English Longsword

Tich

Tich

Tich

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10 Mar 2011
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159
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Sunny Darlo
Hey guys.

Just wondering if anyone else here does English Longsword as a martial art. I'm going for my first session tonight :)

I looked at a few sword based arts and didn't find one that really fit what I wanted (looked at fencing, aido and kendo mainly). Then randomly ran into some people in my local that are part of/run their own EL group. It's certainly sounding good so far.

The weird part of the sport is that, well, no one knows how to do it.. I mean they do, but as we stopped training soldiers in the art of the ******* Sword when they stopped being useful in actual war, all the drills and training are interpreted from 15th - 19th century documents and it's all been done fairly recently.

It should be pretty good. It's a shame I couldn't start earlier though because I met these people last year but broke my heel on a drunken night out shortly after and it's only now well enough to start being properly active again.

Ah well,.. Swords *drool*
 
reminds me of that group of people from the film "role models", running around a park pretending to be knights and king's, etc.

am i on the right track?

i have 2 swords, but they are sikh swords, part of our culture and heritage. ive always wanted a real samurai sword, they probably cost like £100 in japan, same thing over here is like £2K most likely.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
reminds me of that group of people from the film "role models", running around a park pretending to be knights and king's, etc.

am i on the right track?
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Well from what I can tell the people who go tend to be of the ale drinking, archaeology/history degree, take part in historical re-enactment types (some great old English style moustaches/beards) but there are some who go just to get fit or to do a sword art that's a bit more in terms of sparring.

By that I mean that unlike Fencing or Aido etc this is full contact sparring with ******* (hand and a half) Swords.

I've seen some of the bruises these guys get.. That part of it I'm not overly looking forward too :p
 
Tich said:
Well from what I can tell the people who go tend to be of the ale drinking, archaeology/history degree, take part in historical re-enactment types (some great old English style moustaches/beards) but there are some who go just to get fit or to do a sword art that's a bit more in terms of sparring.

By that I mean that unlike Fencing or Aido etc this is full contact sparring with ******* (hand and a half) Swords.

I've seen some of the bruises these guys get.. That part of it I'm not overly looking forward too :p
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full contact? what they made out of wood? do they wear padding or armour?
 
Tich said:
Padding, and they use nylon blades.
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seems like a good laugh if that's what your into. is their a scoring system or first person to hit the body wins?

are you allowed to hit to the face or what? or are you just hitting the swords against each other. seems a bit of a niche market.

is there a ring or boundry or can you run away lol?
 
Points system. Not sure on specifics as it was a while ago that I spoke to them. Will let you know more once i'm back from tonights session. Yes. Head is ok. The basic aim is to disable or land "killing" blows.

I won't be sparring for a couple of weeks, they make sure you know all the basic guards at the very least before they put you against someone.
 
Tich said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av6lIX8iT2U&feature=player_embedded#at=170


Here's an example Sonny
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that looks a lot better than what i was picturing in my head, depending on how heavy those swords are, that could be a real good workout, definitely intense cardio.

it does seem though its more point based than trying to hurt each other, full contact usually refers to people trying to knock each other or stopping them physically from continuing. or was that a sparring type thing in the video and its proper full on full contact?
 
Maybe my thinking of "full contact" is wrong, but if you think in terms of Fencing verses Kendo. Fencing you get prodded, Kendo you get hit. With this you get hit lots.

As for competition play I think it's similar to that sparring video. Maybe a touch more intense due to the fact it's an actual competition.

Either way it has certainly gained my interest and I look forward to telling you what it's actually like later on.
 
Well,. that was awesome.

I only learnt basic footwork and guards. It was only an hour due to some other thing being booked in at the church hall (it's usually a 2 hour session). Also due to the length of the session it was all drills, but i'll get to watch some sparring next week.

I must be very unfit because the 10 minute warm up / stretching etc had me sweating. It's definitely good fun though.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
reminds me of that group of people from the film "role models", running around a park pretending to be knights and king's, etc.

am i on the right track?
Click to expand...

I know someone who actually does that. I struggled to contain my laughter when i found out but the inner nerd deep inside me wants to try it.
 
What reason did you start this over Kendo?

Personally as an Kenshi, I recommend Kendo because you will get more from Kendo then medieval arts as the culture, the community, social spirit, competitions, seminars are much greater.

Have fun through. :P
 
IronWarrior said:
What reason did you start this over Kendo?

Personally as an Kenshi, I recommend Kendo because you will get more from Kendo then medieval arts as the culture, the community, social spirit, competitions, seminars are much greater.

Have fun through. :P
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The group is very local to me, with good people and I know a few of them. I don't drive and so I'd have a lot of public transport time to get to a Kendo group as there are none for 30 miles or so at least.

Also the social/community aspects of this seem very good. Especially when combined with other HEMA styles.

Oh and i'm English. I do have an interest in Japanese culture along with others from the world, but it's nice to get the chance to learn a lost English art. It's our own heritage. I like that.
 
IronWarrior said:
What reason did you start this over Kendo?

Personally as an Kenshi, I recommend Kendo because you will get more from Kendo then medieval arts as the culture, the community, social spirit, competitions, seminars are much greater.

Have fun through. :P
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i googled kenshi and it came up with a mortal kombat character, im assuming this isn't what was supposed to come up.

is kenshi a kendo teacher or specific type of asian person?

i am a sikh and we were born out of fighting, to defend ourselves from the muslims attacking, invading and stealing, our religions main symbol even has 4 weapons in it. we have our own "style" or "martial art", never really looked into it much, it's not really needed nowadays but there are still quite a lot who practice it.

sikhism was also for its time, way ahead of any other religion or culture at its conception, it's main concepts are to treat everybody the same no matter who they are or where they come from, women are equal to men (the first baptised sikh was also a woman to prove this point), etc. it teaches equality as well as self defence.

there was a nobel peace prize winner who read about sikhism and stated that if there ever was a 3rd world war, or in order to prevent it from happening, you would need to follow they concepts within sikhism or the only way mankind would survive afterwards is if it adopted its ways.

i have 2 sikh swords made from some metal, dont know how good or sharp they are, your not supposed to take them out of their case unless you need to use it, its bad luck, probably get better ones in future as decoration for the home.
 
Practitioners of kendo are called kendōka, meaning "someone who practices kendo", or occasionally kenshi, meaning "swordsman" and the old term of kendoists is sometimes used.
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