "flashy" moves that are combat effective.

Believe it or not larp fighting is still real fighting...as you're still fighting for your character's survival..any fight for survival is a real fight..whether for larp surival or actual survival, it requires speed, agility, precision, and skill....

RyuJin:
Believe it or not larp fighting is still real fighting...as you're still fighting for your character's survival..any fight for survival is a real fight..whether for larp surival or actual survival, it requires speed, agility, precision, and skill....

Nothing againgst larping(I like to do it myself sometime), but larp fighting is very different. True it puts you in to that survival mode idea, but if all you know is larp fighting, that is not going to save you against...anything really and it's not going to put you in to real survival mode.