This does not involve TKD, Judo, or other empty handed arts, but, I believe it has a place in this thread. If it does not feel free to slam me.
I can relate to this thread very well. Some background, I am in an organization called the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA). It is an educational historical re-creation organization primarily based in the European middle ages (pre 1600), but does not restrict its members to just those physical areas. The areas of study are vast, including almost every aspect of historical everyday life including the armored and weapon combat martial aspects. The SCA studies, researches, and re-creates history on an individual level. The individual chooses what they want to study and re-create. The SCA also allows its members to be as serious in their research, and re-creation, as they desire, or are able to do. As a result we have people that who are extremely serious in their research and re-creation all the way down to those who merely want to kind of look the part and play. The result of this attitude is that we have an organization of over 30,000 members and over 100,000 participants (You don’t have to be a member to participate. Just follow the basic rules). To my knowledge, it is the largest group of its kind in the world. We have archeologist, and other academics coming to our group all the time asking if we know what an item is, or how something was constructed or done. We are also continuously criticized by some academics, and other historical organizations, mainly for not requiring our people to be absolutely period in their re-creations.
To the meat of it all, I mentioned above the armored and weapon combat martial aspects. We have three divisions of combat martial arts. They are Heavy Weapons (Armored Combat), Light Weapons (Rapier combat), and Cut and Thrust (Metal weapons combat similar to what some Western Martial Arts groups do). Our martial arts assume three basic premises. 1) For the purposes equality in competition, all fighters are considered to be wearing the same armor ( For heavy weapons: Chainmail over a leather hauberk and an open faced basinet helm), regardless of the armor actually being worn. 2) All weapons are considered real, and must be capable of causing incapacitation, or death, through the armor standard for that activity. 3) Victory, or defeat, is determined by an honor system. The person receiving the incapacitating, or “death “, blow is honor bound to acknowledge it and concede the bout (die). (Yes, we have studied and experimented with the forces necessary to accomplish this with a variety of different real weapons, and train our fighters to approximate that standard.) The weapons for heavy weapons combat are simulated and made of rattan. We use rattan for a variety of reasons, safety being the key reason. All combat is free form and heavy weapons combat is full force blows. We are trying to re-create the actualities of combat, both tournament and war, in as safe a manner as possible. While most people do European, more and more people are expanding into the Middle Eastern and Asian areas. I have been doing Japanese for 30+ years.
Those that criticize us mainly do so in three areas: 1) We don’t use real steel therefore what we do is invalidated due to the differences between how a steel weapon would function, and how rattan functions. 2) We don’t use the late period fencing manuals in the training of our fighters. 3) What we do isn’t a martial art. It is just sport fighting dressed up in a medieval cover with no actual documented basis.
The first is untrue in two of the divisions, and the period manuals are specifically mentioned in the rules for those activities. As to heavy weapons combat, the first is true to a degree. Rattan does not function the same as steel. However, I have used both, and personally, I find the differences negligible, especially in the heat of full force, free form, combat.
The second is also true, and untrue. The period manuals referred to are used quite frequently if they apply to the form that is being learned, but they are not required. In most earlier medieval forms they do not apply, so their use is not warranted. I don’t care what the so-called experts in other orgainizations say, Buckler and rapier does not apply to heater shield and broadsword.
On the third, find us the documentation. For over forty years we have been, and continue to search for it. To our knowledge there are no existent manuals, or how-to documents, for most of the forms we do. There are some limited oral traditions, that are extremely vague, for some forms, and you can only extrapolate so much from the art work and descriptions in the historical records of the period. So, interpretation and experimentation become the necessary formats for learning.
Not a martial art? Tell that to the people that spend hour after hour on the practice field, and privately, studying their movement, form, and technique. How the weapons work with the movements of their bodies both in offense and defense, and how best to accomplish efficient movement and deliver a substantial blow to their opponent. Attend and put on seminars locally, and across the country to exchange knowledge and improve their fighting techniques. (We just flew in a gentleman from Wisconsin for just such a seminar.) I know people who spend more time studying and practicing this than some of the most dedicated “other” martial artists I know.
So, been there, had that discussion, and feel your angst.
Kevin
