Drawing new weapons in combat...?

[Bankuei]

If anyone has seen the movie "Sword of Doom" that totally plays that tense moment of action.  There was something like 5 minutes of circling, each footstep was like an attack, it was scary.  Even the judges realized that this "practice" duel was going too far. :)

Chris

[Ace]

I must say  have no small desire to see a duel between a longsword stylist and a kenjutsu stylist.

Give em appropriate armor and apropriate wasters and let them go at it.

It would be facinating to see how the styles interact from a martial POV

Also interesting would be knife wrestling vs. tantojutsu and either of the two vs. arsnis or pentjak silat. Heck any of those can take on a street fighter

I suppose you could also do quarter staff vs. bo but how would you tell the difference

Unfortunately the WMA and EMA people probably aren't open to this sort of thing and while they are right that it wouldn't prove anything it sure would make a great show

[Jake Norwood]

Unfortunately the WMA and EMA people probably aren't open to this sort of thing and while they are right that it wouldn't prove anything it sure would make a great show

I think the real problem is getting two folks with decent training together. There are very few serious Kendoists out here, but I've sparred every one that I could get the chance to. In 1994 John Clements, the ARMA director, took the advanced weapons sparring competition trophy at the US Kung-fu tournament...with a longsword! It has been done, and will be done more, but it's true that it proves little more than the skill of the winning fighter, not neccessarily the styles. Yes, some styles are better than others, but not enough to consistently make a difference when fighters of a different caliber are involved. In many ways, to use TROS terms, it comes down to CP and die allotment--maneuvers (read: schools) are means to that end.

I'm sure we'll see more of this sort of thing in the future, but it's touchy. If the eastern guy loses he doesn't want to tell anyone that he got beat my a martial art that's from the west--especially one that is sterotyped (wrongly) as being clumsy. If the WMA guy wins he doesn't want to talk about it too much, for fear of being seen as a braggard. Yeah, I've won almost every match I've ever fought a kendoist, but not every one. Some guys are really good. Some guys suck. I know I have beat every boffer fighter I've gone up with, but that's a different story.

Going back real fast to Sword of Doom--it, and every other Mifune Film--is well worth the time, money, and search. Must-see TROS films, asian or no! Especially anything directed by Kurosawa.

Doesn't Sword of Doom fit the TROS model flawlessly...all the blood, passions (SA's galore), etc. Also, notice that even though the main character takes on 15 guys at once, he never actually fights more than two in any one "round."

Jake

[Bankuei]

As a brief aside, this again brings up the "fear factor" and hesitation of the psychology of combat.  It seems that most of the folks are cowed after they see him calmly walk through half their number before they could even tense a muscle...

Chris