Here at the frontier, the leaves fall like rain. Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are still two cups at my table.


Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

~ Wu-men ~


Thursday, December 09, 2010

Sword vs Spear



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

it is really anoing that swordsman ignore stabbing and continue to attack

Rick Matz said...

He didn't fare very well, did he?

I would chalk it up to his probably encountering a spear infrequently, if ever; while he's opponent probably has practice matches with swordsmen all of the time.

Chris Hellman said...

I think it's a kendo thing to carry on with the attack - in normal matches, many strikes that hit are not counted as points unless they are decisive in the right way, so they carry on regardless.

I was actually surprised that the spearman didn't do better - they are normally said to have a 3:1 advantage. I guess that if your opponent is ignoring disabling hits it creates a somewhat unreal situation.

Rick Matz said...

A key difference between a contest with rules and the real thing.

Have you ever read this post"

http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/12/optimization-and-martial-arts.html

Zen said...

Hmmm, interesting....but questionable.

C360CHIEFARCHITECT said...

While the spear player had the talent of a hack, the skill of the swordsman is quite questionable. I have seen better point to edge to point actions between sabre fencers than this swordsman and spear player. ///There is a Chinese martial arts rule that states that the true master never hold back on their skills in matches. But they do tone down the the strength of their movements. # If one wants to be respected in their arena, it is important to know the entire set of rules for that terrain and the history behind it. Then assess whether one's opposition is willing to abide by the rules and regulations.

Paul said...

O I missed this interesting video. My opinion is that the only hope for the sword-man is to block and speedily move in to disarm the spear-man by sliding his sword forward along the shaft. The SM did it once (only). Mifune Toshirō's movies should have lots of this move.

Rick Matz said...

... and if the spearman can skillfully shorten his grip, he can maintain the advantage... maybe.

An interesting problem to solve in real time.

Paul said...

...that depends on skill, the only chance for the swordsman is to take advantage of his opponent's forward thrust (come from an attack - of course, knowing the swordsman's intention, a faked forward thrust may be employed... etc). And of course, it depends on skillful sliding up, not to alert the spearsman of his intention (otherwise, he will quickly pull back his spear to block and counter attack etc).

PS: Unfortunately a Kendo-man is conditioned to use strikes instead of thrust (which is allowed only on throat attack, I was told), which technique is needed for sliding up (Chinese swordsmanship will be quite different..:):)

Rick Matz said...

I think the swordsman is very constrained by the rules.

Here are some more Kendo videos, including a little naginata:

http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/kendo-videos.html