Consulting Swordsman
The core idea behind this post is this: in most cases, it is better to have something that doesn’t look right, but does its job, than something that might look better, but fails. (The function of the object or system may be decoration, in which case there is no distinction to be made.) Swordsmanship offers … Read more
There are many reasons why people are afraid to begin training swordsmanship, or indeed choose to follow any path, and many reasons why those who have begun the journey may quit. What follows is by no means an exhaustive list, but it contains some of the more common problems that I have encountered, and my … Read more
Way back in the dawn of time when I came to Finland to open my school, my research into historical swordsmanship was at a very early stage. But we all have to start somewhere. As I wasn’t sure whether to focus on Vadi or Fiore I included elements of both systems in the material I … Read more
One of the issues that I face as an itinerant swordsmanship instructor, presiding over a school that exists on three continents, is that I can only visit each branch occasionally. I encourage the branches to ask for what they want, to be actively engaged with their own training. I also encourage all students in regular … Read more
Readers of this blog will know that I am quite fond of books. Reading deeply is good, reading widely is good too. I am often surprised by the extraordinary usefulness of books that on the face of it have no connection to martial arts, historical or otherwise, in my work recreating historical swordsmanship. These five … Read more
My copy of the new edition of I.33 arrived last week, and it is a swordwielding bibliophile’s wet dream. Not only is the reproduction effectively perfect, but the companion volume by Dr Forgeng is a complete and revised transcription and translation, with a detailed introduction that takes into account the last decade of scholarship since … Read more
The essential cognitive skill behind the application of swordsmanship is to see what is really there, not what you think is there. This is a profound and difficult skill to master, as we are all subject to all sorts of cognitive illusions and biases. Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is perhaps the best single … Read more
I left you on tenterhooks waiting for the dovetails; I have been a lazy woodwork blogger but productive as hell in other fields, so forgive me. The box was finished on time, and delivered to my Mum when my folks visited last month. The stages of production were: Planning the pattern of the dovetails. I … Read more
I was talking to a student after class the other day, someone who has been training with me off and on since the school opened. I happened to mention that for me, one of the primary uses of the art we study is that it is a holo-deck for the philosophy of ethics. Because we … Read more
This blog has now been up for one whole year. Huzzah! In that time I have published 58 posts, in 11 categories. By far the most-viewed post, with nearly double the hits of the next most viewed, has been “Plastic swords are for children”, which is interesting as the majority of hits have been sent … Read more